4x4s: SA strongest and puniest single cab bakkies

The Amarok 1.9 BiTDI is now SA's
stongest 4x4 single cab.

OK, so even before you ask why I ignore kilo-Watts in this test, its because with bakkies, kilo-Watts matter as little as does a discus thrower’s time over a 100 metre sprint. 
Newton metres is what you look for if you want to see an engine’s power. 
Kilo-Watts is what you think you want when you are a teenager with an urge to race from traffic light to traffic light in a City Golf.

Bring in the Brazilian beast: In SA, the average power among the 44

models of 4x4 bakkies on offer is now some 200 Nm. The Amarok’s frugal 1.9, with its two turbo's, doubles the average to 400Nm, making the new single-cab Volksie from Brazil the strongest workhorse on sale in SA today. 

Axle-bender... what axle bender?
Shift on the fly to 4x4 and go, even
over iced snow.

Is the Amarok any good? Having now driven all three models, I'd vouch for them as far as their drivetrains go. Even the "small" 90kW has , 240Nm torque that kicks in at just over idle, making it a pleasure to drive on slippery snow and ice. (On tar, the hard suspension is a lot more bouncy than the softer-sprung Navara and the Amarok's 16-inch Pirelli tyres - grooved to throw out mud - are inclined to aquaplane in the wet. Which is why the Amarok comes with auto slip regulation (ASR). Just don't turn it off.
But...?

At the Amarok's price, which ranks from 17th place among the 44 single cab 4x4 bakkies on sale in SA, the quality-control can be better. 

I'm not talking anything mayor here, the cladding is modern and the panels fit snugly, but for a bakkie that retails from over a quarter million rands, you don't want to hear the odd door seal whistling or loose change disappearing down crevaces in the cubbyholes. The head-lights that stay on with the switch in the off position, a Canadian requirement designed for murky weather, also goes against our Eskom-conditioning to save power. 

In shared second place, producing 380Nm, are Ford's 3.0 turbo diesel Ranger and Nissan's Patrol 3.0 Di (which  bulky Nissan is currently SA's most expensive single cab 4x4). 

In combined fourth place, with 360Nm, are the Land Rover Defender 110 Pick Up, the Isuzu KB300 D-TEQ and Toyota's Land Cruiser 4.0 petrol.

The puniest 4x4 single cab bakkie in SA today? That will be Isuzu's old KB 250 with a compensator instead of a turbo that produces a once acceptable, but now quite wheezy lil' 170 Nm.C'mon Isuzu, even all the "Chinian" bakkies do better!