Volkswagen Amarok 2024 Tow Test

Launched Down Under in mid-2023, the Volkswagen Amarok ute is gaining traction with 4x4 dual-cab buyers who appreciate its unique selling points that help separate it from its Ford Ranger donor. Set up for towing with a choice of torquey four-cylinder and V6 turbo-diesel engines, not to mention a suite of towing-related technology and an electric brake controller now fitted as standard across the range, the latest Amarok should be on the shortlist of owners of big caravans, horse floats and trailer boats looking for a shiny new tow tug.

Price-wise, the 2024 Volkswagen Amarok 4x4 dual-cab ute ranges from $55,490 plus on-road costs for the entry-level Amarok Core TDI405 with the lower-output 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine and six-speed auto, rising to $84,090 plus ORCs for the flagship Amarok Aventura available with either 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel or 2.3-litre turbo-petrol engine, both with a 10-speed auto.

The two mid-spec turbo-diesel-powered utes used for this tow test are among the volume sellers in the range, with the 2024 Volkswagen Amarok Life TDI500 priced at $59,490 plus ORCs, and the better-equipped Amarok Style TDI600 another $14,250 more, at $73,740 plus ORCs.

Both shape up well as a value-for-money proposition, with some standard kit in the Amarok V6 Style not offered with the similarly priced Ford Ranger Wildtrak V6 (from $74,840) or Toyota HiLux Rogue (from $71,530), such as a 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, Matrix LED headlights, a 12.3-inch digital cockpit and leather-look dash inserts.

There’s also now more value offered across the Amarok range with MY24 updates adding blind spot monitoring and rear traffic alert to the entry-level Amarok Core.

All Amarok variants now also come standard with a fully integrated electric brake controller for towing (previously a $1180 option), to go with the standard tow ball.

Volkswagen has also slashed drive-away pricing as part of a current EOFY nationwide offer, which also includes a five-year care plan normally worth around $1900. For example, the Amarok V6 Style dual-cab 4x4 ute is currently available for $75,740 drive-away, with the Amarok Life TDI500 also reduced to $61,490 drive-away.

The 2024 Volkswagen Amarok Life TDI500 dual-cab ute comes relatively well equipped for the money with LED headlights and fog lamps, auto lights/wipers, heated electric mirrors, a power tailgate lock and 17-inch alloy wheels.

Inside, headline comfort features include an electronic handbrake and leather-clad steering wheel and gear shifter, single-zone air-conditioning and eight-way manually-adjustable front seats.

The Amarok Style TDI600 takes it up a notch with 18-inch alloy wheels, a stainless-steel sports bar, Matrix LED headlights with adaptive high beam, LED tail-lights and keyless entry/start.

Interior highlights include heated front seats with 10-way power adjustment for the driver’s pew, microfibre upholstery, stitched leather-look dash and door inserts, and dual-zone climate control.

The two test vehicles were also fitted with a number of factory-backed accessories. These were announced last year, but some have only just been released onto the market.

The dealer-fit accessories are covered by Volkswagen’s five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, with some items developed in partnership with local accessory specialists including ARB, which supplies the Old Man Emu suspension upgrades including 40mm lift kits for the Amarok’s front and rear.

The black Amarok V6 Style test vehicle came loaded up with almost $19,000 worth of extras, including an electric roller cover ($4668), cargo slide ($3052), rear sports bar ($2973), bike rack ($650), snorkel ($1119), soft-open tailgate ($239), underbody protection ($1654) and front and rear lift kit ($3815).

That boosted the price of this vehicle to $93,821 plus ORCs, or not much less than the Jayco caravan it was towing ($109,703).

The white Amarok Life TDI500 on test was fitted with one of a variety of hard-top canopies available: the white Premium Stylish High Spec Canopy with sliding window ($5650). This took the as-tested price to $65,050 plus ORCs.

For those who don’t want to tow a large caravan and aren’t afraid of heights, Volkswagen also displayed an Amarok-branded lightweight rooftop tent ($3342) mounted on roof cross bars ($464) on a bright blue turbo-petrol Amarok Aventura, for an asking price of $87,896 plus ORCs.

VW Australia is also offering a factory-backed nudge bar with integrated LED light bar ($1600) but no dealer-fit bull bar, so Amarok buyers who want full ’roo protection or a mounting platform for LED driving lights and electric winch will need source one from the aftermarket.

There are more dealer-fit accessories coming too, including Clearview-style extendable towing mirrors, like those offered as an option on the Isuzu D-MAX.

