V6 Diesel Amarok??

[calibrated]

Seen a few of these and like what I see. Even crossed my mind to trade my Nissan powered Defender 130 in on one of these BUT there's no big engine... Why no twin turbo V6 diesel option?? Surely if they want to compete with the Australian market they need a lump capable of pulling a laden boat trailer across the Nulabor overloaded itself with gear, big tyres, roo bars and people doing 140kph!! Thoughts please..

Drive one. Then tell me you dont think it can do what you mentioned above.

[Ralphs]

When I first bought a Golf 2.0TDI with 6 speed DSG about 6 years ago most people thought going diesel was crazy. I must admit I was a bit sceptical.

We live up a twisting "mountain" road which climbs from sea level to over 430m in just 6 Km. One day I had a guy in a Holden V8 SS ute sitting right on my rear bumper just at the start of the hill. He was being smart in his BIG V8 !! So I dropped the Golf into sports mode and at each turn pulled another 20m away. The first few I could see him wondering "what the .... it's only a Golf and diesel to boot". As we crested the top of the hill he was at least 300m back, with white knuckles.

So a win for german engineering. Now we have a Tiguan, also diesel, and we love it. Also have a Rodeo Ute with a 3.4L V6 that is strong but torque is average and it drinks like a sailor on shore leave.

So "common wisdom" meaning Japanese brainwashing is we must have at least 3.0L and really you want a 4.5L V8 to go touring in Australia with a load. Frankly I am going to give those German engineers at VW the benefit of the doubt. They say I can load the Amarok with a ton and then pull 2.8T on the tow bar and still climb a 12 degree rise. I plan to put about 650 Kg on the tray and pull a 1.4T Tvan fully loaded. And frankly I will never two at 140K/hr not even in NT.

Would I buy a V6 or the R5 out of the old Touareg if it was available ... Yes... would I pay extra ...Yes. How much ... maybe +$5K.

But in the meantime I think the 2.0TDI will do the job I need it to do.

[Sumodog68]

Golf diesel quicker then SS ute ? You could see his white knuckles 300m away I would say he was just playing with you
German engineers are good but i think you are a bit brainwashed with your german engineering ideas - they are known to make their designs overly complicated which in turn reduces reliabilty.
Name one german 4wd that is commonly used in serious offroading by normal people and not racing teams with huge budgets...

[fouros]

i dunno i thought G Wagens were pretty decent off road

[Seano]

Golf diesel quicker then SS ute ?

All the power in the world is not much good if you can't get it on the ground. Which one do you think has the better chassis dynamics for the requisite engine, eh? My money would be on the Golf.

That said.....the OP asks when an Amarok will get a V6 Tdi. The likely answer is....never. Unless VW decide to take the US market seriously (which is unlikely since the US seems to be eating itself of late). Doesn't fit the development & market profile - it'd have to be a premium vehicle and sit at the top of the Amarok range - why pay $60K plus for a V6 Tdi Amarok? That's roughly the asking price for the base model Touareg with its 150/400 V6 Tdi (Amarok is 120/400) so to beat that you'd have to go for the up tuned 176/550 V6 which is somewhere in the 80K territory....how much would that set you back in an Amarok especially if VW want to avoid devaluing their engineering?

Not a chance. If you want to do all the stuff suggested in the OP (and think the Amarok can't) then by a Ford Falcon ute with the new LPi engine. But that probably wouldn't make you happy either...

[Ralphs]

A mate just bought a Toyota 79 series single can ute for over $60K with a few bells on it !! So there is a market for higher powered strong utes.

[Sumodog68]

I agree with power and chassis to exploit it comment but i 've lost count of how many times i get "beaten" at the lights or mountain passes by much slower cars (when driving my 8 ) as i am not really racing . I mean you do set them straight now and then but i am not driving around trying to prove how quick my car is...
On a ute subject - We looked at pretty much all available utilities (and many 4WD wagons) on the market . Loved the Amarok apart from the seats and choice of engines and transmissions as i really wanted a 6 and an auto this time around. In the end we went with Navara 550. Picked it up this morning


http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/...68/Navara2.jpg

[FASTCRAIG]

didnt the french surrender to the germans??? seats in a Navara better than an Amarok?????

[FASTCRAIG]

G Wagen , Uni Mog and my 04 Touareg

[phantomcamel]

Golf diesel quicker then SS ute ? You could see his white knuckles 300m away I would say he was just playing with you
German engineers are good but i think you are a bit brainwashed with your german engineering ideas - they are known to make their designs overly complicated which in turn reduces reliabilty.
Name one german 4wd that is commonly used in serious offroading by normal people and not racing teams with huge budgets...

UNIMOG Unimog Australia: Unimog Australia