Newsworthy Daily Makes The Headlines!
Iveco’s latest edition 3.5 tonne van tackles our challenging Scottish test route. Our very own red van man, John Henderson puts the newcomer through its paces. VANS AND their drivers have taken a bit of a battering in the media recently, with a particular focus of the skills and abilities of the people at the wheel of the white coloured variety! Like any group of road users, it seems to be a small minority of poorly behaved individuals who generate the negative attention, thereby giving the silent majority a bad name. So a recent invite from Iveco to test their upgraded and fully liveried 3.5 tonne Daily 35S14 van, had me brushing up on my Highway Code and road manners to ensure that the manufacturer and this magazine completed our day’s test without any road traffic ASBO’s or bad publicity! Integral high roof models make up the lion’s share of most van manufacturers’ outputs and our Daily for the day featured this format with its 12 cubic metre sized body. Full marks to Iveco on the appearance front, as their staff have obviously realised that ongoing technological progress and developments have led to most van types now looking reasonably similar. I reckon they’ve played an ace by employing the famed name of Giugiaro for the design of this latest upgraded version, which gives the vehicle a distinctive appearance, that fits in well with the rest of the brand’s corporate identity. Thankfully our test vehicle was finished in a bright red colour and its ‘Professional DNA’ graphics kept us well away from the anonymous rogue traders’ stereotyped image. Looking at the load space first, easy access is afforded by three doors, with the convenient nearside sliding example and two rear units which open through either 90, 180 or 270 degrees respectively. The steel ribbed body features reinforced load lashing rings on the sides and floor. A third, centre mounted brake light (optional) fitted at roof level incorporates a clever loading light, which should prove useful. Entry to the low load level is supplemented by a cut out internal floor section for the nearside and external full width step for the rear doors. A solid bulkhead separates the cab from the cargo area and for £220 the buyer can specify a factory fitted wooden floor. Our ‘load’ for the day consisted of a secured mass of 5 litre containers filled with water to take us up to the legal maximum weight, so there was absolutely no chance of my Iveco minder Steve, or myself getting thirsty through the run! The all important security levels, have not been neglected with the 35S14, which features remote centralised locking, immobiliser and automatic external only, door locking once you’ve moved off. First impressions of the Daily’s cab are all very encouraging with the three blue coloured seats brightening up the black and grey plastic of the dashboard and floor areas. One sizeable enclosed step offers an easy move into the Isringhausen driver’s seat, which has all the required and expected adjustments. A useful roof mounted grab handle is supplied for the centre passenger and there’s storage space aplenty with three DIN-standard drawers and an optional over screen full width tray which forms part of the EXE pack. The driving controls are well laid out in a no nonsense style and the dash mounted gearshift falls easily to hand and improves footwell space. The steering column is non adjustable, but that offers no great problem as the aforementioned ISRI seat ensures a good driving position can easily be achieved. One small issue I had was with the height of the brake and throttle pedals. Wearing my trusty Doc Martens tester’s shoes, I found that the pedal pair were just a shade high for my liking, but of course the fitment of a good thick rubber floor mat would soon rectify that. The electrically heated and adjusted rear view mirrors have a built in indicator repeater, with the recessed double lenses affording good vision of what’s going on alongside or behind you. Iveco could perhaps move the passenger side unit mounting bracket back a shade as when it’s viewed from the driver’s seat the windscreen ‘A’ pillar just cuts off the main glasses’ top right hand corner, but this does not impact on the overall view or any safety aspect of usage. To provide consistency and the best overall comparisons, we are using the same Transport News Scottish test route for all vehicles, be they large or small and after some photographs in the morning sunshine at Abington, we duly headed off on the first stage on the northbound M74. Being used to a floor gearshift in my own MPV car, it took me a couple of minutes to set my mind to the Daily’s dash mounted stick, but it quickly becomes apparent that the latter fitment is a far better arrangement, as it requires much less effort. The 35S14 picks away lively with the desired amount of acceleration and my initial concerns were that despite being loaded, I