Volkswagen Amarok vs KGM Musso Xlv

What's the difference?

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!

What new 4x4 dual-cab ute can you buy for $50K these days? Well, if you want to stick with the major players, $50K will only get you into base-model workhorses like the Ford Ranger XL 2.0L auto ($50,880), Toyota HiLux Workmate 2.4L auto ($50,420) or Isuzu D-Max SX ($50,700). And that's list pricing before on-road costs.

However, if you’re prepared to try something different, the same money can let you drive away in the top-shelf model of KGM SsangYong’s MY25 Musso range, which is a 4x4 dual-cab ute that's bursting with luxurious standard equipment.

We recently spent a week behind the wheel to determine if its comparative bargain pricing does not come at the expense of quality or performance.