Volkswagen Amarok is South Africa's best bakkie

The Volkswagen Amarok has been named SA’s bakkie of the year in a group test of 10 double cabs conducted by Leisure Wheels magazine in association with Business Day Motor News.

The Amarok scored 90.5 points to edge out the second placed Ford Ranger Raptor (86.3 points) and third placed Toyota Hilux (85.4 points).

The 10 bakkies were put through their paces by the Gerotek vehicle testing facility near Pretoria to evaluate their performance, handling, braking, fuel consumption, loading ability, towing prowess and other objectively-tested parameters.

They were also evaluated by a panel of five jurors, comprising motoring journalists and driving instructors, who drove them back to back on a route comprising tar, gravel and a 4x4 course.

The winning Amarok V6 scored highly in acceleration, weight carrying ability, handling, towing and was also the jurors’ favourite.

The Ford Ranger Raptor was hailed for its off-roading ability and had the highest ground clearance in the line-up at 240mm, followed by the Toyota Land Cruiser (230mm) and Mahindra Pik Up (225mm).

The Hilux recorded the best fuel consumption, the Isuzu D-Max had the most affordable parts pricing, the Mahindra Pik Up won the highest payload category, the Ford Ranger Wildtrak had the best turning circle and the Nissan Navara took victory in the 100km/h-0 braking test.

The Land Cruiser excelled in off-roading but set the lowest scores in dynamic tests like braking, lane-changing, and in-gear acceleration, and also had the highest fuel consumption.

The tests were designed to be as exhaustive and objective as possible, said competition organiser Danie Botha of Leisure Wheels.

“Repeatable tests of international standard were conducted at Gerotek, with a major focus on actual consumer requirements and usage. But it also goes as far as measuring ownership costs, dealership performance and point of sale interaction,” he said.

“Still, the vehicle buying process remains an emotive one too, and not only about numbers and data. That’s why we included a small panel of expert judges that drove all 10 vehicles over the same routes, and allocated points. This segment counted 20% towards the overall score.”

* Denis Droppa was one of the jurors.

FINAL RANKING               

VW Amarok 3.0TDI V6 4Motion Canyon — 90.5 points

Ford Ranger Raptor — 86.3

Toyota Hilux 2.8GD-6 4x4 Legend 50 — 85.4

Ford Ranger 2.0 Bi-Turbo AT 4x4 Wildtrak — 83.4

Mercedes-Benz X350d 4Matic Power — 81.6

Isuzu D-Max 3.0TD 4x4 LX — 78.9

Nissan Navara 2.3D 4x4 AT Stealth — 78.8

Mitsubishi Triton 2.4Di-D 4x4 — 75.9

Mahindra Pik Up S10 2.2CRDe Karoo edition — 70.4

Toyota Land Cruiser 79 4.5D4-D V8 Namib — 64.2

Parts bin comparison

1 Isuzu D-Max — R62,578

2 Ford Ranger Wildtrak — R72,078

3 Mahindra Pik Up — R72,716

4 Toyota Hilux — R78,534

5 Nissan Navara — R84 122

6 Toyota Land Cruiser — R126,341

7 Mercedes-Benz X350d — R126,461

8 Ford Ranger Raptor — R147,653

9 VW Amarok — R153,994

10 Mitsubishi Triton — R202,111

Power to weight

1 VW Amarok — 70.69kW/ton

2 Mercedes-Benz X350d — 59.04kW/ton

3 Nissan Navara — 48.15kW/ton

4 Mitsubishi Triton — 44.98kW/ton

5 Ford Ranger Wildtrak — 44.55kW/ton

6 Toyota Hilux — 44.14kW/ton

7 Isuzu D-Max — 42.13kW/ton

8 Ford Ranger Raptor — 41.56kW/ton

9 Mahindra Pik Up — 39.64kW/ton

10 Toyota Land Cruiser — 37.64kW/ton

Top stats — payload (with driver + full tank)

