Holden Colorado vs Volkswagen Amarok

What's the difference?

The Holden Colorado Z71 is a pretty decent towing machine, handling all aspects of general load-lugging duties with a quiet reliable efficiency. In simple terms, it kept the whole ute-and-van combination trucking along nicely.

The Z71 is a solid Colorado package all-round with some welcome flashiness to its functionality.

Minimal bling is standard issue in workhorse utes, but the Amarok Core has a more upmarket look and feel than we typically expect in these base-grade models. With its alloy wheels, sharp styling and refined handling, it’s a competent worker with a touch of European panache – and pricing to match.

The Colorado is a good-looking unit, so it follows that the Z71, the Colorado line-up's top dog, should be the best-looking vehicle in the entire range. And it is. Look at the photos yourself and make up your own mind.

The Z71's black highlights everywhere, the roof rails, side steps and fold-away tonneau cover add functionality to the flashiness.

Under its slick exterior, the Z71 sits on a steel ladder-frame chassis.

There may be no mechanical differences between the Z71 and other similarly-powered Colorado utes, but this is not merely a sticker-pack special – this is something more substantial than that. Don't believe me? Keep reading.

Although it shares underpinnings, drivetrains and technology with the Ranger, Volkswagen has done a commendable job in differentiating the Amarok in both design and dynamics (see Driving).

Its unique styling features a broad and imposing grille and headlights reminiscent of the original model which accentuates the vehicle’s width, resulting in a broad-shouldered look.

The interior design is also pleasing, even at this entry level, with European influence evident in the look and feel of various controls, including a left-hand indicator stalk and piano key-style buttons on the centre console.

There are big assist handles on the A and B pillars and the driver and front passenger seating is firmly bolstered and supportive. The rear bench seat is also comfortable and spacious with good kneeroom, given I’m 186cm and can sit behind the driver’s seat in my position with sufficient clearance. This has cured the cramped rear legroom that plagued the original Amarok.

There’s also ample rear headroom, even for tall people sitting in the slightly higher centre seat. However, shoulder room is tight for three adults (typical in utes this size) so for long trips two would be ideal.

Our only criticisms are the absence of air-vents in the centre console for rear seat passengers and no physical dials on the dash for altering cabin temperature and fan speed. These climate adjustments must be made using the touchscreen, which can be distracting when driving.

The Z71 has a Colorado carry-over interior, which is nice and simple, with some Z71 branding stitched in the front seats.

For starters, there are grab handles for the driver and front passenger – I'm a big fan of grab handles.

The dash is a basic layout – but made family-friendly with expanses of tough plastic and soft-touch leather – and it has everything you need. The centre console houses an 8.0-inch colour touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and standard nav.

There is a USB port in the centre-bin, and there's a 12V socket in the back of that bin for back-seat passengers.

The cabin is reasonably comfortable; the front seats – in fact all of the Z71's seats – err on the side of firm rather than being well-cushioned. But, even in the back seat, when I sat behind my driving position, I had ample head- and leg-room.

There are the usual collection of storage spaces around the cabin – sunglasses, glove box, door pockets, seat-back pockets – but a long centre-bin lid impedes access to the cupholders in between driver and front-seat passenger, and there are no cupholders in the back seat's fold-down centre arm-rest.

There are shallow storage spots under the rear seats, one of which contains your jack etc.

Overall fit and finish is impressive without being spectacular, but that's fine with me.

The tray is 1484mm long, 1534mm wide (1122mm between the wheel-arches) and 466mm high. Back there, you get Premium DuraGuard Spray–on tub liner, which seems sturdy and durable, as well as four solid tie-down points.

With its 2269kg kerb weight and 3250kg GVM, the Amarok Core has a 981kg payload rating, which makes it eligible for a novated lease as it's below the 1000kg threshold that applies to those lease agreements.

Up to 85kg of that payload can be carried on the roof when driving, which increases to 350kg when the vehicle is stationary, making it suitable for roof-top tents, viewing platforms etc.