Like the Ford Ranger on which it’s based, the 2024 Volkswagen Amarok comes with a five-star ANCAP rating based on 2022 assessment protocols.

Both the Amarok Life and Style variants on test here come with a comprehensive suite of safety equipment.

This includes nine airbags (front, side, centre and curtain) and driver assist features like autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane assist and departure warning, blind spot monitoring, rollover mitigation, rear cross traffic alert, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, and speed sign recognition.

To help with hitching up as well as backing into the caravan park site, there are also front, rear and 360-degree cameras along with front and rear sensors.

The 2024 Volkswagen Amarok Style gets a slightly better in-cabin tech set-up than the Life variant, thanks to its full-size 12.0-inch portrait infotainment display and 12.3-inch digital cockpit, wireless charging and smartphone mirroring, digital radio and in-built navigation and six-speaker stereo.

The Amarok Life makes do with a slightly less impressive 10.1-inch screen (also with portrait orientation) and a configurable 8.0-inch digital instrument cluster controlled via buttons on the right-hand side of the steering wheel to select between various trip, audio or vehicle information.

However, both variants benefit from some trick towing-related technology shared with the Ford Ranger that makes life on the road easier for caravanners, including a trailer set-up that allows the user to save dimensions and data for up to 10 different trailers.

There’s also a one-person trailer light check feature, and a nine-step trailer connection checklist, all controllable from the driver’s seat.

The 2024 Volkswagen Amarok Life TDI500 is powered by the 154kW/500Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder twin-turbo diesel engine, with the Amarok Style TDI600 powered by the 184kW/600Nm 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel.

Both use a 10-speed automatic transmission, which they also share with the Ford Ranger, but the V6 also scores the option of full-time four-wheel drive.

The four-cylinder is limited to 2H for sealed surfaces, with 4H and 4L for unsealed.

Claimed combined-cycle fuel consumption for the 2024 Volkswagen Amarok Life TDI500 is 7.2L/100km, with 8.4L/100km for the Amarok Style TDI600.

The four-cylinder is slightly lighter at 2317kg, compared to a kerb weight of 2393kg for the V6 in standard trim.

In real-world mixed driving, we saw closer to 8.0L/100km (biturbo four) and 9.5L/100km (V6), rising to around 15L/100km and 17L/100km respectively when towing a three-tonne caravan.

Combined with the 80-litre tank, this gives a theoretical range of more than 1000km for both variants driving solo, dropping down to a range of around 470km or more when towing, depending on engine variant.

We drove the two 2024 Volkswagen Amarok utes – four-cylinder Life and V6 Style – back-to-back on mixed tarmac roads, both towing similar 24ft Jayco Silverline caravans weighing around 3000kg and with approximately 270-310kg on the tow ball.

Both utes had no trouble getting up to speed in traffic and cruising along at up to 100km/h on motorways, and generally handled the combined 5500kg-odd weight of the towing rig well.

That said, the extra 30kW and 100Nm of torque from the V6 made it easier to get up to traffic speeds and even accelerate up inclines where the four-cylinder could only maintain a constant speed.

The smaller four-cylinder engine was also noisier and less refined than the V6, especially around town. The V6 burble was barely audible inside the cabin, which was well insulated from wind and other external noise.

With both engines achieving peak torque from 1750rpm, the 10-speed transmission also does a good job of keeping both powerplants in their sweet spot, with mostly imperceptible changes.

Engine revs in both vehicles were mostly kept to around 2000rpm when towing, compared to closer to 1500rpm without the trailer.

Both felt quite planted and stable with the big three-tonne van behind, with little sway or pitching, although there was more trailer feedback felt when driving the four-cylinder Amarok.

This may have been partly due to the more forgiving off-road coupling on the caravan behind the V6 Amarok, compared to the standard 50mm ball coupling on the caravan hitched up to the 2.0-litre model.

Our only criticism of both the four-cylinder and V6 Amarok is their somewhat sporty suspension tune made the ride a bit more jittery over less-than-smooth tarmac.

The V6 Amarok with lift kit generally felt less bouncy with the caravan behind, so it might be a good option box to tick for both towing and off-roading.

The extra weight of the optioned-up V6 may have also contributed to its impressive towing stability, with the tow vehicle’s bulk more closely matching the caravan’s – an ideal scenario to help prevent the ‘tail wagging the dog’.

Also worth mentioning is the rear traffic alert is automatically deactivated when a trailer is connected, while pre-setting the trailer’s dimensions allows the blind spot monitor to extend further down the side of the caravan to make lane changes safer when towing.

