Road Tests: DAF CF65

Parent company Paccar may be the last major American-owned truck maker, and Daf may officially be Dutch, but that doesn’t stop it being arguably the most British of trucks. Wherever you look in the company, the influence of Leyland still shines through. The Britishness was never more obvious than when the UK truck sales figures for 2005 were revealed. Being market leader in every sector is an achievement never before seen in the current scheme of things. ‘The public gets what the public wants’ could be Daf’s motto – it certainly didn’t get where it is today without meeting the needs of its market. This week’s test subject is a good example. In the 18-tonne sector it offers two distinct product lines. If ultimate payload, urban manoeuvrability and a compact cab are your priorities, you can take the LF55, a big little truck. But if your operations tend more to the long-distance and you can trade a bit of carrying capacity for a bigger cab on an altogether more manly platform, it also offers a little big truck – the CF65, as driven here.

The initial decision to buy a CF65 leads on to a few more. Drivelines are nominally 220hp and ZF six-speed transmission or 250hp and nine-speed Eaton. The 5.9 litre engines are Paccar’s version of the six-cylinder European Engine Alliance (or Cummins) unit with four valves per cylinder and common-rail injection. Three cabs (day, low-roof sleeper and high-roof space cab), and a dozen wheelbase choices (from 4,000 to 7,300mm) complete the main choices, though there’s still an extensive list of optional details to go through. Our 6,100mm-wheelbase test vehicle came with a 25ft Don-Bur Slide-a-Side body. This impressive item has metre-long rigid sections front and rear with a folding fabric section in between. With automatic buckleless tensioning it offers the benefits of a curtainsider with the completely flat sides of a conventional box. Suspension includes a 7,100kg steel parabolic sprung front axle and, on our test truck, a £1,540 air option on the rear. Brakes are 430mm ventilated discs front and rear, backed up by a single-stage exhaust brake.

Unusually for a Daf, the fuel economy around our Welsh route was merely good rather than outstanding. It produced 13.3mpg overall, comprising 13.8mpg on the motorway and 13.2mpg on A-roads. Compared with the LF55 220 18-tonner we tested two years ago overall economy was down 0.7mph, thanks mainly to the smaller truck’s unbeaten 15.8mpg on the A-road section. There were no problems with the CF’s journey times, however; its 64.0km/h average for this round trip is perfectly respectable. With an off-the-shelf chassis-cab weighing in at 5,580kg, including a full 200-litre tank, 75kg driver and a 105kg contribution from the sleeper cab, the Daf’s 12,420kg body/payload allowance marks it squarely as the average for its type; it's 350kg heavier than the LF55 220. With the Don-Bur body and a set of Alcoa rims, our test truck tipped the scales at 7,470kg ready for work.