would have to pay regular attention to the speedometer. Our steed was powered by Iveco’s 2.3 litre, common rail, Euro 4 diesel and building up to cruising speed I was impressed by the unit’s power delivery and smooth operation. The four cylinder power plant develops a useful 136hp and has 320nm of torque to deliver at 1,700rpm. A hydraulic 267mm clutch feeds a 5 speed synchromesh gearbox, with a top cog overdrive ratio of 0.78:1. Back under the load, the standard hub reduction rear axle turns it all into movement with a ratio of 3.75:1. It’s a good testament to a vehicle’s design how quickly you become familiar with all its controls and within what seemed to me like minutes, we were skirting the east end of Glasgow and heading north east to our timed hill climbs in Perth and Kinross. Carefully complying with our 60mph limit on the dual A9, the Daily cruised on, barely noticing our first measurement zone at Cairnie Brae, not even dropping a single mph during the 2 minutes and 40 second run. Shortly afterwards the M90’s Balmullo Hill saw us lose 7mph from our 70 limit, but again unfazed, the Iveco stretched it legs until level ground just over three minutes later. I arrived at the Kinross lunch stop with a clear conscience having used the van’s adjustable speed limiter button, to keep my progress duly compliant with the law, but even so, the 100.2 miles were covered in a respectable 102 minutes! Onto the clockwise loop of the Kingdom next and a chance to test the braking and handling to a higher degree, with plenty of roundabouts, junctions and hill crests to negotiate. This high roof integral never wavered and duly delivered whatever was asked from it. The brakes were always fresh and predictable and the only thing I noticed was a minutely longer pedal travel than normal; probably down to me driving too many HGV’s and having full air stopping power. The van utilises 300mm vented fronts and 296mm rear discs and this combined with ABS & EBD (Electronic Brake force Distribution) prove more than effective for any situation. The independent suspension, incorporates a transverse spring on the front and single parabolics on the rear and never seemed stressed, particularly on the quicker junctions and bends. The power assisted steering is precise and gives just the right amount of feedback. The Daily is an easy and forgiving van to drive and as it’s currently the smallest vehicle we’ve had around our test route and I eagerly proclaimed that ‘my recorded journey times were undoubtedly the best yet.’ As usual I’d spoken too soon, as just after crossing the Forth Road Bridge we suffered a 25 minute delay after two oncoming trucks collided and collected four cars in the aftermath, on the road works section of the A8000. Thankfully no one was seriously injured and Lothians and Borders finest soon arrived and quickly cleared the carriageways. The aforementioned delays meant that during our arc around the south of Edinburgh, we enjoyed more clear space than usual around us, in the shape of slightly less traffic. Climbing away from the Fairmilehead junction the Daily’s eager engine really got into the groove, with the variable geometry turbocharger singing away subtly whilst powering us ably up the long climbs and through their associated bends. With such a good performance the next question in my head was fuel consumption and just how much would the trip take out of the 70 litre nearside mounted tank? With no fuel flow meter fitted, we’d brimmed the filler neck level at the Abington start and would do so at the same diesel pump when finished and to my pleasant surprise we averaged 29.8mpg! I am reliably informed that a high percentage of purchasers buy their vans for volume rather than weight, so in effect most operators should easily improve on this impressive figure. This Iveco offers great driveability, easy loading or unloading and is a reliable and uncomplicated willing workhorse, which will perform steadily and reliably in fleets. The Daily range first appeared in 1978 and over time has evolved well, earning its front running place in this all important market. The updated range, with its impressive productivity levels and operating costs, should appeal to existing clients and a wide base of new customers. Even although speed limiters will become a fact of life for these vans in 2008, their market niche should remain strong as the number of people entitled to drive a 7.5 tonner reduces as time progresses. Impending taxation levels for the aforementioned light trucks may also force operators to go either up to 18 or down to 3.5 tonnes to generate better margins for their own businesses. Whatever the outcome, the good old van will be there to serve the market, doing a multitude of tasks for millions of different owners. The solid performance of the Iveco 35S14 should ensure that a good percentage of these vehicles spotted daily on the roads will in fact be Dailys!