Mitsubishi Triton vs Volkswagen Amarok

What's the difference?

There's no denying this new Triton is a marked improvement over the model it replaces. It drives better, has more power, a more comfortable cabin and more driver-friendly tech.

Whether that's enough to rattle the segment's leaders remains to be seen, but this feels like a far more modern ute for modern times.

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

The Life might one of the more budget-friendly offerings in the Amarok range, but for mine, it's also among the smartest buys in the family.

So ask yourself, do you really need that V6?

Well, if you like utes, have I got some good news for you! Because the new Mitsubishi Triton looks a lot like, well, a ute.

That's not to undersell the work Mitsubishi has done here. There's a new 'Yamabuki Orange' colour for the flagship GSR, for example, and it looks particularly sharp with the black alloys and silver skid plate.

I even like the new body-colour lines crossing over the top of the blacked-out grille – though I concede they could be polarising.

But, yes, it's a ute.

Inside, though, it's a vastly improved space. We've spent most our time in the top-spec model, and it's a solid mix of utility, technology and comfort.

It feels vaguely premium, owing to clever cabin materials, but never fussy, which would feel out of place in a dual cab that is still ostensibly a workhorse.

I love the fact that all your core functions – climate controls and the like – are still controlled by tactile switches, and I even love the old-school handbrake.

I'm also a big fan of the big-enough central screen with its wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the wireless charger and USB connections. It's tough meets tech, and it all works really well.

It feels a little weird to describe any kind of dual-cab ute as "elegant", I know. We're used to these trucks looking big and bulky, with tough usually being the singular design brief.

But you know what, I'm going to. Because the Amarok does look somehow elegant – mature, even – both in its Core and Life guises.

It's partly the colours available – the Bright Beige Metallic especially is lovely — but it's also the design philosophy overall. VW talks about it, and when they do it can sound like marketing guff, but the Amarok does genuinely look like it has European sensibilities.

Climb inside the Core and you're met with the rough-and-tumble cabin of an entry-level workhorse. The steering wheel feels low end, the flooring is vinyl, and there's a manual parking brake, cloth seats and hard cabin materials.

That said, it's all nicely laid out, and it all works visually, especially when you consider the purpose of the Core.

The Life improves matters, with comfy - still fabric - seats, a leather steering wheel and a cooler, leather-wrapped shifter, and a nice smattering of colours through the cabin, though the hard plastics remain.

The Triton's practicality perks are split into two camps – the tough stuff, and the workhorse stuff.

But let's start with the former. While there are two-wheel drive Triton options, most send power to all four wheels.

However, the best off-road gear starts with the GLX+, which adds a rear differential lock, while the GLS and GSR add Mitsubishi's Super Select 4WD-II – which incorporates a Torsen centre differential, Terrain Control and Hill Descent Control.

We put the GSR through its paces on a genuinely tough off-road course that required plenty of low-range crawling, and the Triton shone in the rough stuff.

Onto the workhorse stuff, every Triton will tow a 3.5-tonne braked trailer, while payloads range from 1030kg to 1110kg, depending on the model, courtesy of a slightly bigger 1555mm tray. The tray has been lowered slightly, too, to make loading or unloading easier.

The Triton has also grown in every meaningful way, stretching 5320mm in length and 1865mm in width, and that means more space in the cabin. I'm 175cm, and found I had oodles of room in the back seat.

There are some other thoughtful practicality perks on offer, too. All the doors take 1.25-litre bottles, there's device storage, space for the clipboard and that sort of thing.

They’re all pretty damn practical, these Amaroks, and that’s true of both the Life and Core models, too.

While it’s slightly narrower than the model it replaces, this Ford Ranger-based Amarok is slightly longer, with a longer wheelbase, which the brand says delivers more backseat space, while still being able to carry a pallet in its tray.

It will also tow 3.5 tonnes braked, deliver a 988kg payload - slightly down on the Core’s 1042kg - and the roof is rated to 350kg.

There are plenty of off-road goodies, too. The 4Motion system delivers high-range and low-range 4WD, and both variants offer 235mm of ground clearance, and 800mm of wading depth.

And I can tell you from experience that there’s more than enough off-road capability on offer here to take you about as far as you want to go on the weekend.

The Core opens Amarok proceedings, listing at $52,990. And, unfortunately, it does very much feel like an entry-level model, with a key you need to insert and turn, a manual handbrake, vinyl flooring and the least-powerful engine available.

Happily, it doesn't so much look like one. In fact, externally, the big differences between the Core and the Life is the latter's body-coloured mirrors, and the former's external fixing rail that runs alongside the tray.

It gets 17-inch alloys, a standard tow bar, LED headlights and DRLs (the former so powerful that a colleague riding ahead of me asked me to turn my high-beams off) and some impressive in-cabin tech, including an 8.0-inch digital cockpit, and a 10.0-inch central screen that loads up your Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The Life is one rung above the entry-level Core model, and it lists at $56,990, which is not chump change. But it does deliver one of the best engines on offer - which the Core does not - and you get plenty of niceties, as well as all the ute non-negotiables.

Outside, there’s LED lighting - headlights, DRLs and fog-lights - as well as 17-inch alloys. The tow bar is still standard fit, too.

Inside, there's the same infotainment tech, along with a leather steering wheel and gearshifter, eight-way driver and passenger seat adjustment, and an electric park brake.

The engine is no bigger, but is now a twin-turbo offering, meaning the 2.4-litre diesel produces 150kW at 3500rpm and 470Nm from 1500rpm.

