My ride for the past 18 months has been a a 61 plate 450 horse Trakker with a 60 ton/metre hiab sat behind the cab and a tandem-axle drawbar trailer.
Apart from the driver’s window packing up, I’ve had no problems at all. Sure, the clutch is heavy, the “slap across” range-change leaves a bit to be desired, and the cab is hardly enormous , but having averaged 3 nights out each week, (7 being the most), I can’t complain. She pulls like an Amtrac but more importantly, she’s never got stuck on construction sites, which is more than can be said for some of our Scania artics .
commonrail:
i once did some work in a ferrari garage,and got talking to a mechanic.i asked him which was the best one,to which he replied "theyre all [zb] to be honest". he reckoned youd be much better off with a porsche.
With Ferraris the assumption is because they are mega money they are good. They are superb at looking good but not that great underneath. It’s the same with motorbikes. Buy Italian if you want to look at it. Buy something else if you want it to work properly…
i agree…there were a couple of cars on ramps,and when you got up close you could see that they were poorly made…certainly not a car you could use every day.
and as a former ducati owner,i agree with you on the bike score aswell …nice when they`re new…but get ready as soon as the warranty ends…kerching
Im a Ducati nut, I have an 851 and a 996. Love em. Ive had about 6 Dukes and not had any real probs. Mind I do look after them. Also Ive made a few quid selling them.
As for Ivecos, its the noisy bleeping indicators, the awful dash and switches, the awful gearbox, and why put the window switches in the middle ffs? no-one else thinks its a good idea! Maybe save a few pence on the wire saved, routing it to the doors. A solid plastic headrest on the drivers seat and none at all on the passengers. They do tend to fall to pieces and everything rattles like mad inside although as has been said you cant complain about the space.
I`m not having a pop at anyone who drives and likes his Iveco, if you like it then thats great, its just that in my opinion they cut far too many corners and it could, with a little tweaking be a top motor.
Use to drive a 55plate 6wheeler and it was brilliant, didnt have any problems with the auto box, certainly better than dafs of the same era! Those that slate them are probably those that havnt properly driven them.
Although it would take something special to make me part with my Volvo FH440, I’ve had a few good Scanias and DAFs at times and been able to appreciate a good build.
The newer Scanias aren’t my favourites, and the older DAFs are dated now…but with every Iveco I’ve ever driven (which is about four, the first being my FIRST EVER JOB!) I’ve never liked them.
They scream bad design and I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a build that completely disregards the driver!
Mind you, I might just have had particularly bad ones…170e25 springs to mind!
Drove an iveco eurocargo in december and really disliked it, i think that was more to do with my job though and the roads we have to get the wagons down are sometimes really tight, really wide track on the front and massive over hang on the rear. Really didnt make for a pleasent day on the roads. Plus the gearstick is in totally the wrong place and also the interior was really tacky, didnt whine though as i was getting paid.
would chose the depots scania’s over that horrible hire wagon anyday of the week.
Many of the above complaints are correct, gearbox is rubbish if operated in Auto, use manual up to 12th or 13th & it’s ok up to top, the “exhaust brake button on the floor”■■ the button on the floor is to adjust the steering collumn, exhaust brake is on the right hand stalk!! The throttle pedal delay is worst when almost slowing to a stop then getting going again, nothing for up to two seconds!!
Build quality isn’t the best, neither is it the worst, definately better when used by one driver & definately no good for supermarket type operations with multiple drivers.
Engines are generally unburstable, the odd component failure like injector & prone to turbo failing before 100,000k’s, they’re variable geometry and it’s often this mechanism thar ‘lets go’!!
All in, a decent truck and much better to drive than a Scania, mine’s a none lifting twin steer but only last friday I used a spanset to hold it up when empty & it worked a treat in the snow between Leek & SOT, going there again in the morining so I’ll be keeping the strap close at hand.
damoq:
Personally I think you are wrong. I’ll admit the build quality is a long way off from the rest, but it’s one mighty fine and underrated truck. They just take a little bit longer to get used to than a volvo, scania or whatever. But once you get used to it, you realise just how good they really are. It will take more than one drive in an iveco to appreciate them.
agreed.
they may seem cheap and nasty, but i quite like them, and as someone else said, clever cab layout
and bloody hell, they can pull, we’ve got an 08, right tatty thing, but going south on the m2, it will pull 40-42 tonne up the hill to j3 on the limiter
damoq:
Personally I think you are wrong. I’ll admit the build quality is a long way off from the rest, but it’s one mighty fine and underrated truck. They just take a little bit longer to get used to than a volvo, scania or whatever. But once you get used to it, you realise just how good they really are. It will take more than one drive in an iveco to appreciate them.
