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Run 7.5-tonners? Considering Run 7.5-tonners? Considering your options? If you aren't now, you might be by the time you finish reading about the Iveco EcoDaiLy 7-tonner your options? If you aren't now, you might be by the time you finish reading about the Iveco EcoDaily 7-tonner
Never hdS the 75-tonne chassis cab had it so bad. Lambasted by legislation (grandfather rights and speed restrictions), its next hit is expected to come from the arrival of Euro-6 on 1 January 2014.This will mean eavier, more expensive engines, and a lower payload.
TNT is already evaluating its 75-tonne fleet by running trials to assess the productivity of 65-tonne and 7-tonne vans for its final-mile delivery network. So. if you aren't thinking about your 75-tonne fleet now, you ought to be by the time you finish this roadtcst. CM makes no bones about it: Iveco's 7-tonne EcoDaily will be compared directly with its bigger sister, the Eurocargo 75E16S (CM, 8 October 2009) on issues of payload. running oosts, capital costs, fuel economy and average speed.
Let's focus on the EcoDaily 70C17 chassis cab. It has the 3-litre Euro-5 turbocharged second-generation common-rail engine,delivering 168hp and 400Nm torque through a 430:1 rear-axle drive and six-speed overdrive transmission. The chassis cab is priced at £36,400 and with the array of options (see sidebar) the test price is £38270 (plus VAT) without the bodywork. Warranty is three years with unlimited mileage and the first service is due at 40,000km. with the second at 120,000km.
On the road
Straight out of Chieveley Services at J13 on the westbound M4, the EcoDaily, restricted to 89km/h, feels a little lost on the motorway as it competes with 44-tonne trucks and the wind resistance that comes with it. Like all sizeable box vans, it is prone to the vagaries of the wind, but handling is not compromised. With the van's narrower track (300mm less than trucks), it was more at risk of slipping into the made parallel grooves found in older sections of tarmac on the M4.
On the...