Work vehicles

Off road adventure

George Barrows is impressed with the Iveco Daily 4 x 4

Driving an Iveco Daily 4x4 over some seriously challenging off-road obstacles recently, I asked myself, “can you really transport a tree in a van?” Moments earlier I’d been talking to a tree surgeon, before taking to the wheel of a 7-tonne panel van that is possibly one of the most accomplished off-roaders of its kind. Off-road vans of this size aren’t that common, but there’s an option box for everything these days and that is definitely true of the Iveco Daily 4x4, which is available as either an all-road model or an off-road version.

While the Daily ascended some really steep inclines and effortlessly held control on its way down, I was thinking that my tree surgeon friend probably uses his van for more than just transporting enormous tree stumps around. There’s invariably need to fit in some heavy equipment and fellow passengers,too. The Daily 4x4 can accommodate all, as it's available as a chassis cab as well as a van so perfect for moving tonnes of aggregate in as a tipper or even a mini-digger on the platform chassis.

The Daily I was driving has a 16m3 loadspace – more than enough for a few bits of firewood – but it can have any number of the regular Iveco body combinations from 9m3 to 18m3. There are three wheelbase lengths, three heights and three gross vehicle weights for chassis cabs at 3.5-, 5- or 7-tonnes or just the two heavier weights as a van. The payload is up to 3,325kg as a van or 4,267kg as a chassis cab as well.

The Daily has one particularly impressive party piece in that it can go through water up to 650 mm deep thanks to a trick-switch that disables the engine cooling fan stopping water getting drawn in.

Another stand-out feature of this Iveco Daily is the Hi-Matic gearbox. The vast majority of pick-up trucks these days are equipped with automatic transmissions and with good reason as when it comes to off-roading they are effortless in their abilities. The Hi-Matic, although not specifically designed for such a task as it is a spin-off of the gearbox used in fast Maseratis, copes equally well at selecting the right gear while off-road. We drove the Daily up and over some pretty challenging terrain, and while the ground was dry enough to not warrant any use of the differentials, the gearbox was unflappable at restarting on a tricky loose surface incline and equally adept at pulling through the ratios on-demand on a fast dusty tracks or normal road. There’s a low-ratio tortoise button on the dash for the really tricky stuff, as well as huge wheel articulation from the suspension, but our experience even with standard Continental Vanco tyres was enough to suggest the Daily could comfortable out perform any pick-up truck and is aided further by its short front overhang (providing the rear doesn’t bottom out). The suspension is comfortable on any surface and an air-sprung driver’s seat finesses the ride further still. It would be ideal for a quarries, great for builders and ideal for landscapers who need to venture far off-road with a lot of equipment.

Don’t be rushing out to buy one just yet, though, as this particular van is already out of date. It’s based on the 2019 model van, but Iveco has recently updated the Daily with refreshed looks, a new Euro-6d-Final engine that is said to be 6% better on fuel, fancy memory foam seats and an Amazon Alexa – no really! Orders for the 2022 version will start in November and while the 4x4 version might be some way behind, unless you’re desperate for the Daily 4x4’s impressive off-roading abilities the new model with its increased desirability and therefore better residuals will be worth the wait.