1 Mahindra Pik Up — 940kg

2 Isuzu D-Max — 850kg

3 VW Amarok — 770kg

4 Ford Ranger Wildtrak — 760kg

5 Mercedes-Benz X350d — 750kg

= Nissan Navara — 750kg

6 Mitsubishi Triton — 730kg

7 Toyota Hilux — 640kg

8 Toyota Land Cruiser — 590kg

= Ford Ranger Raptor — 590kg

Fuel consumption

1 Toyota Hilux — 9.6l/100km

2 Mahindra Pik Up — 9.67l/100km

3 Mitsubishi Triton — 10.21l/100km

4 VW Amarok — 10.53l/100km

5 Nissan Navara — 10.6l/100km

6 Ford Ranger Wildtrak — 11.11l/100km

7 Ford Ranger Raptor — 11.63l/100km

8 Isuzu D-Max — 11.66l/100km

9 Mercedes-Benz X350d — 12.46l/100km

10 Toyota Land Cruiser — 19.98l/100km

In-gear acceleration 80-120km/h (500kg load)

1 VW Amarok — 7.54 seconds

2 Mercedes-Benz X350d — 8.25 seconds

3 Mitsubishi Triton — 11.83 seconds

4 Ford Ranger Wildtrak — 12.13 seconds

5 Nissan Navara — 12.32 seconds

6 Isuzu D-Max — 12.78 seconds

7 Toyota Hilux — 13.11 seconds

8 Ford Ranger Raptor — 14.37 seconds

9 Mahindra Pik Up — 17.33 seconds

10 Toyota Land Cruiser — 20.66 seconds

Ground clearance (rear diff)

1 Ford Ranger Raptor — 240mm

2 Toyota Land Cruiser — 230mm

3 Mahindra Pik Up — 225mm

4 Toyota Hilux — 220mm

= Isuzu D-Max — 220mm

= Mercedes-Benz X350d — 220mm

= Nissan Navara — 220mm

= Ford Ranger Wildtrak — 220mm

= Mitsubishi Triton — 220mm

5 VW Amarok — 210mm

Braking 100-0km/h (500kg load)

1 Nissan Navara — 42.19m

2 Mitsubishi Triton — 42.90m

3 Toyota Hilux — 42.97m

4 Isuzu D-Max — 43.61m

5 Ford Ranger Wildtrak — 43.86m

6 Mahindra Pik Up — 43.89m

7 VW Amarok — 44.24m

8 Mercedes-Benz X350d — 44.30m

9 Ford Ranger Raptor — 45.87m

10 Toyota Land Cruiser — 69.56m

Judges’ call

1 VW Amarok — 48 points

2 Ford Ranger Raptor — 38 points

= Toyota Hilux — 38 points

3 Mercedes-Benz X350d — 30 points

4 Nissan Navara — 24 points

= Toyota Land Cruiser — 24 points

5 Isuzu D-Max — 23

6 Mitsubishi Triton — 22 points

7 Ford Ranger Wildtrak — 20 points

8 Mahindra Pik Up — 8 points

Double lane change test (ISO 3888-1)

1 VW Amarok — 4.13 seconds

2 Ford Ranger Raptor — 4.21 seconds

3 Toyota Hilux  — 4.22 seconds

4 Ford Ranger Wildtrak — 4.24 seconds

5 Nissan Navara — 4.31 seconds

6 Mahindra Pik Up — 4.37 seconds

7 Isuzu D-Max — 4.39 seconds

8 Mitsubishi Triton — 4.42 seconds

9 Mercedes-Benz X350d — 4.56 seconds

10 Toyota Land Cruiser — 4.85 seconds

Turning circle

1 Ford Ranger Wildtrak — 9.05m

2 VW Amarok — 9.12m

3 Isuzu D-Max — 9.15m

4 Mercedes-Benz X350d — 9.25m

5 Mitsubishi Triton — 9.33m

= Nissan Navara — 9.33m

6 Ford Ranger Raptor — 9.55m

7 Toyota Hilux — 9.63m

8 Mahindra Pik Up — 11m

9 Toyota Land Cruiser — 11.76m