The Tow Haul driving mode also automatically selects on-demand 4WD (V6 only), which is ideal for towing over a variety of surfaces. Tow Mode also does a good job of automatically down-shifting gears to encourage engine braking on steeper descents when towing.

While it’s a bit clunkier than the smaller rotary dial units fitted as an option on some rival utes, the sliding switch for the brake controller unit is conveniently located under the infotainment screen and potentially easier to reach if you do need to hit the trailer brakes quickly in the event of excessive trailer sway, without taking your eyes off the road.

Both the 2024 Volkswagen Amarok Life TDI500 and Amarok Style TDI600 can tow up to 3500kg, but the other trump card for both utes when towing a large caravan is the above-average gross combined mass (GCM) – 6400kg for the V6, 6350kg for the four-cylinder.

This basically means that unlike most rival utes (except the Ford Ranger) you can tow a 3500kg caravan while carrying a few people and gear (with a combined weight of approximately 350kg) in the tow vehicle without going over the legal weight ratings.

Taking into account the V6 Amarok’s GVM (3350kg) and payload (972kg), this also left a decent 397kg in vehicle payload and 525kg in GCM when towing the three tonne-plus caravan during our test.

It’s worth noting that Volkswagen recently changed from calculating the Amarok’s payload as GVM less tare weight (vehicle with 10L of fuel) as is the norm in the truck industry, to GVM less the kerb weight (vehicle with full tank of fuel) to bring it into line with the rest of the ute segment.

That gives the standard Amarok Life TDI500 a payload of 929kg, just shy of the V6 Style Amarok’s 972kg.

We already know the 2024 Volkswagen Amarok is a very capable off-roader in standard trim, with high- and low-range 4WD gearing, decent clearance and other off-road tech like hill decent control.

So it was informative to also test out the optional 40mm lift kit fitted to a V6 Amarok on some trickier off-road terrain, without caravan in tow.

Aimed at serious off-roaders, the front and rear lift kit adds around $4000 to the price and boosts the Amarok ground clearance from?235mm to?275mm. A development of ARB’s Old Man Emu Suspension, the lift kits are also optimised to enhance the vehicle’s suspension travel, ride height and ride quality, and there’s the option of a 40mm lift with 300kg constant loading at the rear for those who regularly plan to carry a lot of gear up back or tow a heavy caravan on a long trip.

Suffice to say, there was sufficient clearance on a tight and tricky ascent with plenty of ruts and mounds to ensure no banging of the optional full underbody guards or standard side steps.

Locked in 4A and without having to resort to low-range gears, rear diff lock or any of the electronic off-road driving modes on the dry track, it was also a demonstration of the ute’s inherent off-road smarts, with excellent wheel articulation and a cleverly calibrated traction control system doing the job to keep things moving along.

It also did it on standard road tyres with highway pressures, although we did notice a vehicle with more aggressive (optional) Goodyear Wrangler rubber make it up the short hill climb with a bit less fuss.

It’s easy to see why the mid-spec 2024 Volkswagen Amarok Style variants have accounted for more than 50 per cent of sales Down Under since the ute’s launch a year ago.

Compared to the Amarok Life, it’s a nicer place to spend longer periods of time, carrying a more premium feel thanks to stitched dash and door inserts, plump steering wheel, excellent figure-hugging seats and larger screen.

The Life still offers a pleasant driving environment with its comfortable cloth seats, large silver gearshift and the twin glove boxes and extra dash-top storage, which are also found in the Style V6.

There’s also fewer amenities for passengers on the rear bench of the Amarok Life, with just a 12V outlet and no air vents or USB ports, but both offer decent legroom unless there’s a long-legged driver or front passenger that pushes their seat too far back.

Both the V6 and biturbo four-cylinder diesel versions of the 2024 Volkswagen Amarok are excellent options for towing a large caravan or other heavy trailer, with the 2.0-litre offering a little less performance and refinement but similar towing stability to the V6, at a lot less upfront cost.

However, if the budget stretches, the V6 – especially in optioned-up Style guise tested here – is the superior towing machine, both for its added grunt, slight edge in ride comfort, more user-friendly 4WD system and better interior comforts and refinement.

The V6 diesel should also be a safer and more stress-free option if you plan to tow right up to the 3500kg maximum, particularly with its superior GCM.

2024 Volkswagen Amarok Life TDI500 at a glance:
Price: $59,490 ($65,050 as tested, plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder twin-turbo diesel
Output: 154kW/500Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.2L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 189g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2022)

2024 Volkswagen Amarok Style TDI600 at a glance:
Price: $73,740 ($93,821 as tested, plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel
Output: 184kW/600Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.4L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 222g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2022)