The Volkswagen Amarok was presented in 2010 and my history with the Volkswagen Amarok began in 2013. I have had a total of four Amaroks; the first Amarok I bought, as I said, in 2013. At that time, it was the first generation, i.e. the one with a 2-litre four-cylinder engine with 162 horsepower.

Amarok number two I bought in 2015. It was also a generation 1 Amarok with the four-cylinder engine. In 2016, just one year later, it was time for my third Amarok. Then came the new and updated Amarok with a 3-litre V6 engine with 224 horses. When the updated Amarok with the V6 engine arrived, I was invited to the international media test drive held in Munich, Germany. You can read the article I wrote about that trip and the test drive here.

When I bought my third Volkswagen Amarok with the V6 engine in 2016, Svenska Volkswagen arranged for me to go down to Germany and collect the car directly from Volkswagen in Hannover. But more about that trip later in the article.

I've always done something with the cars I've owned to make them stand out from the crowd. But it really took off when I got my second Amarok. It was first foiled by WrapZone with a decoration designed by a friend and artist from Gothenburg, called Gorm Boberg, inspired by Volkswagen's WRC car at the time.

That Amarok was then rebuilt by a company in Norrköping called OCL Brorsson. OCL Brorsson had the agency for a German company called Delta 4×4. Delta 4×4 specialises in converting mainly four-wheel drive vehicles to cope with tougher off-road conditions. Delta 4×4's update includes raising, widening and other rims.

Before I started photographing cars, my main subject in front of the camera was mainly snowboarders. During that period I often drove longer journeys on lonely forest roads in the northern parts of Sweden, mostly during the winter months when it is darker here than in many other parts of the world. So good light in front of me was always something I appreciated. Help with that came from RindAB, which has the agency for Vision X here in Europe. So pretty much every car I've had for the last twenty years has been fitted with Vision X auxiliary lights.

But back to the journey when I had to pick up my third Amarok in Hannover, Germany. Immediately after picking it up from Volkswagen in Hannover, I drove it to Delta 4×4, which is located outside Munich. There the car was rebuilt while I was there. When they were done, I drove to my favourite place in the world when it comes to cars: Nürburgring! There I drove a lap with the car to be able to put a "Ring" sticker on the car. If you have not driven on the "Ring" with your car but put a "Ring" sticker on the car, it means bad luck.

After the Nürburgring, the trip went to Berlin, where a visit to the legendary techno club Berghain was made. It's also one of my favourite places in the world, apart from the Nürburgring - but for dancing. But that's a whole other story.

The last Amarok I had was also a V6 Amarok. Just like the two Amaroks before it, it was rebuilt according to Delta 4×4's recipe. Instead of making all the logos on the car visible, I chose to put the logos under a solid grey foil so that the logos were visible in relief. That Amarok was my last Volkswagen Amarok and you can read an article about it here. Then it became a Mercedes X-Class, but that is also a completely different story. Because this article is about the new Volkswagen Amarok.

The new Volkswagen Amarok is due in 2022, so I'm clearly quite late for it. But there have been motorbike accidents, heart muscle inflammation and some other things in between. But it really is a brand new car if you ask me, who after all has had four of the old Amaroks. The new Amarok shares a platform with the latest Ford Ranger and has also been co-developed with Ford. It is being built in South Africa.

What distinguishes it most from the outside is the front. Otherwise, you recognise the shapes. However, if you jump into the car, a lot has changed. The centre console is dominated by a 12-inch screen, but only in the Aventura and Style. This is where most things are controlled. What is noticeable and actually a big difference from the Amaroks I had is that it has become a much more comfortable car, clearly. The old Amarok was by no means an uncomfortable car, but now the new Amarok has really become a luxury pickup truck.

But the new Amarok has grown, albeit only in length by 9.6 centimetres. This is noticeable inside the cab. The wheelbase has increased by 17.5 centimetres and now stands at 327 centimetres in total. The total length is now 535 centimetres. On the other hand, the new Amarok has become narrower. But not by much: 3.4 centimetres.

As an engine option, the new Volkswagen Amarok is now offered both with a diesel V6 engine, but is also available with a 2-litre diesel four. The first option is obviously the one to choose and also the engine that was in the press car I was allowed to borrow. It is also banned with a petrol engine in some other countries.

The new Volkswagen Amarok is also available in three trim levels: Life, Style and Aventura. Life is the simplest and the one with the small diesel engine, while Aventura is the most equipped and has the V6 diesel engine. It was an Aventura I had to borrow. However, the price difference between Life and Aventura is SEK 200,000 excluding VAT.

For my pictures, I took the car out to a sand track in Haninge outside Stockholm. It is used for simple off-road driving with motorbike, but is absolutely no advanced course. So nothing that the Amarok couldn't handle. I didn't even have to change the terrain settings to more difficult terrain, which of course is possible.

If you need to drive a pick-up truck to work, the new Amarok is definitely a very good option. In fact, the new Volkswagen Amarok can fulfil a family's needs in many ways. It's modern, safe and spacious. Add to that the fact that it is very comfortable. If I still had the need to drive a pick-up truck, which I don't anymore, the new Amarok would definitely be a very interesting option.

Volkswagen Amarok Aventura  

Price: from SEK 699 000, excluding VAT.  

Engine: 3.0-litre V6, turbocharged diesel  

Power: Total power 241 hp, 600 Nm.  

Transmission: 10-speed automatic, four-wheel drive.  

Acceleration: 0-100 km/h in 8.65 seconds.  

Top speed: 180 km/h  

Weight: 2 396 kg.  

Maximum towable weight: 6.5 tonnes without restrictions  

Dimensions (length/width/height): 5 350/1 884/1 910 mm