OLD SCHOOL ROK

IT’S TAKEN LONGER TO COME THAN TEN CHRISTMASES, BUT THE AMAROK V6 MANUAL – COMPLETE WITH DUALRANGE GEARING – IS FINALLY HERE.

- FRASER STRONACH

THE Amarok V6 arrived here in December 2016, but only with an eight-speed automatic gearbox and a single range full-time 4x4 system. At the time Volkswagen Australia said a V6 with a manual gearbox and dual-range part-time 4x4 was just 12 months away. As it has turned out the V6 manual took more than three years to arrive. And while the V6 automatic comes in everything from farm-stripped to Toorak fleshed-out, and with two different engine tunes (550Nm and 580Nm), the manual only comes in base spec with two same-price ($49,590 plus orc.) variants, the Core and the Core Enduro.

POWERTRAIN AND PERFORMANCE

THE Australian Amarok V6 manual is unique as it gets it own engine tune not available elsewhere in the world, where the manual gearbox is mated at best to a 150kW variant of this now long-serving and widely used (inc. Porsche and Audi) VW-family 3.0-litre turbo diesel V6.

Here we get a 165kW version of the engine, complete with the over-boost function that bumps the power up to a very healthy 180kW. The overboost function comes into play between 50 and 120km/h but can extend to 140km/h and ramp-ups from 70 per cent throttle, and is fully available at 95 per cent throttle and beyond.

If all that sounds all a bit erratic, it’s not, as this engine delivers seamless power regardless of gear or throttle openings and offers superb in-gear flexibility where all 500Nm of torque is available from just 1250rpm and remains undiminished until 3000rpm, or 3500rpm under overboost conditions. This flat torque line gives a perfectly linear power progression throughout the normal and commonly used operating speeds of the engine.