Evolve Technik Stage 2 Amarok takes on Mk8 Golf GTI

When the good folks from Motor Magazine asked us to take part in this special little experiment, we gladly accepted. They decided to put our Volkswagen Amarok tuned to Stage 2 against a 2021 Golf 8 GTI in a drag race. 

What can a massive diesel-powered UTE do against a car that is built with performance in mind? Some motoring journalists were pretty surprised to discover.

This particular Amarok got some upgrades for that Stage 2 level, including our tailored stage 2 tune, stage 1 gearbox tune, sports downpipe, BMC sports filters and Active Sound Exhaust upgrade.

The result is 240 kW and 700 Nm of torque for the UTE. A significant upgrade, but the Amarok is almost 900 kg heavier than its opponent. Speaking of which, the Golf 8 GTI comes with 180 kW and 370 Nm of torque and it tips the scales at 1463 kg. 

On paper, the Golf is undeniably faster than the Amarok, but we were really excited to see how the massive UTE would fare against the sporty hot hatch.

The guys from Motor Magazine put the two vehicles head to head in a number of different acceleration tests and the entire production team were blown away at how good the Amarok was. 

While the Golf did edge it out by around half a second in the end, the massive torque and awesome traction gave the Amarok initial advantage in all tests. In fact, it was faster to 80km/h than the Golf. 

However, when aerodynamics and weight start to play a bigger role, the performance hatchback takes the lead. 

In the end, the Amarok reached 100km/h in 6.7 seconds and covered the quarter-mile section in 14.9 seconds. Pretty good for a diesel workhorse.

We would like to thank our friends at Motor Magazine for inviting us to participate in this unusual competition and for praising our work on the Amarok. We’re looking forward to more of these in the future. Stay tuned...