It’s also rated to tow up to the class-benchmark 3500kg of braked trailer, but with its 6200kg GCM (or how much it can legally carry and tow at the same time) that would require a substantial 550kg reduction in vehicle payload (from 981kg to 431kg) to avoid exceeding the GCM.

A practical alternative would be to reduce the braked towing limit by the same amount (from 3500kg to 2950kg) and keep the maximum payload. That still allows for a sizeable towing capacity for most work and recreational tasks, given few (if any) owners need to tow 3500kg.

The load tub’s floor is 1544mm long and 529mm deep, with 1224mm between the wheel-housings ensuring the latest Amarok continues its predecessor’s ability to carry standard Aussie or Euro pallets.

It comes with no protective internal liner (genuine accessory is available) and the tailgate has no lower/lift assistance. However, the load tub does have bright internal lighting and sturdy-looking protective capping along the top edges, including a 130cm ruler on the tailgate. There are also six internal load-anchorage points, plus external rope rails along each side.

Cabin storage for driver and front passenger includes a bottle-holder and bin in each door, an open tray embedded in the centre dash-pad, upper and lower gloveboxes and an overhead glasses holder. The centre console has two small-bottle/cup-holders next to the gearshift, plus a lidded box at the back which doubles as a driver’s elbow rest.

Rear seat passengers get a small-bottle/cup-holder in each door, plus a fold-down centre armrest containing two more small-bottle/cup-holders. The seat’s base cushion can also swing up and be stored in a vertical position if more internal cargo space is required, or to access two underfloor storage compartments.

Our Amarok Core test vehicle is available only with a TDI405 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel and six-speed automatic for a list price of $55,490. That's about 9.0 per cent more than major player rivals like the closely-related Ford Ranger XL ($50,880) and Toyota HiLux Workmate ($50,420).

It may be the workhorse of the Amarok range, with fabric seating, wipe-clean vinyl flooring and rear drum brakes, but it looks a step above with its body colour-coded front bumper and chunky 17-inch ‘Combra’ alloy wheels with 255/70R17 tyres and a full-size steel spare.

Also standard are LED headlights and DRLs, side-steps, underbody drivetrain/fuel tank protection, front recovery hooks, 3.5-tonne tow-bar with 12-pin plug, locking rear differential, tyre pressure monitoring, rain-sensing wipers and more.

There’s also an 8.0-inch digital driver’s display and 10-inch touchscreen for the four-speaker multimedia system which includes wireless phone-charging, wireless Apple/Android connectivity, DAB digital radio, USB A and C ports and two 12-volt outlets.

The Z71 has a 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel Duramax engine (147kW at 3600rpm and 500Nm at 2000rpm), six-speed automatic transmission, a part-time 4WD system and a rear limited slip differential.

The TDI405 is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel producing 125kW of power at 3500rpm and 405Nm of torque between 1750-2500rpm.

This is paired with a six-speed torque converter automatic that offers the choice of manual sequential-shifting, which can be handy in off-road driving situations and when heavy towing, particularly in hilly terrain. There’s also four different drive modes comprising Normal, Eco, Slippery and Towing/Heavy Load.

The part-time, dual-range 4Motion 4x4 system offers three selectable drive modes comprising 2H (4x2 high range), 4H (4x4 high range) and 4L (4x4 low range). It also has a locking rear differential.

Our dash display read 7.9L/100km, but we recorded actual fuel consumption on test of 9.7L/100km. It has a 76-litre fuel tank, so expect an approximate driving range of 753km (according to our on-test fuel consumption), factoring in a 30km safety buffer.

On our towing loop, of more than 200km total, the dash was showing 14.5L/100km, but we recorded an actual fuel-consumption figure of 15.5L/100km. Expect an approximate driving range of 460km (according to our on-test fuel consumption), factoring in a 30km safety buffer.

Volkswagen claims an official combined average of 8.0L/100km and the dash display was only slightly higher at 8.7 when we stopped to refuel after our 345km test, of which about one third was carrying its maximum payload. This compares with our own figure calculated from fuel bowser and tripmeter readings of 10.0L/100km, resulting in a ‘real world’ driving range of around 800km from its big 80-litre tank.

