Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by Kavi4GP »

amstel18 wrote:
dazza wrote:I love the way some people say they are known for engine problems, some people like to make unfounded statements without any actual factual knowledge. Anyway, the amaroks have proven to be just as reliable as the jap cars, many guys with over 200k and 300k mileage already. Cam belt is the biggest thing to check, snapped belt will cause big repair bills so take care of that.
Agreed. Might sound like a fanboy, but the guys that criticize them, are the one's that haven't owned one.

Any car's cambelt can snap, and in modern day cars you always going to be in for a hefty repair bill.
Nah , the cambelt with Amarok is way higher failure rate vs hilux. And this is from experience with that powertrain unit.

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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by amstel18 »

Kavi4GP wrote:
amstel18 wrote:
dazza wrote:I love the way some people say they are known for engine problems, some people like to make unfounded statements without any actual factual knowledge. Anyway, the amaroks have proven to be just as reliable as the jap cars, many guys with over 200k and 300k mileage already. Cam belt is the biggest thing to check, snapped belt will cause big repair bills so take care of that.
Agreed. Might sound like a fanboy, but the guys that criticize them, are the one's that haven't owned one.

Any car's cambelt can snap, and in modern day cars you always going to be in for a hefty repair bill.
Nah , the cambelt with Amarok is way higher failure rate vs hilux. And this is from experience with that powertrain unit.

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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by dazza »

The possibility of the amarok belt snapping is definitely way higher than a Toyota d4d belt. The Toyota belts have a 150k change interval and I have certainly never heard of one snapping.
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by panic-mechanic »

Come on Guys, it is a well known failure which is very easily prevented with a little bit of maintenace. It is cheap enough to do so that you can change the interval yourself at 60k km. It should not detract from what the vehicles is or stop you from buying it. It is silly to harp on stuff like that when it is in the realm of preventative maintenance. Even toyota has failures and if you hard headedly believe they don't then you truly are just a fanboy but don't forever tell other people that is the only vehicle to own. It ain't.
And yes I have owned toyotas in my life, even the reportedly totally indestructible hilux and landcruiser and guess what - they also needed maintence and also had failures.
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by MrMazda »

Specially buying a pre owned vehicle rather look at the maintenance history of the specific vehicle. This Amarok having obviously been driven mainly on the open road long trips is probably a better buy than one with 100 000 km city Km behind it. During the run out phase of the 3.0L D4D Hi Lux there were quite a few premature clutch failures, but most were covered by warranty as far as I know.

Taking the number of components into account that goes into the assembly of a vehicle added by the fact that it comes from different suppliers its actually amazing that modern vehicles are as reliable as they generally are.
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by OOBA »

Congrats on getting the best bakkie out there!

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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by 4ePikanini »

Amaroks have no known weak points.

Hiluxes are known to

- fall over
- clutches don't last
- handbrake issues
- drive like taxis ;)
- be white in colour

Any modern bakkie can easily last beyond 300'000km if looked after.

The question is not whether you should buy an Amarok or not. The question is whether you should buy THIS Amarok or not.
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by Gti3 »

Thanks guys. I'm just going to enjoy the drive in it and ignore the mileage. It drives very well for that mileage. Feels much more solid than my mk7 at 78000kms.

Will definitely try and maintain it well. If there's a failure so be it. Everything comes at a price and at 185k there isn't much else that can match up in terms of bakkies.
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by DeanK »

mueneni12 wrote:That mileage is way too high. What is it being priced for? These cars are known to give engine issues. Have you looked at a toyota?
Could you give more information as per your statement ?
I am on the 4x4 forum and have not seen a engine issue as you mentioned.
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by amstel18 »

DeanK wrote:
mueneni12 wrote:That mileage is way too high. What is it being priced for? These cars are known to give engine issues. Have you looked at a toyota?
Could you give more information as per your statement ?
I am on the 4x4 forum and have not seen a engine issue as you mentioned.
Just a hilux fanboi, who climbed on the "only Milk comes in 2liters" band wagon, and is to ignorant to get off of it.
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by MrMazda »

DeanK wrote:
mueneni12 wrote:That mileage is way too high. What is it being priced for? These cars are known to give engine issues. Have you looked at a toyota?
Could you give more information as per your statement ?
I am on the 4x4 forum and have not seen a engine issue as you mentioned.
Nothing wrong with the distance on this Amarok since it was done on the open road.
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by Kavi4GP »

MrMazda wrote:
DeanK wrote:
mueneni12 wrote:That mileage is way too high. What is it being priced for? These cars are known to give engine issues. Have you looked at a toyota?
Could you give more information as per your statement ?
I am on the 4x4 forum and have not seen a engine issue as you mentioned.
Nothing wrong with the distance on this Amarok since it was done on the open road.
Probably; but still wont work in fleets

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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by panic-mechanic »

Uhm OP did not ask if he should buy a fleet or is buying into a fleet. Keep it in context of what was asked.
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by Kavi4GP »

panic-mechanic wrote:Uhm OP did not ask if he should buy a fleet or is buying into a fleet. Keep it in context of what was asked.
Yep but 4x4 forum was brought up when OP never said anything about off roading to add a reliability feather to Amarok...so if that was brought up so can fleet operations which guess what...dont use Amarok for a reason.

