ASTRA HD9 8x6 2022 Review

There’s a double-edged sword to off-roading in the ASTRA HD9. On one hand, this truck is such a capable off-roader, with high clearance, low-range gearing, excellent geometry and diff locks galore, that’s there’s not much that will stop it. But on the other, the thought of getting this monster properly stuck – to the point of requiring a full-blown recovery – just doesn’t bear thinking about. We’re talking dozers and chains, rather than typical 4WDs and snatch straps…

While such thoughts swirled in my head, the reality playing out before me suggested I needn’t have worried. Because when the going gets tough in an ASTRA HD9, you have just about every tool at your disposal short of a military air lift to get you where you need to go.

This wasn’t my first rodeo, so to speak. I’d taken an ASTRA HD9 8x8 for a spin back in 2015, not long after the model was first introduced to Australia. But that was a rock-hard bare cab-chassis without an ounce of extra weight to settle the ride. This time, however, things were different.

I met IVECO Australia’s Regional Sales Manager and off-road specialist, Keith Berwick, and a gleaming ASTRA HD9, out the front of the Australian Automotive Research Centre (AARC) near Anglesea, in rural Victoria. This is a Nirvana of motoring magic – a place where just about any land-bound motorised transport, from passenger cars to road trains, can find their limits.

Complementing the proving ground’s sealed circuits are several off-road-specific locations, and Keith and I had a full afternoon to see what this ASTRA HD9 could do.

But before we get dirty, let’s delve into the truck’s backstory…

Established in 1946 to repurpose old WWII trucks, before turning its attention to manufacturing trucks of its own, ASTRA (Anonima Sarda TRAsporti) specialises in building trucks with significant off-road capability at its production facility and headquarters in Piacenza, Italy.

Acquired by IVECO in 1986, ASTRA trucks are imported and distributed here by IVECO Australia. It’s a good fit for the IVECO range, which already boast off-road models like the lighter Daily 4x4, medium-duty Eurocargo 4x4, and heavy-duty Trakker 4x4 and 6x6.

The ASTRA HD9 can be fitted with a body in Europe and then imported here or it can be fitted out here in Australia. And while the ASTRA HD9 is only listed in one basic guise by IVECO Australia, the reality is it’s available in many formats – including 4x4, 8x4, 8x6 and 8x8 – and can be customised in many ways to suit the specialist applications for which it's honed.

Those applications commonly span mining, construction, oil exploration, forestry – even the military – although Keith tells me the ASTRA HD9 is also out to tender for emergency services work, specifically as an ultra-heavy tanker for fire-fighting duties.

In fact, in recent weeks Keith has been guiding our test truck – an 8x6 variant – around the country as part of IVECO’s global ‘Extreme by Nature’ customer roadshow, in the course of which it was displayed at the recent Australian Fire and Emergency Services Authorities Council (AFAC) conference and expo in Adelaide.

While IVECO Australia sells around 30 examples of the ASTRA HD9 each year, Keith tells us interest in the model has been growing significantly in recent times. “Since June this year we’ve delivered more trucks than we delivered in 2016, 2017 and 2018 combined,” he says.

And we’re not just talking about small, bespoke operations. The truck before us here will commence service for BHP at a mining site in WA in October, while another one recently went out the door to Rio Tinto.

IVECO says the ASTRA HD9 offers numerous benefits over traditional mining solutions like articulated dump trucks, including healthier payloads, more affordable tyres, better fuel economy and the ability to be driven on public roads when required.

At the ASTRA HD9’s core is a rugged simplicity and strength. Every aspect of it, from its high-tensile steel chassis to its parabolic front and parabolic cantilever rear suspension, is aimed at getting the job done, often in extreme conditions.

Even with its heavy-duty Cantoni tipper body, complete with sturdy ROPS (Roll Over Protection System) and FOPS (Falling Object Protection System) guard over the cab, this ASTRA HD9 has a 30-tonne payload. That limit increases to 32 tonnes at speeds below 70km/h, as dictated by the speed rating of those huge Pirelli tyres.

The GVM of this latest variant is 50 tonnes, while operators can go higher than the basic 70-tonne GCM on application. Tare weight? About 12 tonnes, though our test truck is running at somewhere around 15 tonnes with its (empty) tipper body. Like I said, you’ll need more than a shovel and MaxTrax if you get this thing bogged!

