Review: 2015 Iveco Powerstar 6400

When Iveco needed to get its latest demo truck, a Powerstar 6400 tipper, to Brisbane for some appointments with customers, I decided to help out, after seeing it brand new at an earlier Iveco press conference.

So I flew across to Sydney and after a night at the Blacktown Travelodge, I found myself at the dealership in Eastern Creek.

Problem. Someone had pushed the wrong button on the tipper control panel after the bin had been filled with gravel. Realising their mistake, I suspect they reversed the process almost immediately, but too late to prevent a line of gravel lodging in between the flange and the gate.

The gate couldn't close fully and the tipper tabs weren't properly secured. In short, the load wasn't safe and I had visions of leaving a trail of gravel and chipped windscreens all the way to Newcastle. I picked the problem on the walk-around and knew the first copper to see me would take me off the road, and rightly so.

There was no alternative but to open the gate and drop some of the gravel. Ultimately it took a while and left a couple of hundred kilos of road base on the fence line as I got the flange cleared. Unfortunately that not only made me about an hour late, it also planted me in the thick of Sydney's morning peak hour.

The plan was to drive straight up the motorways to Pennant Hills Road, hit the M1 and get settled in for a longish drive. Once I fuelled the truck with Shell in Eastern Creek, fuelled myself with the obligatory choc milk and Gatorade, I was on my way.

Iveco's Powerstar 6400 is rated at 24.5 tonnes as a rigid, and 60 tonnes with a dog. Unfortunately, there was no dog unit available for this run, so the truck had the weight well and truly covered.

The 6400 is spec'd with the 13-litre Cursor engine, usually turned down to 450 or 500hp with 2200 or 2300Nm of torque. Probably in an effort to impress potential customers, the factory demo unit had the same Cursor as those used in interstate rigs, with 560hp and 2495Nm of torque was on tap.

I'd estimated it had a gross weight of around 22 tonnes, so the Cursor engine demolished hills with nothing more than a 'cursory' growl. I have to admit it was fun coming up behind the interstaters in Kenworths and Western Stars, and then blowing them off on every slope.

I had a few guys behind me on the flat and I knew what they were thinking as the climb from the Hawkesbury came up – "Just what I need; a lazy friggin' tipper in the way," only to see me disappear into the morning mist. I also think a couple of car drivers wondered if the Steven Spielberg movie Duel was being lived out, as the Powerstar's towering grille filled their mirrors no matter what the terrain.

On the back of this Cursor was Iveco's 16-speed Eurotronic AMT, so I assumed it would make all the gear choices for me. But it didn't work out that way. Very quickly, in fact at the first intersection, I found that the 'box insisted on changing more gears than it needed to. I think the combination of overpowering and the relatively light load meant that the 'box was reading torque requirements as low, so it changed gears much too early.

The Cursor is quite happy to lug but in standard take-offs the changes came thick and fast, which actually slowed my progress. I got embarrassed more than once as the truck waited for another gear two or three times. Very quickly I decided to switch to semi-auto mode when accelerating so I could hold a gear a little longer then skip a couple. I’m sure it would have been better with a fully loaded dog on the back.

The ratios were a perfect fit though – it cruised at 100km/h at 1600rpm, which was quiet and easy, and in a traffic jam on the M1 the crawler gears were low enough to allow me to avoid stopping for the half an hour that saw me in the thick of it.

One of the Powerstar's best party tricks is the cab. Because the truck has been morphed from the cab-over Stralis unit, it gains an immediate advantage to the usual US-based narrow-cab conventionals that are big hits in the east coast tipper and dog market.

The cab has been modified here in Oz to plant a nose on the front, turning it into a quasi-conventional. That means it brings the spaciousness of one of the best European driving spaces into this market, and drivers from the Kenworth/Western Star/Mack/Freightliner brigade won't know themselves when they first get on board.

The doors open a full 90 degrees, providing the best access in this category. The seat is a lounge chair, the steering wheel adjusts every which way, and the instrumentation is minimalist compared to the overdone panels of many others, with exceptions brought to the driver's attention with lights and alarms.

Steering wheel and column stalks minimise the range of other switches on the dash. A left-hand-side fold-down armrest plus the wide door shelf means you are completely relaxed and can steer with your wrists.

I also have to note that the sun and glare protection features are top of the ladder for this market. Australian summers are handled by a full-width external tinted sun visor. Inside there are three overlapping drop-down sun visors that cover the entire width of the windscreen. Additionally, each side window has its own pull-down blind, which lowers to at least shoulder level to protect against early morning or late afternoon glare. It might not be a really big deal in the city, but out in those giant country shires, it's perfect for those long morning runs north, and late afternoon runs south, where the sun can really nail you.

The Stralis heritage brings a naturally high roof to the Powerstar, and it was easy to stand up during rest stops etc. Our test truck was the Day cab, so I missed out on a snooze during this trip, but there was plenty of room for bags, papers and the other junk that tends to accumulate. Four large drink holders were all reachable from the driver's seat, with varying sizes depending on your preferred fast food chain.

There's a very handy tray along the back wall of the cab that is perfect for the odds and sods that get used regularly in stop-start daily work. It was good enough to hold all my camera and connectivity gear.

Ride in the Powerstar is exceptionally good. No doubt the 16 or so tonnes of gravel helped, but the airbag suspension smoothed most things out. With the axle out front but still back a bit from the bumper, there was no pitching on undulations and a few full-lock tests in park-ups revealed a turning circle that will be much appreciated on city construction sites.

Iveco can do well with the Powerstar 6400 in a tough and demanding market. To break through, it will need demo bums on seats. Sending drivers back to the current standard will serve its strongest selling point.

IVECO POWERSTAR 6400 SPECIFICATIONS
ENGINE: Iveco Cursor in-line, six-cylinder, intercooled turbo-diesel
POWER: 560hp at 1900rpm
TORQUE: 2495Nm at 1000rpm
EMISSIONS: ADR 80/03 (Euro 5)
STD TRANSMISSION: Eurotronic 16-speed overdrive AMT
CONFIGURATION: 6x4
TARE: 7200kg (Day cab)
GVM: 24,500kg
GCM: 60,000kg
WHEELBASE: 5000mm
BBC: 3605mm (Day cab)
BRAKES: Disc
CABS: Day
WEB: www.iveco.com.au