I am currently driving the new VW Amarok Single Cab, which is roughly the size of New Zealand. I’ve just parked it next to a Hummer and the difference is remarkable. It does not fit in a normal parking bay and navigating it through an underground parking lot feels like trying to hustle a buffalo up a staircase. Backwards.

Its size is one thing but the interior is quite another. It’s spartan, sure, but very comfortable. There’s aircon and a good sound system, and a fancy steering wheel that they’ve nicked from a Polo – ironically the smallest VW you can buy. Gone are the days when the dashboard was made of the same material as that horrible plastic flooring my Gran had in her kitchen.

And it’s not just Volkswagen. The new Ford Ranger, due here at the end of the year, is even bigger. Nissan lent us the new, top-of-the-range double cab Navara. That was like sitting in a Mercedes that had accidently been built on a truck platform. Full leather, comfy bucket seats, SatNav, a massive Bose sound system and still enough space to carry a tonne of dirt out the back. I bloody well loved it.

Bakkies, as South African a concept as biltong and corruption scandals, are becoming a bit of a status symbol. Sure, they always have been, if you’re in a hands-on line of work or live in a town where there is one tar road. I think a luxury bakkie, as paradoxical as that sounds, says something unique about the owner. The thing is, I secretly have a thing for bakkies. Before this new generation of them however, I would never have considered one.

New Ford Ranger, due in SA at the end of 2011.

What other type of car allows you to search for a garden centre on the SatNav, pop down there, load up a tonne of lawn and ferns and then sit comfortably, on a proper seat, listening to a properly loud sound system, while the powerful engine up-front takes you home effortlessly through the dawdling Saturday morning traffic.

Alright, so I might be at risk of painting a picture slightly rosier than the reality. Bakkies remain quite uncomfortable over bumpy roads, and it can really spoil the ride sometimes. The reason for this is that they use leaf springs, which are essentially a legacy from ox wagons. They’re pretty rubbish at handling, but it’s pretty much the only set up for a vehicle that needs to carry loads. And because they are designed to carry over a tonne of cargo, when the bakkie is empty it feels like you’re driving well-sprung Tupperware.

Just this morning I had to be somewhere at 6am. I had just made a cup of tea and was damned if I was going to leave it behind. So I threw my laptop over my shoulder and trudged out to the Amarok which was parked on the street. I should explain that I am confident in my ability to drive with a mug of tea in my hand. What I was not prepared for was how difficult it was to keep the tea from jumping out the mug and onto my lap. It was like trying to drink a beer on a jumping castle. Which I must admit I have tried, and failed, to do.

The interior of the Nissan Navara Fancy Cab.

The reason bakkies are being built further and further upmarket is because of Europe. Australia, the USA, South Africa, we love the things because we need them. Your average European driver? Not so much. Mostly because if you live in Britain, for instance, everything will get wet all the time. And if you live in continental Europe, trying to drive one of these through an old town will result in you becoming horrendously wedged in some back alley where you will have to break the rear window to climb out and find food. Regardless, they’re trying to engineer them as civil and car-like as possible to lure new buyers.

I think bakkies might be sneakily becoming the new SUVs of our day. They come under a lot less GreenPeace-fire than big luxury 4x4s, and rightly so. They’ve got great diesel engines which are not only powerful but incredibly frugal to boot, and because the load bay is lined with melted rubber instead of the wool of rare sheep, you don’t mind getting it a bit dirty.

I’m curious about this whole movement, and I’d quite like to know what you, the 2oceansViber, thinks about this. Can something with a name like “bakkie” really become as desirable as say, a BMW X5? Is it becoming passable to arrive at an important meeting, looking sharp and climbing out of a Hilux? If you have shelled out for one of these new generation vehicles, do you find yourself calling it a pick-up? Come now, don’t lie to us. Let’s hear it.