Not that it's likely. The truck has a constant all-wheel drive system to three of its four axles, plus hub reduction, a dual-range transfer case, and front, centre and rear differential locks, with a power divider also available at the rear bogie.

There’s also an off-road mode, which lets the truck rev higher and upshift later, as well as downshift earlier for more retardation, and change gears faster (if a bit more abruptly), so less momentum is lost between cogs in tough going. And it excludes the ABS system at speeds under 15km/h. But there's no electronic hill descent control, as you find in most garden-variety 4WDs these days, and no hill holder.

Powering the show is a Cursor 13-litre six-cylinder turbo-diesel from IVECO subsidiary FPT (Fiat Powertrain Technologies), which produces a claimed 480hp at 1900rpm and 2300Nm from 1000rpm to 1440rpm. There’s a 520hp rating too, but the lower of the pair, as fitted to our tipper, affords the best PTO for tipper work – lower torque delivers faster raising or lowering of the tipper body.

The engine is mated to ZF’s ASTronic 16-speed automated manual transmission in our test truck, but there’s also a ZF 16-speed manual or an Allison 4700 automatic to choose from.

Then there’s the uber-rugged nature of the thing. Steel bumpers, a galvanised and pressed steel cab, wire guards for the headlights – it goes on. The first of the three steps up to the towering cab is 640mm off the deck and is suspended by wire rope to prevent damage in broken terrain, while the cab floor is 1660mm off the deck.

Approach and departure angles are 29.8 degrees and 23.4 degrees respectively, while we measured 305mm of ground clearance beneath the diffs. Wading depth? 1500mm. Trot that stat out to your Ranger- and HiLux-driving mates down the pub!

After a couple of sighting laps of the AARC off-road course with Keith explaining all the controls, it was time for yours truly to take the wheel. Even at 188cm tall (6ft 2in), I didn't find this an easy cab to climb into, but the excellent view once you’ve scaled the heights is worth it.

The cab itself is from the old IVECO Stralis – since replaced by the new S-Way – and in ASTRA HD9 guise it’s a utilitarian space, for sure, which is exactly what you want. Lots of hard plastics, a tough vinyl floor, and chunky air-operated dials for managing the driveline, along with sizeable pushbuttons.

It’s all angled at durability and functionality, while everything can be easily operated while wearing work gloves.

The instrumentation looks a bit dated, certainly by the standards set by the latest digital set-ups, but it’s clear and easy to read. There are a reasonable number of storage options, including surprisingly sizeable door pockets that will take a drink bottle, and while this truck has a day cab there is also the option of a sleeper if you need it.

Comfort is fine. Sure, it’s not exactly the lap of luxury, and we didn’t get to put the ASTRA’s heating or cooling to the test, but the ISRI suspension seat features three-way adjustment and the pneumatic steering column is adjustable for tilt and reach via a foot-operated button set into the floor. It's not hard finding that 'just right' driving posi.

Needless to say, vision at this height is excellent, but we would have preferred a proper dead pedal for an idle left foot, although the footwell either side of the steering column is far from cramped.

Despite the banks of dials and buttons, driving the ASTRA HD9 is relatively simple once you’ve got your head around the various controls. You can run around in high or low range even on sealed roads without risk of damaging the transmission, and you can engage the centre diff lock on the fly, provided your wheels are all pointing straight and you momentarily take your foot off the throttle while twisting the dial.

Driving the rig on the open but potholed dirt roads surrounding the AARC, and pulling repeated U-turns past our photographer, I was surprised to note two things. Firstly, the ride is really pretty comfortable, aided by a four-spring cab suspension system and an air-suspension driver's seat as it is. And the turning circle of this twin-steer rig is pretty good too, relatively speaking. Sure, at roughly 25 metres, a U-turn in this thing rules out your average shopping centre car park, but it got around a fair bit tighter than I was anticipating.

Of course, that all goes out the window when the front diff lock is engaged, and there’s a LOUD buzzer to let you know that it’s in use. Then again, when the diff locks are in and you’re in low range, you know there are some challenges ahead.

At AARC, the first of those involved summiting the various mounds and crests that dotted our off-road test loop. We pragmatically decided to leave our road tyre pressures alone, as a bit of a safeguard against pushing things too far (and potentially stuffing our photo and video shoot, wasting hours waiting for a heavy-duty recovery vehicle, and spending thousands of dollars on same).

