Thread: Towing with a VW Amarok

Hello
When I said goodbye and the Disco was up for sale I was told to stay, So I'm still here.

I thought some of you may be interested to hear about towing with our new toy.

I must admit to some concerns when we swapped the Disco 2 for the Roc, The Td5 auto towed our 20 ft tandem axel van well and the smaller engine in the Roc was an unknown.

We hooked it up for the first time on Friday for a trip to Barwon Heads for a long weekend. I thought I would just drop it on the Factory tow hitch and see what it looked like, If it was not looking good the Hayman Reese WDH hitch was the next option. (This was a must have on the Disco, made all the difference). (I know LR don't recommend this but has worked for us very well on many a trip).

Dropped the van onto the Roc and it dropped about 2 inches, Van was sitting level and the whole set up looked good. So no WDH. Plugged in the trailer plug hoping that the new Red-Arc brake controller was going to do its job and get a bulb warning light on the dash. Start swearing!

The Roc has a similar set up to the new Discos tow assist and if the brake controller is not done properly things start setting off warning lights. Pulled of the LH lens on the van tightening the earth wire fixed it.

So off we went, onto the Western HW & into top gear in a very sort time (6sp man), all I could say was I do not believe this, The indicator on the dash that tells you when to change up or down to achieve max fuel economy kept telling me to change up a gear. I'm thinking if I do it will start to struggle, It didn't, the up shift just pulled away, the torque is unbelievable.

The next drama was to keep the speed down, it just wants to go, the speed limit alarm set at 105 klm was constantly going off. The van just sat there with no sway and everything felt perfect The couple of rough roads between Baccus Marsh & Geelong caused no fuss. The trip was relaxing the combination of van & vehicle worked perfectly.

On the way home the little 2 lt twin turbo left a 6 cyl jeep towing a small 12ft pop top way behind on the hills

Will be interesting to try her off road and compare, will let you know, think the longer wheelbase road tires & side steps will get in the way but if off road works as well as on will be really impressed. Now to find a way to keep the Disco as well? Done too much work on it to just sell it?

Conclusion Totally impressed, cannot fault it so far. Drives & handles better than most sedans pulls like a train, cheap to run, Made the bloke in the next campsite choke when we compared fuel consumption with his brand new Land cruiser V8 Diesel. I was kind & didn't mention the price difference either!

If you ever feel the need to stray, Go look at one of these!

I've always admired the Amarok and as with most here, it's (at least) the second choice. One thing that has perplexed me - leaf springs? I mean..... really?! I know that Volkswagen would have very, very good reasons for doing it (load carrying ability, cost, etc) but I would have thought a company such as Volkswagen in this day and age would have come up with a better alternative. Has there ever been another Volkswagen model with leaf springs? I can't think of one.

I don't want to get anyone's back up. I still really do think very highly of the Amarok so I'm interested to know how the rear suspension performs.

James.