On The Road
Even Iveco’s staunchest critic had to be impressed by its decision to offer the clutchless automated driveline as standard. It is the first manufacturer to take this step and in the long run it will prove to be a decision well made.
The driving and handling is effortless – you spend more time concentrating on the actual handling, road awareness and hazard perception issues than clunking up and down the box. Of course, you could make work for yourself by choosing the manual override but really there is little point.
Unlike the Scania Opticruise, where you finish driving thinking you haven’t explored all the boundaries, the ZF EuroTronic selected by Renault, Daf and MAN is a no-nonsense, straight-forward piece of kit.
Changing up and down the box is simple: one notch forward for a single gear and through the small gate for two gears, with the same process for moving down the box. The blue button on the right switches between manual and auto; the one on the left is for Neutral.
Use the engine brake in auto and the system’s intelligent enough to select the optimum gear for maximum retardation. And if you run the speed down without changing, say into a roundabout, simply press the blue button and push the stick forward; the box will then select the right gear, in terms of torque, for you to pull away comfortably.
After three years’ use the box proved effortless to use, which is why in the long term the Stralis will survive. The 424hp engine is strong and delivers 1,900NM of torque but it doesn’t possess much in the way of low-down grunt. Most changes are made at around 1,100rpm and above, with hill climbs producing changes further up the box.
The economy zone reflects the changes, and you can be more precise in manual, but auto does an efficient enough job. The strength of Iveco’s tractor units was always in the engine so the question really was, how well would it marry up with electronically controlled transmission? No divorce is imminent.
Judging by its mileage and condition this vehicle still has its best years ahead of it. The driveline is well run in but the nature of its previous work when it was clocking up 193,000km is unknown so there might be a few problems in the closet at worse.
Dropping down into valleys around the Welsh section, and down to the M42 at J2 the engine brake did its stuff by easing the load on the service brakes. To get the best from it the revs need to be up round the 2,600rpm mark – the top of the orange section. Cruise control is automatically disengaged by using the engine brake or dropping down through the gears.
Cab Comfort
Plastic interiors, depending on the type of plastic used, can age a vehicle prematurely – just look at the EuroStar. In the Stralis the soft grey plastic finish works – but only just. Our example was in impressive condition but the bet is not all three-year-old cabs will have been looked after so well, especially those permanently working and not on rental where standards are closely monitored.
The colour scheme has aged well but the seats are a little busy on the eye. What’s more the gearstick, which swivels around 180o, allowing the driver to move out of the driver’s seat and back into the cab, has loosened. On a couple of occasions it wobbled enough to cover the distance of travel when we attempted to change down a gear, which meant it actually didn’t change gear. But if you’re heavy handed it can change down two gears instead of one.
This happened twice early in the test but once we were aware of it there was no problem. This glitch was common on early models; it has since been rectified. Otherwise the cab was in very good condition. The fold-out table turns the bottom bunk into an ‘office’ and there’s a handy extra power supply behind the driver for laptops or any other appliances being used on the table.
It’s a pity that the floor mat covers the button on the floor that moves the steering wheel into the right position.
