SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

My most recent drive is on the home page. Archived reviews and opinion pieces are in the active menu down the left side. Hover your cursor over a heading or manufacturer's name and follow the drop-down.

Editor's note: SA Roadtests accepts multi-day vehicle loans from manufacturers in order to provide editorial reviews. All vehicle reviews are conducted on our turf and on our terms.

For out-of-province vehicle launch features however, travel costs are covered by the manufacturer concerned. This is common in the motor industry, as it's more economical to ship journalists to cars than to ship cars to journalists.

Judgments and opinions expressed on this site are our own. We do not accept paid editorial content or ads of any kind.


The dark side: 2020 VW Amarok Dark Label 2.0 BiTDI 4Motion dual cab

More can-do

Posted: February 27, 2020

The numbers
Price: R709 700
Engine: 1968 cc, DOHC, four-cylinder bi-turbo, diesel
Power: 132 kW at 4000 rpm
Torque: 420 Nm between 1500 and 2000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 11.3 seconds
Maximum speed: 179 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 10,5 l/100 km
Tank: 80 litres
Turning circle: 12.9 metres
Ground clearance: See text
Approach/departure/breakover angles: 29.5/23.6/21,4 degrees
Rollover angle: 49.7 degrees
Wading depth: 500 mm
Payload without driver: 838 kg standard, or 1041 kg with optional HD spring set
Tare without driver and fuel: 1982 kg standard, or 1999 kg with HD springs
GVM (standard/optional): 2820/3040 kg
GCM: 5950 kg
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km
Service plan: 5 years/90 000 km: at 15 000 km intervals

“Dark Label. Over rocks. A double.”

This isn’t some show-off, in a bar somewhere, bragging unsubtly about the whisky he can afford to drink, but a regular Joe or Joanne describing his or her new Amarok pickup. It’s a limited edition and reserved for those who deserve it.

Dark Label is its name, over rocks refers to 4Motion all-wheel drive and double simply describes its dual-cab configuration. It comes only in eight-speed ZF automatic, so the awd system is fully automated; controlled by a central Torsen differential.

The other kind of 4Motion is selectable, includes low range gearing and works only with manual shifters. Amaroks used by the Voetspore team, a few years ago, used this combination.

Volkswagen’s range of Amarok pickup trucks has been around since its world launch here in late-2010 and has been written-up extensively, so we won’t repeat too much. VWSA sold an average of 210 units per month over the past year but insists that it could sell more if the factories had additional stock available. South Africa is a tiny market in the grand scheme of things so we must take what we can get.

There are two versions of the two-litre four-cylinder engine and one of the three-litre V6; double-cab is the only body style still on offer and the dozen choices we have consist of the engines, various trim levels, manual and automatic, 4x2 or 4x4.

Dark Label appears to be basically a 132 kW, 2.0 BiTDI, Highline automatic with 4Motion and some extras. These consist of Vienna leather seats, with warming available as a R5044 option; a locally made black bin bar with Amarok lettering; door handles and exterior mirrors in matte black; similar highlights on the grille with its dark chrome lacquered edges; tinted rear windows; blacked-out B-pillars; black side sills; ‘Dark Label’ décor film on the sides; smoked taillights and new, 18-inch ’Rawson‘ twisted spoke wheels with 255/60R18 tyres.

Thus clad in Darkness, our Indium Grey tester looked as evil as Sin. And ‘way more bragworthy than that barfly’s favourite tipple.

Some of the standard kit: Four airbags, two iSize mounting sets, auto-on Bi-Xenon headlamps, LED DRLs, automatic wipers, single channel air conditioning (Climatronic available at R7203 extra), Composition Media entertainment centre, front and rear parking distance control, and fog lights at both ends. Those in front swivel to light your way around corners.

Bearing in mind that big double-cab pickups can be almost as difficult to dock as pocket battleships, a reversing camera is  a useful option at R5750; even if it saves you only one first-excess payment.

Observations: This model’s ground clearance is 192 mm under the front axle and its Torsen controlled 4Motion wouldn’t ultimately be quite as competent as the one with low range. But the automatic boasts a very low first gear, so the overall package has more can-do than most owners expect.

We took it out onto our local forest trail that had turned quite challenging after recent rains exposed more loose rock and deepened the washaways. There’s an Off-road button but we left it unswitched. It’s only there to engage gravel-road ABS and Downhill Crawl. Apart from a split-second’s wheelspin in one patch, the Amarok eased its way through without complaint. Had any of the washaways been deeper, switchable rear difflock was there to help things along.

Summary: Amarok Dark Label may not be the ultimate off-road adventure vehicle but it can do more than most owners would ask of it. In the meantime, it’s excellently bragworthy.

Test unit from VWSA press fleet

We have driven a bunch of Amaroks over the past ten years. Here are a couple:

2017 3.0 4Motion auto

2013 2.0 4Motion auto

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.

If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

Comments or questions?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you completely disagree with what I say? If you want advice or have a genuine concern, I will be happy to hear from you. All I ask is that you write something in the subject line so I know which vehicle you're talking about.