But with low range and off-road mode engaged, and ditto all the diff locks, it wasn’t so much clawing our way up the face of some of these hillocks that was the issue, but giving the Cursor engine j-u-s-t enough juice to push the truck carefully over its fulcrum while teetering on the crest, so as to then gently cruise down the other side, and letting gravity doing the bulk of the work.

Fortunately, the torquey, low-revving nature of the engine, when combined with healthy feel and feedback at the throttle, made the quest for this tipping point really very achievable. Yes, there were times when I pulled up just short of the top, and had to gingerly reverse back down for another go, but I gained quite some sense of satisfaction from nailing an ascent and then letting the front of the truck kiss the down ramp on the other side.

Managing the AMT presents no issues. With large D/N/R buttons on the dash, and a multi-function stalk off the right of the steering column, it takes no time to settle in. It defaults to auto, but hit D again and you’re in manual mode, or hold it down for one of two crawler ratios.

Flick the stalk up or down to change gears manually – not the fastest of shifts, but you acclimatise soon enough – and pull it back and towards you to change through five stages of auxiliary braking via the intarder, which is good and powerful (and a big help on steep descents).

Keith reckons the Allison 4700 is the pick of the transmissions for the ASTRA HD9 – “It’s absolutely magnificent; it’s perfect for it,” he says – while in contrast the manual tranny makes the truck a pretty complex vehicle to drive.

Some time at AARC’s off-road gradients test area saw the ASTRA HD9 put on another good show. The truck walked straight up a 35 per cent off-road ramp without a worry, while it came within a whisker of conquering the 40 per cent off-road gradient.

We made it halfway up the 45 per cent track too, but it wasn’t power or torque that was the issue, it was traction. The surface was still a bit damp from recent rainfall, and don’t forget we were still at road tyre pressures. Had we dropped those pressures, I’m pretty confident those two steeper grades wouldn’t have been a problem either.

In any case, in low range first we're crawling along at just 2.7km/h, so the gearing is low enough to handle just about anything.

We also set off up a bush track that AARC staff assured us wouldn’t see us wallop any low trees. This tipper has a travelling height of 3.9 metres, so it’s something to bear in mind. In any case, the truck romped its way up some rutted climbs and never put a foot wrong, despite the greasy clay conditions. And the truck all but laughed at the 600mm-deep water crossing we tackled at the end of the day.

The ASTRA HD9 is one tough rig. There’s nothing for show, it’s all about the go. And go it does – day after day, in some of the toughest theatres of operation on the planet. Chances are you may never see an ASTRA HD9 in the metal unless you go looking for one in our remote back blocks. It’s a specialist vehicle for niche applications, but when capability and productivity top the priority list, the ASTRA HD9 seems a great fit for our harsh and often remote Aussie landscape.

Make: ASTRA
Model: HD9
Format: 8x6 (4x4, 8x4 and 8x8 also available)
Engine: Cursor 12.9-litre six-cylinder turbo-diesel
Power: 480hp at 1900rpm (520hp/2400Nm rating also available)
Torque: 2300Nm at 1000rpm to 1440rpm
Emissions: Euro 5 (Selective Catalytic Reduction)
Transmission: ZF ASTronic 16-speed automated manual
GVM: 50 tonnes
GCM: 70 tonnes (higher on application)
Tare: Approximately 15 tonnes
Driveline: Constant all-wheel drive to three axles (four in 8x8) with hub reduction, dual-range transfer case, with front and centre diff locks, plus rear power divider and diff locks
Chassis: High-tensile steel
Wheelbase: 6585mm
Travel height (as tested): 3900mm
Ground clearance: 305mm
Wading depth: 1500mm
Approach angle: 29.8 degrees
Departure angle: 23.4 degrees
Front suspension: Parabolic springs
Rear suspension: parabolic cantilever
Brakes: Air/drum service brakes with auxiliary intarder
Body (as tested): Cantoni tipper, with Roll Over Protection and Falling Object Protection system
Fuel: 1 x 300lt (600lt available)
AdBlue: 1 x 100lt
Payload (as tested): 32 tonnes at speeds up to 70km/h; 30 tonnes at speeds over 70km/h
Tyres: Front – Pirelli AP 05, 385/65R22.5; Rear – Pirelli TG:01, 315/80R22.5
Applications: Mining, construction, oil exploration, forestry, military
Truck supplied by: IVECO Australia