BMW has decided against entering the lucrative truck segment, preferring to focus instead on a massive expansion of its unibody SUV lineup. Although we’ve seen some one-off trucks from the factory over the years, sadly none of them entered series production. Someone fancied a BMW-powered pickup and decided to put a diesel engine of Bavarian origins into a Volkswagen.
This first-generation Amarok has lost its original four-cylinder, 2.0-liter engine to accommodate a larger inline-six, 3.0-liter unit. It’s an M57 sourced from a 3 Series, specifically a 330d built during the E90 era. However, it no longer makes the stock 228 hp and 370 lb-ft (500 Nm) since it has been extensively modified for extra grunt.
Within two months, the modifications included removing the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system while incorporating a hybrid turbo, new intake, and exhaust. Additional mods were necessary to make the BMW engine play nicely with the original VW hardware. The truck now pumps out 378 hp, more than three times the power of the original 2.0 TDI that resided in the engine bay.
In the most recent dyno run, the modified M57 produced a mountain-moving 920 Nm (678 lb-ft) of torque at the wheels, making this Amarok perfect for towing heavy loads. There’s more to come because a project car is never truly finished, with subsequent mods to lift output. We’d argue it already has the numbers to back up its status as a sleeper performance truck.
This Amarok was originally four-wheel drive but making the truck run with the BMW engine meant switching to a rear-wheel-drive layout. However, the team working on the pickup is toying around with the idea of making the diesel engine send power to the front axle again. How? By sourcing an automatic transmission from an X5.
Meanwhile, we can see the tail-happy Amarok with BMW power doing burnouts around the second-generation model, which doesn’t have a VW engine either. That’s because the newer utilitarian vehicle is based on the Ford Ranger and is actually built by the Blue Oval with a Ford engine.
Source: Cars.co.za / YouTube
