Introduction
Iveco is one of the select band of manufacturers to offer CVs from panel vans right through to 44-tonners, and it’s proof that quantity doesn’t have to dilute quality because its range includes some of the strongest products in their respective classes – between 7.5 and 18 tonnes, from Cargo to Eurocargo, it has dominated short-haul road transport.
Further up the weight range the EuroTech and EuroStar mounted a two-pronged attack on Sales throughout the 1990s. They threatened to take the market by storm, but after strong parts both struggled in terms of market perception and had a tendency to age quickly, especially if treated poorly. Residuals plummeted and by 2002, just seven years after their launch, the duo’s last breath was more a sigh than a hurrah.
Enter the Stralis: sleek, electronic, clutchless…and heavily anticipated. It coincided nicely with Mercedes-Benz’s launch of the Axor and, like its German competitor, its specification and target audience raised an eyebrow or two.
With the Axor, Mercedes welt old school with a basic eight-speed manual box as standard combined with bags of torque and a functional, almost Spartan cab that was obviously aimed at fleet operators. It left all the fancy stuff to the top-end Actros which became solely a flagship product.
The Stralis was aimed at the same market but took a different route, with an automated transmission as standard. Mention clutchless trucks to the uninitiated and they look at you like a dog you’ve just shown a card trick.
And the upshot? M-B plugged a gap in its range with a universal product; Iveco chose the less trodden path. As usual there were a few teething problems, but on nothing like the scale experienced by MAN with the TGA. So once again the early signs looked good – but has Iveco delivered on its promise?
As CM prepared to put a three year old through its paces we were conscious that the Stralis had aged well, to the extent that its ‘re-launch’ was pure cosmetics. The driveline remained the Cursor 10 and 13 driving through a ZF transmission; the real developments were all upstairs in the office.
Here we got new cabs, new interiors, but until the executive Space no top-of-the-range option to take on the Renault Magnum, Daf XF95, Scania 4-Series topline, Volvo FH Globetrotter or Mercedes Actros Megaspace. The Active Space cab was the initial competitor.
This week’s test truck, BX02 YXA, is a Stralis AS440S43 4x2 tractor registered in June 2002, plated at 38 tonnes and fitted with the Active Space cab. Coming into the test it had done 193,000km, clocked up with Eurohire Vehicle Rentals in West Bromwich.
Iveco has priced the vehicle at £24,978 (ex-VAT) with six months’ warranty. CAP Red Book is a little more pessimistic, pricing the vehicle at £23,750 (ex-VAT) retail – but that’s with average mileage of around 420,000km. With its established mileage, the CAP price is bang on the money.
Product Profile
We probably shouldn’t pursue the ’38-tonne’ issue as it’ll get us nowhere. Suffice to say that a simple change in the paperwork will get this vehicle up to speed at 40 tonnes GVW.
Our test vehicle is fitted with the six-cylinder, 10.3-litre, charge-cooled, direct-injection Cursor 10 turbo-diesel developing 424hp with 1,900Nm of torque. It drives through a 12-speed ZF EuroTronic box.
Sitting over the engine is that Active Space (AS) cab which comes with two bunks, a fridge, a fold-out table and a three-way adjustable air-suspended driver’s seat. The AS is wider than the AT or AD cabs; it has been joined by the Executive Space which has all the mod cons you’d expect – but that will have to wait for another road test.
Also on the spec list is a two-stage engine brake, 600-litre aluminium fuel tank on the driver’s side, four bellow air suspension, tinted windows and windscreen, and electrically controlled wing mirrors.
Productivity
Funnily enough it’s January and February that provide the best winter conditions for road testing as it’s invariably dry, cold and windless. November on the other hand is generally wet and windy. The sun might pop up but the constant winds mean it’s only ever temporary.
The fuel consumption figure of 7.88mpg overall stacks up well when you break it down. The A-road section proved hard going, thanks mainly to heading into a constant breeze, but despite these adverse conditions we notched up 7.25mpg. Even without extra wind resistance this section can hamper the overall fuel figure so heading into the teeth of a stiff south-westerly headwind certainly didn’t help. On the motorway section, however, the Stralis recovered to produce 9.51mpg with the help of a tail wind, so maybe it all evens out.
The motorway section of our test route is pretty short which can make it hard for a contender to improve on a poor first day. The A-road section is double the distance of the motorway and reversing that trend would have returned an overall figure well over 8mpg.
With no more than the magic 10hp/tonne on tap both hill climbs proved easy. The long drag up Dolfor Hill with its windy roads was completed well under our eight-minute bench-mark at 7min 26sec. Dinmore Hill was a breeze; the Stralis romped to the top in 2min 22sec. The second hill climb demanded a choice between holding back in eighth or struggling in ninth (we chose the former).
Weighing in at 38 tonnes gave BX02 YXA a potential payload of 23,563kg with a seven-tonne trailer. The tractor with a full tank and 75kg driver weighs in at 7,437kg.