That power is fed through a six-speed automatic to two or all four wheels. There will be manual versions coming along shortly, but they're not here yet.

The Core gets the entry-level diesel, with its single-turbo, 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine producing 125kW and 405Nm. It pairs with a six-speed auto, and delivers decent but not life-changing grunt.

The Life, though, steps it up. It gets a familiar (from the last-gen Ranger Raptor) bi-turbo-diesel engine, with the outputs dialled up to 154kW and 500Nm. It pairs with a 10-speed auto, and is an engaging, entertaining drive.

The Triton's four-wheel drive variants sip a claimed 7.7L per hundred kilometres on the combined cycle, with emissions pegged at 203g/km. Two-wheel drive models are marginally more efficient.

There's now also a 17-litre AdBlue tank, which you'll have to top up (AdBlue is a liquid that helps reduce emissions from diesel engines, by the way, which pairs with a particulate filter) as well as a 75-litre fuel tank.

At today's prices in Sydney, that would mean $150 to fill the Triton up, which – based on the claimed fuel use – should deliver a driving range of bang-on 1000km.

The Amarok is fitted with an 80-litre tank, and VW reckons you can expect 7.2L/100km on the combined cycle in the Life, and 8.0L in the Core.

We found the real-world fuel use was closer to 10L/100km in both models, but that included some off-roading, too.

Mitsubishi likes to describe the new Triton as "SUV-like", which makes sense given it sees the lifestyle segment of dual-cab ownership – you know, families who love towing and camping and that kind of thing – as a great untapped market for its workhorse.

And lots has been done to improve the Triton's on-road behaviour to better appeal to those customers, especially in the two top trim levels, which get a bespoke rear suspension to improve comfort.

It's also why this Triton was tested and tuned so much in Australia. In fact, there are two Triton suspension tunes, ours and the one other countries get.

That means plenty of Mitsubishi's Japanese engineers came to Australia during the Triton's development, driving not just the outgoing model but all of its competitors, and cycling through some 100 different front and rear suspension calibrations to settle on the right balance for the new model. The electric power steering was also tuned here.

The result is a vehicle that is far more comfortable on flowing roads than you might expect, while being no less capable off them. We put the Triton through some pretty challenging off-roading, and it barely broke a sweat.

But there is a caveat. It's comfortable... for a ute.

It's near impossible to get a stiff ladder-frame chassis to steer exactly like a road-focused SUV, but the Triton won't spark much in the way of complaints on long road trips.

The steering is nice, too. There's some sogginess on centre, but it is confident enough to encourage you to tip it into flowing corners at speed without making your pulse-rate spike.

There are still some ute reminders, though. Namely that kind of vehicle-wide shudder when you go over road imperfections, and a transmission that isn't quite as polished as the rest of the vehicle when you're cornering at freeway speed.

The six-speed automatic loves to sit in its highest gears, and so it will change up at will, even mid-corner.

The engine is predictably diesel-noisy, too, which is also noticeable when the stop/start system kicks in at traffic light.

But the added power is a hugely welcome addition, as are the tech and comfort and improvements, and so it feels like a generational leap forward for Mitsubishi's workhorse.

The question that really needs to be asked here, I think, is do you really - really - need a V6 engine? Because if that answer is no, and it would be for me, then I think the Life might be the pick of the Amarok range, both from a price and power perspective.

Don't get me wrong, the Core's engine isn't massively underwhelming. But it's the entry-level powertrain, and it feels like it's working harder than the Life's diesel donk.

If you're even vaguely interested in dual-cab utes, you'll know the bi-turbo engine on offer in the Life as the driving force behind that other dinosaur-themed off-roader, and it's no less enjoyable in this new application.

Lightning fast it is not, but the power on offer is really more than enough here, and not once was I longing for a V6, whether we were on the road or off it.

There's also something to be said for the refinement on offer from the modern dual-cab ute, with the Amarok genuinely filling that family car that can go anywhere brief, without sacrificing on the ute essentials.

Part of that is down to the ride, which VW says has been tuned firm on purpose. It can be a little jarring when you hit a rough patch or bump, especially when off-roading, but the trade-off is a ute that doesn't sway or float too much when cornering, helping the Amarok feel more SUV-like than an old-school dual cab.

Downsides? The 10-speed auto fitted to the Life shifts smoothly enough, but it's pretty busy, shifting up or down when you don't really expect it to, and with only the lightest accelerator input. That, and the diesel thrum is a pretty constant companion, delivering background noise in the cabin whenever you're accelerating.

The Amarok range carries a five-star ANCAP safety rating, and nine airbags, and every model, including the Core, is fitted with a host of high-tech safety kit, too.

AEB with pedestrian and cyclist monitoring is standard fit, as are front and rear parking sensors, with Lane Keep Assist, Lane Departure Warning and adaptive cruise control taking the stress out of freeway cruises.

The Life then adds blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert, but Volkswagen suggests the two technologies will be added range wide in the future.

Like all Mitsubishi's the Triton is offered with a 10-year and 200,000km warranty and 10 years of capped-price servicing.

You only get the full decade-long warranty cover if you service with Mitsubishi, though, otherwise it drops to five years and 100,000 kilometres.

Servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km, and the first five years are capped at $489 per visit. After that, it goes $799, $749, $949, $849 and $899, bringing your 10-year total to $6690, an annual average of, you guessed it, $669.

The Amarok gets a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, and you get 12 months of roadside assistance thrown in, too. You can also bulk-buy your services for the first five years, too, for $1800.

Service intervals are 12 months and 15,000km.