V6 STICK

VOLKSWAGEN HAS ADDED A MANUAL VARIANT TO ITS AMARAOK V6 RANGE, AND IT COMES WITH AN OLD-SCHOOL TWO-SPEED PART-TIME 4X4 SYSTEM THAT BENEFITS OFF-ROAD CAPABILITY.

- TRISTAN TANCREDI

VW AUSTRALIA has taken a gamble releasing a niche six-speed manual variant of its V6-powered Amarok Core. Granted, the V6 variant makes up almost 90 per cent of all private Amarok sales in Australia, which isn’t surprising when you consider it makes around 100 more

Newton metres than its four-cylinder stablemate, and you don’t have to swipe the credit card for that much more coin. In fact, owners can now get all of the benefits of six cylinders and have change from $50K. So, offering a manual variant is a gamble well worth taking, we reckon.

The stick-shift entry into the market means this Amarok is the only V6-powered manual dual-cab on sale in Australia – very niche, you could say. Volkswagen has already sold 60 V6 manual Cores, and demand for more is on a pure wait-and-see basis, with VW officials biding their time to see how many units shift in initial months.

The six-speed manual gearbox in question is the same gearbox used in the Amarok four-cylinder variants, but the shifts have been recalibrated and materials strengthened due to the increased torque running through it. The shifts are clean and there’s plenty of power from the V6 engine on tap early, which helps when overtaking. Planting the throttle to the rubber-clad footwell provides ample urge without much fuss; the engine is surprisingly smooth and quiet for a diesel.

The V6 is the 3.0-litre turbo-diesel unit with 165kW (180kW on overboost) and 500Nm – 50Nm less than the auto V6 variants but 80Nm and 100Nm more than the four-cylinder models. Engineers spent some time strengthening various aspects of the V6 variants to cater for the hike in torque, including adding bars in front of the radiator for added protection, and strengthening the front differential housing.