Introduction
Strange chap, image. When it comes to reputation everyone likes passing on bad news, and most truckstop pundits will tell you that in canine stakes, Iveco’s old EuroTech fleet tractor was centre stage at Cruft’s on Sunday afternoon
Never mind that its engine set new standards for high outputs from modest capacity, or that it pioneered the widespread use of semi, then fully automated transmissions for the masses. If you’ve ever driven a EuroTech, what you will remember is the Toblerone-insprired dashboard made from recycled washing-up liquid bottles. Fair or not, mud sticks, so the EuroTech’s successor, the Stralis Active Time, is starting from behind.
Product Profile
There are now three names in the Stralis line-up. At the top is the original Active Space premium long-distance version, available as a tractor or a 26-tonne rigid. The lower extremity is occupied by the Active Day models – 18 and 26 tonners with, as the name suggests, a day cab. In between sits our test truck, the Active Time – sold only as a sleeper-cabbed tractor and aimed squarely at the fleet market. It’s available with a low or medium-height roof.
Driveline options on the Active Time began with the small Cursor 8 engine in a single entry level 4x2 version, nominally rated at 350hp. The rest of the line-up is powered by Cursor 10, rated at 400 or 430hp; or the Cursor 13 at 480 or 540hp. These engines sit in low or normal height 4x2 or twin-steer 6x2 chassis. All versions drive through the automated EuroTronic 2 (AKA ZF AS-Tronic) 12-speed transmission as standard.
Productivity
We’re still building data on our revised, two-day Scottish route so valid comparisons are hard to make. The Iveco’s 7.77mpg overall figure beats all of our 420-430hp comparators, but they were all tested on the old route. The nearest comparison is the recent 480hp Daf CF85 which was 0.1mpg better on the new route.
We experienced reasonable conditions en-route apart from a couple of brief monsoon periods on Day 1 and a stiffish headwind on the final run down to the M1 from Sheffield to Leicester. Without this the final figure would certainly have been a tenth or two better.
With the standard 450-litre tank filled and the full air kit on the roof, the Stralis weighed in at 8,158kg; an acceptable if unremarkable figure. Although it had the lowest list price of our 420-430 comparison group, CAP Monitor predicts that three and five years hence its residuals will be on a par with the rest – apart from Scania.
