190 kW Amarok slays Subaru WRX STI

It is no longer any sort of secret, we have done all the testing, and Volkswagen’s 190 kW Amarok V6 TDI is by far South Africa’s fastest off the showroom floor stock standard 4×4 double cab bakkie.

But double cabs are not the only scalps that this GTI of bakkies has claimed. The Amarok has also dispatched a whole bunch of “much faster” cars too.

ALSO READ: 190 kW Amarok: Is SA’s fastest bakkie worth R1-million?   

The 190 kW Amarok runs a 3.0 V6 TDI that pumps out 190 kW from 3 000 to 4 500 rpm and a proper 580 Nm of torque from just 1 400 to 2 750 rpm which goes down to the wheels via an eight-speed Tiptronic gearbox. This was good enough to get the bakkie to 100 km/h in just 8.14 seconds when I tested it at Gerotek up at Reef altitude.

This times was good enough to drill Mercedes-Benz’s discontinued 190kW/550 Nm 3.0-litre V6 X-Class 350d into next week with a time that comes in at 9.43 seconds. And even further behind were Ford’s 147kW/470Nm 3.2-litre and 157kW/500Nm 2.0-litre bi-turbo Ranger siblings, with times of 12.34 and 12.45 seconds, respectively. Even Toyota’s 150kW/500 Nm 2.8 GD-6 Hilux was on the receiving end of a beating with a time of 12.38 seconds.

As said, bakkies were not the only victims. Honda’s screaming 148 kW/193 Nm 2.0-litre Civic Type R would be the first victim off my time sheets with an 8.15 second run. Ford’s then-fastest SUV, the 245kW/480Nm 4.0-litre Territory ST is next with a time of 8.19 seconds. Alfa Romeo’s sweet sounding 191 kW/322Nm 3.2-litre V6 159 Q4 comes in at 8.25 seconds.

These are just a few examples of some that came second to the Amarok, but the biggest upset and East Rand beat down of the decade would have been when I ran Subaru’s “giant killing” 221kW/407Nm WRX STI. Thanks to the sleepiest automatic gearbox ever on planet earth at that time, this car got to 100 km/h in 8.29 seconds.

Can you imagine, you stop at the traffic lights, your Pressley’s Night Club tunes pumping, your T-shirt two sizes too small, your tribal tattoos on full display along with your triceps all flexed like Dominic Toretto. Your binnie looking over, all ready for a night out on the town.

Later being the reason for you getting into a brawl with some ‘okes on the dance floor after you have had a few double brandy and cokes. And some farmer with a khaki hat and a Jack Russel on his lap pulls up next to you with two goats and his ouma’s couch loaded on the back of his bakkie, and he smokes your rip snorting wing bedecked STI? Ouch.