LDV Deliver 9 vs Volkswagen Amarok

What's the difference?

It has its flaws, like any vehicle, but it’s not as far away from segment leaders in terms of refinement and performance that its bargain-basement pricing might suggest. Whichever way you look at it, this is a lot of van for not a lot of money.

The Amarok W600 is impressive when you get it onto a twisty road, and my hat goes off to Walkinshaw for turning a dual-cab into something that is genuinely fun to drive on twisty roads. I’m not kidding, the W600 is proper fun.

But it’s expensive, and despite the tough looks and on-road ability, it doesn’t have any more on-paper performance than its standard siblings. That and its ride is compromised by its new abilities.

Those who spend the cash on a W600 probably won’t be disappointed if they can handle a slightly stiff ride, but it’s possible VW is expecting people will be more into the idea of a corner-carving dual-cab than is the reality.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

If imitation is the greatest form of flattery then Ford should be blushing, because the Deliver 9 appears to draw a lot of exterior design inspiration from the Transit van. It’s a substantial vehicle, as they tend to be in this weight division, with a 3750mm wheelbase and 14.2 metre turning circle, length of almost 6.0 metres (5940mm) and width of 2466mm. Its 2535mm height excludes it from underground and shopping centre carparks with typical height limits of 2.2 metres.

The rear-wheel drive chassis construction is simple and robust, with MacPherson strut front suspension, multi-leaf live axle rear suspension with supplementary rubber cones to boost support of heavy loads, rack and pinion steering and four-wheel disc brakes. There’s also ample use of hard-wearing black plastic on lower body sections where most scrapes and dents appear.

The cargo bay is accessed by one kerbside sliding door and dual rear-barn doors with 180-degree opening. The walls are lined to mid-height and there’s no roof lining. Bright LEDs provide ample lighting and even though our test vehicle was not the high-roof model, there was enough headroom for tall adults to stand without stooping. 

The cabin has a spacious and airy feel, even with a crew of three aboard, thanks largely to a banana-shaped dashboard with ends that curve towards the windscreen providing wide entry access and passenger legroom which is unusually generous for a commercial van.

The cabin has higher-grade look than you would expect at this price, with a tasteful two-tone blend of light/dark grey plastics and faux carbon fibre inserts on the dash along with comfortable, supportive seats with quality-feel fabrics.

However, there is room for improvement, as there’s no cargo protection for driver and passengers, no driver’s left footrest, crackly AM radio reception (too bad if you like talkback) and a poor-quality image projected by the reversing camera.

The Amarok W600 looks tough. In fact, it might even look a little too tough given the engine under its bonnet is unchanged from the regular V6 Amarok.

Walkinshaw has done an excellent job making the Amarok look like a properly fierce on-road performer, from the bespoke front bumper and new ‘W’ motif in the grille, to the lightbar across the front of the fascia connecting the lights and the aforementioned 20-inch Walkinshaw wheels.

The side-exit twin exhaust up the back of the ute looks excellent, and the fact that the sidesteps retract to tuck in below the doors gives the ute a sleeker vibe.

It’s a bit underwhelming in the cabin by comparison, with the Walkinshaw stitching in the headrests and the stainless steel pedals the biggest additions to the (admittedly already plush) Amarok interior.

It’s just a little more than a jazzed-up Ranger interior, but not by much.

Its 2358kg kerb weight and 4000kg GVM leaves a competitive maximum payload of 1642kg. It’s also rated to tow up to 2800kg of braked trailer but given the GCM figure (or how much you can legally carry and tow at the same time) is not published, we can’t tell you how much payload it can legally carry while towing that weight. 

We struck a similar problem testing a G10 LDV van as far back as 2017, when LDV could not provide the GCM despite a direct approach to the factory in China. Why such a fundamental figure must remain secret is a mystery to us and could be a deal-breaker if you need to tow and carry.

The cargo bay offers a competitive 10.97 cubic metres of load volume. Its load floor’s 3413mm length, 1800mm width and 1366mm between wheel housings means it can easily carry two 1165mm-square Aussie pallets or up to four 1200 x 800mm Euro pallets, held in place by a choice of eight sturdy load anchorage points. There’s also a small cave above the cabin which is ideal for carrying straps, ropes, load padding, tarps etc.

