Isuzu Giga keeps Barossa red flowing
Heavy-duty Isuzu pulls its weight for Dimchurch VineyardsA recently purchased Isuzu Giga is helping a respected Barossa vineyard to transport its highly sought after shiraz.
Dimchurch Vineyards says its new Isuzu Giga CXY 455 6x4 Premium is hard at work, taking its prized grapes to leading Australian winemakers such as Glazer Wines, Rockfords, Torbreck and Two Hands.
“The truck works seven days a week and is on the road for 12 hours a day,” said Jeff Hoffman, part-owner of Dimchurch Vineyards.
"We previously had a prestigious European truck brand and it blew up!
"We use the Giga to tow a dog trailer and we chose it because of its excellent horsepower.
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"North East Isuzu was fantastic and they fitted it with a trailer, so now we can accomplish with one truck, what used to require two.
"The Giga is more economical and easier to drive than its competitors. We keep pushing it harder rather than messing around with our older trucks, and it never gives us an issue."
The Giga now serves as the vineyard's main truck. With a GCM of 54 tonnes, its engine produces 338kW at 1800rpm and 2255Nm at 1300rpm – all fed to the ground via an automated manual transmission.
"All our fruit gets picked into two-tonne bins, which are then lifted into the truck with a forklift," said Jeff.
"We transport the grapes to the winery to unload, and the truck travels back and forth between the winery and vineyards all day.
"We often load it to capacity and it handles the weight excellently, with no problems whatsoever.
"After owning other truck brands that were under-powered, the Giga's a revelation. It's great to drive a truck that doesn't crawl up hills.
Jeff said the Giga represented real value for his business needs.
"We got fantastic value for money with the Giga," he said.
"The fact that it doesn't need AdBlue is brilliant; I could have spent an extra $50,000 on another truck brand and ended up with an inferior truck.
"The cab's comfortable and compared to the other European truck brand we had, it's far easier to drive.
Jeff cited the Giga's extensive safety features as another drawcard, as the truck often has to ply dirt roads.
"I think my son pushed us to get the Giga in the hope that buying a really good truck would keep me working for a few more years," Jeff laughed.
"I don’t know about that, but it's definitely a pleasure to drive."
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