Sorry, but with a name like Amarok, what does VW expect?

In case you have not heard of it, the Amarok is the latest 4×4 luxury crew-cab pickup to enter the market. Beloved status symbols of small business owners all over the UK, these large pickups do have some practical uses, too.

They are great tow vehicles, they work off road and you can carry about 1 tonne in the back while still seating 5 in comfort. On the other hand, the load beds aren’t that big, thanks to the double cab.

If you are Volkswagen, you can also use four of them to demolish 140 tonne chimneys in Reading, too.

The stunt, which took place back in May, was part of VW’s publicity campaign for the launch of the Amarok.

Four 200m lengths of rope were rigged to the top of the chimney and attached to the towbars of four standard Amarok pick-ups, each with Volkswagen’s latest four-cylinder, 2.0-litre TDI engine producing 163 PS of power. For this demonstration they were fitted with a ‘quick release’ safely mechanism for the towing ropes, ensuring the safety of the stunt drivers in the unlikely event of the structure falling in the wrong direction.

Engines Keep Getting Smaller

On a more serious note, one of the interesting things about the Amarok is its 2-litre diesel engine. It is, I believe, the same unit that will be used in VW’s new Crafter large van and as a result, both vehicles can claim the unusual distinction of having the smallest engines in their class.

As with the Crafter, the most powerful (163PS) engine specification utilises two turbochargers to provide oodles of torque and power without requiring excessive revs (a chimney-toppling 400Nm of torque is available from 1500-2000rpm on the 163PS model).

At the same time, the engine’s modern design and diminutive capacity (for a vehicle with a 5,500kg gross train weight) mean that its emissions will be relatively palatable for a commercial vehicle – 199 g/km of CO2 for the 122PS version and 209 g/km of CO2 for the 163PS model.