There’s more than ample cabin storage too, with large-bottle holders and two levels of storage in each front door, numerous nooks of different shapes and sizes across the dashboard including a driver’s cup holder, plus a single glove-box and large overhead storage shelf with central sunglasses holder.

Pivoting the two passenger seat base cushions forward reveals another big storage area beneath them. The centre seat backrest also folds down to reveal a handy work desk on the back if it, which includes two cup holders. Overall, there’s smart use of space here.

The Amarok starts from a solid base in terms of practicality, so the W600 inherits pretty much all of it, including a couple of its downsides.

The positives to start, the W600 uses the same handy multimedia system on a nice, clear vertical touchscreen with always-on climate controls and a few buttons for key shortcuts.

As much as a bespoke steering wheel would feel more special, the standard one from the Amarok has convenient buttons and is nice to hold.

The seats in the W600 are comfortable, and finding a naturally ergonomic position is easy with the 10-way electric adjustment, but as much as everything falls nicely to hand the cupholders are in an awkward position and there’s not a lot of easy storage space.

A little cubby above the glovebox and a small centre storage bin are a little hard to reach or access while driving, and the phone charger isn’t the best place to store items.

There’s decent space in the back, with doorcard bottle storage (as up front) and a centre armrest with cupholders.

Impressively, the Amarok W600 still has a 3500kg braked towing capacity, a 954kg payload, and no intrusion on the 1544mm long and 1224mm wide tray. There’s an optional roller cover for that, too.

Given the W600 is positioned at the pointy end of the Amarok range it should be no surprise that the dual-cab ute is pricey.

But the W600 starts from $91,990 before on-roads, which is $1300 more than the Ford Ranger Raptor. And the Raptor could be considered a bigger step up in performance when compared with its Blue Oval Brethren than the W600 is to its family. 

Noting, of course, that the Amarok borrows much of the Ranger’s construction from chassis to driveline to interior elements, the W600 is like the much more refined European cousin to the redneck Raptor.

For what you pay, the W600 does have a healthy level of features included, but it does feel like a lot of that cost is paying for the engineering that comes with it.

Regular stuff like a big 12.0-inch multimedia touchscreen, wide 12.3-inch driver display, eight-speaker sound system, electric leather seats and wireless phone charger should be expected anyway, but specific to the W600 is a set of 20-inch Walkinshaw wheels custom-fit to the W600, a dual-exit exhaust which of course exits to the side, and retractable sidesteps.

That, and the engineering underneath which includes a bespoke set of Koni dampers, the addition of a rear anti-roll bar, and a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV tyres to go with the new lightweight wheels.

LDV’s Euro 5-compliant 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel produces 110kW at 3500rpm and 375Nm between 1500-2400rpm, which is adequate but not class-leading. It also offers a choice of Eco and Power driving modes and auto stop/start. 

The six-speed torque converter automatic is smooth-shifting and easy to use. It also has the option of sequential manual-shifting which can be handy at times when hauling heavy loads, particularly in hilly terrain to save the transmission from continually hunting for gears.

Powering the W600 is the standard 3.0-litre twin-turbo-diesel V6 available in other Amaroks, with 184kW and 600Nm.

It’s mated to a 10-speed torque converted automatic and powers either the rear or all four wheels, depending on how you’ve set the all-wheel-drive system.

The dash display was showing an average combined figure of 11.0L/100km at the end of our 290km test, with the auto start/stop function disabled and about a third of that distance hauling maximum payload. Our figure crunched from fuel bowser and tripmeter came in at 12L/100km, so you could expect a real-world driving range of around 660km from its 80-litre tank.

The Amarok’s diesel V6 engine remains unchanged so the 8.4L/100km fuel consumption rate stands, but if you’re driving the W600 as intended, you’ll see that figure climb.

It’s fitted with an 80-litre fuel tank so theoretically a 950km trip would be possible in WLTP test conditions.

It’s pleasantly civilised to drive unladen, even on bumpy roads. With rock-hard tyre pressures (front 51psi, rear 71psi) recommended for load-carrying, the unladen ride remained disciplined and relatively smooth, so LDV has done a good job with the suspension tuning.

We were also pleasantly surprised by the low internal noise levels, not only in city and suburban driving but also at highway speeds. We can only assume that the load floor’s thick rubber flooring, which also covers the rear wheel housings, is effective in reducing the higher noise levels typically experienced in vans without cabin bulkheads like this one.

