Volkswagen Amarok Ultimate 580 2019 Tow Test

If you’re looking for a dual-cab ute for heavy trailer towing you're really spoilt for choice. Almost all the key medium dual-cab utes have a 3500kg towing capacity, but it doesn’t mean that they're any good at towing that weight.

For towing balance comes down to a solid kerb weight, lengthy wheelbase and short rear overhang and for hill climbing and general performance and economy it’s of course down to a big-outputs powertrain and the right ratios in the driveline.

Dual-cab utes were primarily designed and engineered for lugging people and gear around, so there’s a lot to go wrong when towing.

Big performance, big price

So here we have the new 2019 Volkswagen Amarok Ultimate 580, which has the on-paper credentials to thrust it to the top of the class for towing. It has more power and torque than any other medium ute and equals the best of them with its 3500kg (braked) towing capacity.

From there the Amarok’s towing credentials are not as exciting. While all MY18 Amaroks received a towing weight upgrade from 3000-3500kg, maximum towball download remained unchanged at 300kg. This isn’t much chop if your trailer weighs more than 3000kg and runs a towball download mass of 10 per cent of trailer mass, like most Aussie caravans do.

It’s probably a good thing that you don’t have too heavy a towball download anyway because you can’t transfer weight to the front axle with a Weight Distribution hitch on the Amarok -- Volkswagen do not permit the use of a WDH at all, saying that the towbar was not designed for it.

Exceptional circumstances

While 80km/h seems a painfully slow towing speed these days, that’s the speed limit Volkswagen says you must adhere to with the Amarok if towing more than 3300kg.

For trailers weighing less, Volkswagen gives you an out. While the company prefers you drive at no more than 80km/h when towing, it allows speeds of up to 100km/h “in exceptional circumstances”. What are those ‘exceptional circumstances’? The owner’s manual doesn’t say, so if you need to do 100km/h because you want to get to camp a bit quicker, that’s probably okay.

It’s a fact of life these days that you need a calculator and quality time at a local public weighbridge to know you’ve safely and legally loaded your vehicle and trailer.

The Amarok’s figures are 2244kg kerb weight, 836kg payload and 6000kg for the Gross Combination Mass (GCM).

Crunch these figures and you soon see that they don’t compute. If you’re towing 3500kg, you have 5744kg sitting there, just 256kg short of GCM. The Amarok can’t carry a full payload and tow to its maximum capacity, or it can’t tow to its capacity with a full payload…

It’s not like Volkswagen has this problem all to itself though. Most utes are in the same boat.

Forget weights look at the power

Let’s forget all that stuff for a moment and have a look at the engine and powertrain specs. The Amarok has a very healthy 580Nm of torque available from 1250rpm to 3250rpm and the 190kW of power peaks at 3250rpm. You get another 10kW (to 200kW) at 3500rpm on overboost.

Overboost is available for up to 10sec only at more than 70 per cent throttle in third and fourth gear at road speeds between 50-120km/h. What if you’re towing? No overboost for you, it’s disabled as soon as you plug in the trailer.

With a starting price of $71,990 (plus on-road costs), the Ultimate 580 is the top of the Amarok range, with a new front bumper design, 20-inch ‘Talca’ alloy wheels, long chrome sports bar, illuminated side steps, UV-resistant load area cover, bi-xenon headlights with LED daytime running lights and an exclusive Peacock Green paint option. Metallic paint is the only option at $610 extra.

Inside, standard features include Nappa leather trim, a leather-wrapped multifunction steering wheel with paddle shifters, premium colour instrument cluster, black headlining and pillar trim, heated front seats with 14-way power adjustment and alloy pedals.

The Amarok’s seats are great – you’ll have no problems with a long transport stage on your caravan holiday, with plenty of lumbar, under thigh and lateral support.

Interior plastics quality was okay in 2011 when Amarok first lobbed but for a 2019 premium vehicle that costs about $80K drive-away it’s not up scratch.

Towing limitations

We have always been hamstrung by Volkswagen’s rule of no aftermarket accessories on press vehicles – which includes electric brake controllers. That might make sense to someone deep in the bowels of the Volkswagen Wolfsburg bureaucracy but it makes tow-testing a heavy trailer using a press vehicle nearly impossible.

But not totally impossible. We rustled up a portable EBC from Electric Brakes Australia and while unsightly it worked a treat activating the trailer brakes on the 2680kg River Diamantina tandem-axle caravan we picked up from Parravans in Windsor NSW.

The loom gets power from a 12-volt auxiliary port in the car and with an adaptor taps into the seven-pin plug for the brake light signal and also to activate the trailer brakes. We were therefore safe and legal, and if that doesn’t warm the heart, I don’t know what does...

Towball download was measured at 260kg while the Amarok’s rear suspension drooped 30mm, the front rose a mere 8mm. On those figures it doesn’t seem like the Amarok would desperately need a Weight Distribution Hitch.

So it was out on the road – there wasn’t a hint of sway as we towed the River down the freeway at 100km/h. The eight-speed transmission eased up the ratios and settled in eighth gear where the 3.0-litre V6 was spinning at around 1600rpm.

Surprisingly it was happy to stay in top gear most of the time, with an occasional visit to seventh gear.

A question of ride comfort

Leaving the freeway and onto a patchy secondary road, the problem was not the Amarok’s stability but ride comfort. The ride became jittery, just as it did when we last tested the Amarok.

That time we put the uncomfortable ride down to the fact that the caravan had just 100kg towball download, but clearly a lack of weight on the towbar wasn’t the problem this time. It seems as though the Volkswagen’s spring rates or damper valving just doesn’t take into account towing.

Back out onto the freeway and onto the hill climb test. Even though the ambient temperature was close to 40 degrees Celsius, the 190kW and 580Nm made light work of the climb. With about three-quarters throttle applied, the Amarok maintained the 90km/h speed limit with the engine revving at about 3000rpm with the transmission in fifth gear.

Hot and bothered

Coolant temperature during the brief climb stayed at the 90 degrees the gauge was showing for most of the test but quickly rose to about 110 degrees for a short period afterwards.

Even though we only put the rig under full throttle on the hill for a maximum of 30 seconds, it’s fair to say that the heat couldn’t be much worse and it’s no surprise that coolant temperature spiked.

Heading downhill the VW inched above its 70km/h start speed, showing 72km/h while revving at 4000rpm in third gear at the end of the test descent section.

Fuel consumption averaged 16.3L/100km over the towing test, with around 10.0L/100km consumed when driving solo mostly on intra urban highways.

Good or bad?

There’s no simple answer to the seemingly vexed question of whether the Amarok 580 is a good thing for towing.

On one hand, it has the performance and economy on its side but then its ride when towing deteriorates quickly on poor roads and there needs to be a bigger towball download margin for heavy trailer towing.

How much does the 2019 Volkswagen Amarok 580 Ultimate cost?

Price: from $71,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 190kW/580Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.9L/100km (ADR Combined)
Towing: 3500kg (300kg tow ball)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP (2011)