agreed.
they may seem cheap and nasty, but i quite like them, and as someone else said, clever cab layout
and bloody hell, they can pull, we’ve got an 08, right tatty thing, but going south on the m2, it will pull 40-42 tonne up the hill to j3 on the limiter
They are definitely not a fleet lorry, the interior won’t stand up to a different driver every shift, but apart from that they’re as good as anything else on the road. Engine wise they’re better than most too, especially the high HP variants, I have had a couple of the old V8 models and they used to leave big Scanias for dead, the 540 Stralis’s I had were flying machines too, reasonable on fuel and apart from one instance with a turbo failure they were very reliable
last time I drove one of them I offered to put petrol in it ,
the Boss said "don’t you mean Derv "
I said "na petrol, it’ll be burning really well by the time the fire brigade arrive "
By all accounts on here the auto box is not up to much. The old man used to tell me they were bulletproof it was just the electrics and corrosion that let them down, and they might of been a bit thirsty as well. the other surprising thing with them now is the size of the engines, 460bhp from a 10.5L?, thats quite a strech is it not?, in the 80s they used to have big 15L engines at 320bhp and the big V8 was 17.2L at 420bhp. Many of the issues read about on here still seen to be electrics related, sensor faults and so on. Think they proberbly miss out on some sales by not offering tag axle tractor units as well. Nice looking cab though, not that you see many customised.
Hi all been signed up for a couple of weeks so thought I would chuck in my 2p on Ivecos!
I spent a lot of time driving 6x2 Stralis rigids, one was a 310 and the other a 330 and thought they were good, pulled well even at max weight. The auto box is the later one with buttons on the dash. Hard to get used to as it would always hang you out to dry when pulling out of junctions or on roundabouts.
The dash looks ancient but apart from that I thought they drove well. Also driven a 16-speed knock-over manual and thought it was a good version of this type of box, miles ahead of an Actros or a Renault Premium. We have a new double drive tractor unit in the yard at the moment but I’ve not had a drive of it yet. It’s not the biggest cab, but it still has lots of space.
Also been out in a few Eurocargos, including a pair of brand spankers with delivery miles - on both of these the gearknobs came off in my hand!
I think they drive well, have powerful engines for their size and are under-rated in general. The interior quality lets it down, but I guess that should be sorted with the new models.
bigr250:
Many of the above complaints are correct, gearbox is rubbish if operated in Auto, use manual up to 12th or 13th & it’s ok up to top, the “exhaust brake button on the floor”■■ the button on the floor is to adjust the steering collumn, exhaust brake is on the right hand stalk!! The throttle pedal delay is worst when almost slowing to a stop then getting going again, nothing for up to two seconds!!
Ross.
there is a trick to the gearbox if you have not been taught correctly it will seem slow, iveco rep told me to just bleep the throttle as you approach a round about or junction it will then select correct gear and you can just fly straight off, all these auto system work slightly differently and its just knowing the little tricks that help.
i agree that they are not the best trucks for multi driver applications as the computer system learns, and as every driver if different your style won’t be the same as the last one
I was given one this morning to drive a 08 plate stralis, the midlift was broke and wouldn’t lift so I didn’t make it out the yard in it as it had no traction at all, loads of space in the cab but very flimsy plastic
Not driven an Iveco for a few years. All my first european work was in Eurotech’s. First one was only 340 and had an eaton twin split! Second one used to be double shifted all week on Europa out of Birmingham. Crap mid axle conversions on the two we had from Fraikin’s. Fuel tank was too small at only about 350lt, Italy used to need carefull planing on the fuel front especially when you used to have no fuel gauge when the limiter fuse was “blown”! Never broke down in 2 years of use.
kr79:
Same but on a cheaper scale with Alfa Romeo. I’ve almost bought one 3 times but chickened out at the last minute.
Good for you. Polish Police bought a series of these some time ago:
They were called back to the service as the police was told that there is a risk that “wheels might go off”.
And there is that old joke: why Alfa Romeo drivers do not wave at each other when passing on the road? They already seen each other on that day in Alfa Romeo service
And for Iveco, there is a rhyme in Poland “Jak masz Iveco to nie jedź daleko” which means “If you drive Iveco, better don’t go too far”
, but having averaged 3 nights out each week, (7 being the most), I can’t complain. She pulls like an Amtrac but more importantly, she’s never got stuck on construction sites, which is more than can be said for some of our Scania artics 
.
…nice when they`re new…but get ready as soon as the warranty ends…kerching 