There are clear eye-lines to the door mirrors and the view through the rear doors using the central mirror is also uncluttered. There’s evenly-balanced elbow support for the driver between the fold-down inboard armrest and door moulding. However, we did miss having a left footrest.

With maximum torque available across a broad band between 1600-2400rpm, the engine displays good flexibility in city and suburban driving, even though it lacks the instant punch of rivals like the Transit’s stellar 2.0 litre EcoBoost engine when operating in its peak torque zone. The engine only needs 2000rpm at 100km/h and 2250rpm at 110km/h, but the degree of push required on the accelerator pedal to maintain it feels like it’s punching above its weight a little in either drive mode.

Our only major gripe is the adaptive cruise control. Usually these systems will automatically resume their pre-set speed, after being given clear road ahead following a lane change from behind a slower vehicle. However, our test vehicle required tapping the accelerator each time a lane change was made to resume the set speed. It also required this reset technique after downhill braking, so some refinement here would be welcome.

The first and most impressive thing to mention once you’re on the move in the Amarok W600 is that, once you sling the 2.4-tonne dual cab into a corner, you can tell there’s been some rigorous engineering work undertaken here.

The cornering and handling ability of the W600 belies its dual-cab nature to some extent, as it holds relatively flat and is far more confidence inspiring even on soaked roads than any ladder-frame ute I can recall. 

Of course, the tyres help on the cornering front too, with the PS4 SUV rubber being a fairly big trade-off in terms of sacrificing off-road ruggedness for asphalt grip.

Even the exhaust is a subtle reminder that you’re in something that’s had the once-over (or several times over) from a crew of engineers who know what they’re doing.

Sure, it’s not the same burble that used to roll out of the Walkinshaw sheds back in the Holden days, but it growls gently at certain revs or under the right load.

But the ride is firm, and it’s surprising the roads in the south and east of Tassie showed that given they were the test roads used to turn the W600 into the ‘ultimate driver’s ute’.

It’s noticeable enough that you’d probably get a bit tired of it on a long trip, which is a shame as that’s something VW is pretty sure its W600 customers are looking to use it for. That’s why it can still tow 3500kg and has that near-1000kg payload.

I should note that utes with some weight in the tray often feel a little more settled at the leaf-sprung rear, but we didn't test the W600 with any load onboard.

Its big wheels and low-profile rubber probably don’t help the 2.4-tonne ute on the comfort front, but hey, they look good.

The other main issue is it doesn’t feel as ‘special’ as it could in the power and performance department. 

The engine is great for a dual-cab, plenty torquey and doesn’t feel like it needs to work hard day-to-day, but something with a bit of mongrel about it would have been better.

VW not wanting Walkinshaw to detract from its towing and payload ability might have hindered this a little, but I can’t help but wonder if the Amarok W600 could have been more lively with the four-cylinder petrol engine than the diesel V6.

In the Amarok TSI452 variants, it feels peppy enough to be interesting, and there’s probably more scope for chassis balance than the twin-turbo diesel allows.

It’s also the engine used in Ford’s Mustang EcoBoost and the wicked Focus RS of a few years ago, so not bad pedigree.

The Amarok boasts a five-star ANCAP rating and a strong list of safety features as standard, including a very impressive count of nine airbags.

A driver assistance suite includes lane-assist, pedestrian and cyclist monitoring, a surround-view parking camera, trailer and hitching assist with sway control, plus front and rear cameras with cross-traffic alert.

It’s certainly at the more impressive end of the dual-cab market considering the age of the Amarok as a whole.

Even better, the driver assist systems are unobtrusive, leaving you to enjoy the impressive on-road performance of the W600 without interruption from dings, chimes or warnings.

LDV’s national network of 82 dealers inspires more confidence than the three years/160,000km warranty, which is less than the major players – but then its purchase price is much lower too. Scheduled servicing is six months/5000km then 12 months/35,000km whichever occurs first and 12 months/30,000km after that. Capped-price servicing program of $1895 covers the first three years or 95,000km whichever occurs first.

The W600 is backed by VW’s standard five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty.

Given most popular utes are covered by the same, that’s pretty standard, but longer warranties are creeping in.

Volkswagen says a five-year servicing plan covers the Amarok for just $3200, which averages to $640 a year. Service schedule is every 12 months or 15,000km.