The Z71 has a steel ladder-frame chassis, double-wishbone front suspension and leaf-spring live rear axle, so it's more aligned with heavy-duty work than smooth on-road performance.

Having said that, the Z71 is quite settled over most surfaces, including highway bitumen and rough back-road backtop, and at most speeds – rather impressive for an unladen ute.

Steering is a bit floaty, with some play in it, and there is noticeable understeer on corners.

The engine is one of the torquiest in the current-day ute mob – only matched by V6 utes – and it delivers that torque quite evenly and smoothly across the rev range. The Duramax turbo-diesel can, however, be noisy, and because of that it seems like it's working hard, though it never feels too stressed, even when towing a caravan that has a caravan with a tare (empty) weight of 2600kg.

There's plenty of life in terms of acceleration with active pedal-feel but, when it comes time to pulling up to a fast stop on front disc and rear drum brakes, the brake pedals are rather spongy.

The six-speed auto is generally spot-on for all duties, although it did occasionally down-shift with an extra violence of action when it didn't really need to.

Ride and handling are pretty good, with its Aussie-tuned suspension (including traditional-ute leaf-springs at the rear) doing a decent job of sorting everything evenly, and it was only ever rattled by very severe bumps, wash-outs, and ruts at lower speeds, i.e. during low-range 4WDing.

The Z71's on-road performance and refinement are generally not as polished as segment leaders, but that's nowhere near a deal-breaker.

The driver’s seat is supportive, with prominent side-bolsters on the base cushion and backrest holding you firmly in place and providing (dare we say) a ‘sporty’ feel for the driving position.

Although it shares the same suspension architecture as the Ranger, it has been tuned to provide a distinctive Volkswagen character with sure-footed solidity.

The steering feel is firm, responsive and nicely weighted, combined with a disciplined unladen ride quality with enough suppleness to absorb bumps with ease.

Noise insulation is also commendable for a base-grade model, with negligible engine, tyre and wind noise on the highway. It provides low-stress cruising at these speeds, thanks to adaptive cruise control and long-legged gearing which ensures the turbo-diesel only requires 2000rpm to maintain 110km/h.

To test its GVM rating we inflated the tyres to their recommended pressures (38psi front, 44psi rear) and forklifted 890kg into the load tub, which with driver equalled the 981kg payload limit.

The rear leaf springs compressed 70mm under this weight, but there was no chance of bottoming-out because of long cone-shaped jounce rubbers that engage with the springs early in their compression.

This design eliminates the hard thumps at full travel like traditional bump-stops and provide what is effectively a second stage of load support. The result is a smooth ride under maximum loads, regardless of road conditions.

We stuck with the 'Normal' drive mode, to assess its performance without resorting to the 'Towing/Heavy Load' setting and found it more than capable of doing the job.

Acceleration from standing starts was brisk given the load it was carrying, making light work of city and suburban driving. It was just as competent on the highway and when tackling our 13 per cent gradient, 2.0km set climb at 60km/h, self-shifting down to third gear and 2000rpm to easily haul this load to the summit.

The Amarok boasts a five-star ANCAP rating from assessment in 2022 and features nine airbags, including side-curtain protection for rear seat passengers that was missing in the original. There’s also AEB with pedestrian and cyclist monitoring, lane-keeping, trailer-sway control, adaptive load control, reversing camera and more, but our base model misses out on front/360-degree cameras plus blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert. There’s also ISOFIX child-seat mounts and top-tether anchorages on the two outer rear seat positions.

Holden offers a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty across the Colorado range, with servicing required every 12 months or 12,000km. Capped price servicing applies over seven years/ 84,000km with the average annual cost over three years working out to be $405.

Volkswagen covers the Amarok with a five year/unlimited km warranty plus 12 months complimentary roadside assist, which is par for the mainstream market course.

Scheduled servicing is 12 months/15,000km whichever occurs first. Capped-price five-year servicing plan costs $1900, or an average of $380 per year.