Isuzu D-Max vs Volkswagen Amarok

What's the difference?

There’s a fairly big change hiding under the metal of one of Australia’s favourite utes. The Isuzu D-Max has a new 2.2-litre engine, replacing the 1.9-litre unit, and it brings a couple of other things with it.

A bigger engine designed to be more powerful and more efficient can only be a good thing, surely, especially with Isuzu looking down the barrel of stringent emissions laws with only two models in the line-up, both diesel powered.

But is this new 2.2-litre engine any good? Isuzu’s gone to the trouble of a new gearbox and some new tech to go with it, so we check it out to see if it stacks up against the increasingly strong competition.

I couldn’t say I’m familiar with Australia’s inland deserts. I thought there were two or three - the Simpson, Gibson, maybe the Great Sandy. 

But did you know there are 10? And Volkswagen knows each intimately thanks to a recent Guinness world record verified crossing of them all… in one go.

It took a tweaked-up Amarok six days and 17 hours if you must know, and to celebrate VW has created a limited build (300 unit) version of the dual cab ute called, you guessed it… the 10 Deserts Edition.

And we were invited to steer it on-road and over a variety of challenging (public) off-road trails around Mt Macedon and Cobaw, about an hour’s drive north-west of Melbourne.

Not quite the Strzelecki Track, but tough enough to see if this special VeeDub has what it takes to drive your off-highway ambitions. So, stay with us!