Honestly they not bad vehicles but have to be looked at very finely to pick up recurring problems in the vehicle.

And just for context company that had them in fleet owns VW dealers and still had failures and problems with VWSA , while all had service plans to 180000km.

When AEL tried them they had loadboxes cracking. RCL had similar problems. Both ended up back at Isuzu and Toyota.

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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by DeanK »

4x4 forum does not only have 4x4 vehicles - it's a good reference point for any vehicle...

I would agree with a previous post somewhere - If you have owned a specific vehicle you are welcome to give comments , hearsay is a dangerous thing.

I have owned most of the "brand " bakkies , including 3 Toyotas and now an Amarok.
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by Fasst »

My Amarok 120kw has 230000 km on and going strong.

Only had a small diff sensor issue at about 150000km. Motor is still 100% and never been opened.
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by mueneni12 »

amstel18 wrote:
Just a hilux fanboi, who climbed on the "only Milk comes in 2liters" band wagon, and is to ignorant to get off of it.
Have actually owned two amaroks along with other toyotas and ranger, I have found the toyotas to be most resilient at high mileage. But that is only my experience.
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by BADBOY »

mueneni12 wrote:
amstel18 wrote:
Just a hilux fanboi, who climbed on the "only Milk comes in 2liters" band wagon, and is to ignorant to get off of it.
Have actually owned two amaroks along with other toyotas and ranger, I have found the toyotas to be most resilient at high mileage. But that is only my experience.

Hilux is boss , this comming from someone who has owned about 6 Volkswagens and two Volvo's!


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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by ThatBloke »

Reegz wrote:That's stupid high mileage considering the age of the vehicle. Wouldn't touch it unless you're getting it for next to nothing.

Do you have a full list of everything that's been done? Service intervals adhered to, what parts have been replaced etc? I'd imagine that the service history isn't exclusively through a VW dealership as the owner would likely have gone somewhere else after the plan expired due to mileage.

Maybe take the car for one of those AA or Dekra 100(?) point check and get an objective view of the condition.
Does Dektra to any kind of injector and compression tests?

Always wondered at the Vale they offer for the R1500 odd they charge.
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by panic-mechanic »

ThatBloke wrote:Does Dektra to any kind of injector and compression tests?

Always wondered at the Vale they offer for the R1500 odd they charge.
no they don't
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by ThatBloke »

panic-mechanic wrote:
ThatBloke wrote:Does Dektra to any kind of injector and compression tests?

Always wondered at the Vale they offer for the R1500 odd they charge.
no they don't
Ideally you do want a good idea of the injectors and compression on a 2hnd diesel, especially high mileage, how much would a diesel specialist charge to do those tests?
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by Ashveer03 »

ThatBloke wrote:
panic-mechanic wrote:
ThatBloke wrote:Does Dektra to any kind of injector and compression tests?

Always wondered at the Vale they offer for the R1500 odd they charge.
no they don't
Ideally you do want a good idea of the injectors and compression on a 2hnd diesel, especially high mileage, how much would a diesel specialist charge to do those tests?
I highly doubt a "seller" will allow their vehicle to be stripped up just to get it sold..

Well i wouldnt allow that, not sure about you guys...

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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by panic-mechanic »

Yeah no I think that is absolute wishfull thinking and If I was selling you can go buy one somewhere else.
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by ThatBloke »

panic-mechanic wrote:Yeah no I think that is absolute wishfull thinking and If I was selling you can go buy one somewhere else.
How else could you ascertain the condition of the engine/injectors?
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Re: Buying a high mileage BiTdi Amarok

Post by panic-mechanic »

You don't. You start it when cold. If it does not smoke white then so far so good.
Then you drive it and see if it smokes. If not then so far so good
Then you drive it for a little bit more and feel if it stumbles or hesitates.
If not so far so good.
From there you trust and hope and that is why it is said there is some risk in buying a second hand vehicle, because some things you don't know.
I suggest you buy a zero milage diesel new from the dealer.
And even then sometimes things go wrong becuase it is a manmade thing that could go wrong.
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