A beast of a motor

LAST
week I drove what was probably the highest truck I have ever been in. The view
over the hedgerows was impressive as I sat behind the wheel of the massive 2.0
litre Amarok from Volkswagen.

This
is VW’s first venture into the pick-up truck market and they now have a model
which is solid as a rock and should be well able to compete with pick ups from
the likes of Nissan, Mitsubishi and Toyota.

The
building boom may be over, but if you are not in the building trade you could
still find many uses for this double-cab with enough room in the back to carry
a euro pallet sideways. Only trouble is that any cargo you transport is open to
the elements – fine if you live in Australia or the US, but in Ireland you
could take a trip to your local co-op to buys a few bags of feed for your
cattle and then find that it’s soaking wet by the time you get home.

You can get a tonnueau cover for around

?¬1,400
and a proper canope cover for the rear end will cost you

?¬3,000. How many times
we have seen these pick up trucks featured in American films where people ferry
and leave various goods in the back? But sadly in Ireland today I don’t think
you could leave anything valuable in the cargo area overnight as it probably
wouldn’t be there in the morning.

Two
weeks ago I saw a silver coloured Amarok being driven by a colleague and it
looked good. But I was really impressed when I went to pick up my test model
and found it was black; it looked stunning. However, after a few weeks on the
farm it might lose some of its sheen. But there are more colours than silver
and black to choose from and you can have Tornado Red, Starlight Blue and
Mendoza Brown, to name just a few.

The
model I drove was a double-cab which meant room in the back seat for three
adults. A single cab version will be available at a later stage. Naturally you
can opt for four-wheel drive if you are working in rough terrain, but most of
my driving was in urban areas where I found the high driving position was
nearly as good as AA Roadwatch in the mornings. Thanks to the high seats when I
came to a junction like the Naas Road/Long Mile Road I could see which of the
roads ahead offered the freer route.

Different
outside, but inside the cabin you soon realise that you are driving a VW. As
with all VW motors the controls on the dash are well laid out and easy to use.
As I said earlier it’s really high and you wouldn’t want to be suffering from
arthritis to climb on board. To help you get into the cabin there are hand
grips for both driver and front seat passenger.

The
name Amarok comes from the Inuit language where it means Wolf. And yes you
could throw a wolf on board if you come across one on the mountains. The cargo
area can carry one ton and the Amarok can pull weights of up to 2.8 tonne.
Prices start at

?¬36,920 and if you are using the pick up for commercial use the
road tax is only

?¬288. Naturally the price will go up the higher the spec.