IVOTY Report
BEST OF THE BUNCH PICKING THE
The biennial International Pick-up Award returns this year and jury member George Barrow runs the rule over the contenders
A QUESTION OF PERSPECTIVE
Determining which vehicles are eligible for the award and if they should be considered is no easy task, so I’ll try to give some insight into how the jury came to their decisions. The group represents a number of countries across the world – from markets where pick- ups are strictly working tools to places where they’re more often used as leisure vehicles. The countries also have small and large markets, from Portugal and Belgium to the UK and South Africa. For me as the UK representative, my interpretation of what a pick-up truck should be is largely based on the 1,045kg payload requirement needed to reclaim the VAT. While the market of around 50,000 pick-up trucks per year might not all be for commercial use, the fact that the majority meet this criteria makes them commercial vehicles and as such should be fundamentally practical. Other regions aren’t quite the same. Norway, for example, has no such payload requirements, and hefty taxation on all ICE models makes the price difference on a diesel Ranger almost as much as the Ranger Raptor. As a result, 60% of sales are for the performance pick-up.
George Barrow is the UK jury member for the International Van of the Year Award.
launched in the period after the previous award and those that are production ready and soon to go on sale. The previous judging event, which includes significant amounts of on-road and off-road driving, was held in Croatia where the Toyota Hilux took the honours, giving it the right to be declared the pick-up of the year for 2022 and 2023. The latest judging evaluation, held just outside of Athens, Greece, included two brand-new heavyweights of the pick-up sector after the 2022 launch of the Ford Ranger and its co-developed sibling, the Volkswagen Amarok. Also joining the party is the Ford Ranger Raptor and a 2024 model of the Toyota Hilux GR Sport II.
T
Its an interesting line-up that poses the immediate conundrum of how to separate the Fords and Volkswagen models. By virtue of being a performance pick-up, built in a separate facility and engineered with motorsport-grade suspension and a very non-commercial vehicle-like V6 petrol
14 WhatVan? November 2023
he International Pick-Up Award is a biennial event that brings together the latest pick-ups
engine, the Raptor is suitably different enough to be a model in its own right. Likewise, the Toyota Hilux GR Sport II, an enhanced development of the incumbent champion.
Picking apart the differences between
the Ford Ranger line-up and the Volkswagen Amarok range is a little more difficult. Co-development in the van world has seen numerous models share platforms, resulting in a number of joint- winners in the International Van of the Year Award – most recently the Renault Kangoo and the Mercedes-Benz Citan last year. Although the pick-up trucks differ in terms of their appearance and driving setup, they are fundamentally the same vehicle at their core. It’s for that reason that the jury decided to count them as one combined entry. Starting with the Raptor, it stands alone in the competition for its performance and abilities. With 289hp, the 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine offers performance not previously seen in the pick-up segment, and significantly ups the game from the previous generation model using the stock 210hp 2.0-litre diesel engine still found in the Ranger
line-up. Aggressive styling with flared wheel arches and F150 looks are just part of the package, as underneath the skin the Raptor’s suspension is the attribute that most justifies the truck’s existence and abilities. Fox 2.5in Live Valve dampers provide position-sensitive damping to ensure the Raptor is both comfortable on the road but able to endure extreme off-roading. The Raptor is equally at home on the motorway as it is on a dirt track, but it excels when it comes to treacherous off-roading. During the test, it was the only vehicle able to scale a rock boulder formation without so much as a slip of the wheels. While all the trucks were capable of overcoming some considerable obstacles, it’s the manner in which the Raptor does it that most impresses. By virtue of having a locking front differential – in addition to the locking rear diff, found on all other participants – the Raptor could climb any obstacle thrown at it without so much as slipping a wheel or deviating from its course. The Raptor’s Baja mode is also enough to make even novice drivers feel like off-road heroes on
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