Iveco Daily 4x4 2015 Review

When it comes to Iveco's Daily 4x4, wallflowers need not apply. It's part of the Italian company's Daily LCV range but, with a towering travel height of over 2.6m and hard-core off-road credentials, this is no urban delivery van.

Introduced to Australia in 2012, the model has steadily gained traction (pardon the pun) with rural fire brigades and other emergency services. Daily 4x4s also serve as support vehicles in the mining and forestry sectors, while some even become off-road RVs.

Iveco Australia says it sold 90 examples in 2014 and this year it expects that number to top 130. A revised 2016 Daily 4x4 will arrive at the end of this year – following on from the new Daily range unveiled last April – with an updated cab complementing a relatively unchanged chassis and driveline package.

motoring's sibling web portal trucksales.com.au recently sampled a Daily 4x4 55S17W dual cab/chassis, in which we covered nearly 900 kilometres both on-road and off. Our test vehicle is plated with a car-licence-friendly GVM of 4495kg but it can be plated at 5500kg – requiring a Light Rigid licence but boosting payload capacity from 1750kg to 2755kg.

Built on a solid steel truck chassis, the Italian-made Daily 4x4 comes to Australia as a bare cab/chassis in either single- or dual-cab formats in the one 3400mm wheelbase. Iveco dealers work with customers to deliver a fit-out to suit individual needs – our test vehicle was fitted with a $4000 Top-Dek aluminium drop-side tray, for example. Other non-standard accessories on our vehicle include the Travel Trucks bullbar ($1230) and the LED light bars.

As tested, the vehicle reviewed here has an RRP of $99,500 plus on-roads – a little more than the base-model Isuzu NPS300 4x4 light truck and most of the various Toyota LandCruiser models with which Iveco says it more or less competes. Having said that, there's nothing else really like it – it's a unique fusion of LCV, truck and 4WD.

The first challenge is getting into the thing. The sturdy footstep is 550mm off the deck and the seat base is nearly 1.7m up – prime-mover territory. There are A-pillar grab handles but entry and exit does require some care – it's a long way down.

The cab has a utilitarian feel, with a mix of hard plastics offering durability and easy cleaning. The steering wheel offers no adjustment but the ISRI sprung driver's suspension seat can be altered for height, driver weight and squab angle. Still, at 188cm tall I found even the seat's lowest setting too high.

My line of sight was level with the very top of the windscreen, although general vision is otherwise excellent.

Cab storage is decent – the cavernous space under the rear seating a highlight – while niceties includes a stereo with CD player, climate control, driver’s seat heating, power front windows and mirrors, cruise control and a trip computer. Notable omissions include hands-free telephony and a rear-window demister.

The driver's ISRI perch aside, the seating is fairly basic, with fabric that appears fairly robust but cushioning that reflects the vehicle's commercial origins. A suspension seat can also be specified for the front passenger.

Back-seat passengers (up to four) lead a particularly Spartan existence – there are no rear ventilation outlets, the windows have a manual slide-opening set-up and the seat back is very upright, although leg room is acceptable.

In short, the Daily 4x4 is entirely adequate for carting people to the fire front, but don't expect too many compliments after an interstate run!
It's predictably ponderous through the bends on the blacktop thanks to its high ride height and off-road-focussed suspension – three-leaf parabolic springs at the front, a four-leaf set-up at the rear, all four with shocks and reinforced stabiliser bars. We never loaded the Daily up and the ride was harsh, as expected, though perhaps not unduly so given its brief.

With four turns lock to lock and a 'generous' turning circle, there's plenty of wheel twirling around town. Yes, it's a blunt instrument on the road but it's still more nimble and accelerates faster than your average light truck.

The off-road Michelin tyres are noisy on the highway but that's the price you pay for mud-plugging potential. You could always fit highway tyres, but it's hard not to love the tough visual edge they add to an already tough truck.

On the dirt, however, everything falls into place. The 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel – a twin-turbo with variable geometry – dishes out the grunt from low in its rev range. With 125kW and 400Nm, it marches on through the rough stuff from as low as 1000rpm, with strong urge to around 3000rpm.

The powerplant feels lazy, torquey and under-stressed – just what you want when lugging hefty loads through the bush.
And when the going gets tough, the Daily 4x4 steps up. It's a permanent 4WD arrangement, with a 32/68 per cent torque split to the front and rear axles.

There's 255mm of ground clearance, and approach, ramp-over and departure angles of 50 degrees, 31 degrees and 30 degrees respectively. The latter is curtailed by the beefy towbar, which affords a 3500kg braked towing limit.

The Daily 4x4 also has a fording depth of 700mm and then there's the driveline… With centre, rear and front differential locks, and not one but two low-range gear sets, the Daily 4x4 can push on with confidence.

The diff locks have electro-hydraulic actuators – simply press a button on the dash – while the central transfer case with two reduction stages delivers a total of 24 forward gears and four reverse. There's a ratio for just about any situation, with a final reduction in the lowest available gear of 47.58:1 – a veritable crawl.

Over some dizzying descents, sharp climbs and muddy bog holes in Victoria's Wombat State Forest, the Daily 4x4 proved itself time and again, its engine showing it was well up to managing the vehicle's 2745kg kerb weight. With this sort of clearance, along with steel front underbody protection reminiscent of a shark cage, triple diff locks and super-low gearing, chances are the driver will run out of ability long before the Daily does.

It doesn't take long to get comfy with the multitude of gear ratios. The push-button diff locks occasionally take a while to engage but generally work well, and it's a great comfort to know they're there – we needed all three to power through one particularly sloppy bog hole.

The suspension takes big hits in its stride and we never found its limits – we were thankful for the suspended ISRI seat, however, which gets a real workout off-road.

Fuel economy? You don't attend an environmental protest in one of these but the consumption isn't too bad for the ability on offer. Around town, the Daily 4x4 returned 14.5L/100km, that figure climbing to 16.1L/100km in the bush. With a 90-litre tank, that's a safe unladen road-going range of around 580 kilometres.

As for safety, there's an anti-lock brake system with electronic brake force distribution – the ABS switches off with any diff locks engaged. The Daily 4x4 can be fitted with front driver and passenger airbags, if desired.

trucksales.com.au reviews an incredibly diverse range of commercial vehicles from utes to prime movers, but nothing has put a smile on our face quite like this Daily 4x4. With an appearance that wouldn't look out of place in the Dakar Rally – at least in a support capacity, if not in competition – this
vehicle triggers double takes, grins and impromptu smartphone videos wherever it goes.

That's because these jaw-dropping machines are simply not seen in urban environments – they're more likely found battling bushfires, or trekking through the outback. Having sampled the Daily 4x4's ability for ourselves, given the choice we'd be out there too – blasting on long after the blacktop has become a distant memory…

2015 Iveco Daily 4x4 55S17W dual-cab pricing and specifications:
Price: $99,500 (as tested, plus on-road costs)
Engine: 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 125kW/400Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Fuel: 16.1L/100km (as tested)
Safety Rating: N/A