cm tests the daf lf at 12 tonnes - commercialmotor.com · the latest daf lf comes with four- and...

For today’s news visit: www.roadtransport.com32 COMMERCIAL MOTOR 02/09/10

COMMERCIAL MOTORCOMMERCIAL MOTOR

CM tests the DAF LF at 12 tonnes

CMO_020910_032-039 32 27/8/10 14:27:54

For today’s news visit: www.roadtransport.com 02/09/10 COMMERCIAL MOTOR 33

For all the CM road tests visit: www.roadtransport.com

Commercial Motor’s distribution vehicle road

tests have something of a theme going this summer and autumn, as we look at

alternatives to the traditional 3.5- and 7.5-tonne sectors.

DAF FALF45 210

Words: Colin Barnett Images: Malcolm Case Green

CMO_020910_032-039 33 27/8/10 14:29:35

For today’s news visit: www.roadtransport.com

ROAD

TES

T

34 COMMERCIAL MOTOR 02/09/10

Status quo is easy. No, not the band of mu-sicians famous for making three-chords go a long way, but the concept of doing something because “we’ve always done it that way” . It’s not only musical tastes that change, though. Factors such as legislation, driver demographics and working practices evolve over time, and what was right in 1980 might not be in 2010.

Here we test the latest 12-tonne version of the UK’s most popular 7.5-tonner to see how the sums stack up. Ac-cording to DAF’s figures, in the early 90s, 31% of trucks over 6 tonnes were 7.5-tonners. Now the figure is 20%. The ratio of 7.5- to 10-tonne to 12-tonne trucks is now 5:1 com-pared with 12:1 in 1998, the year after non-HGV licensing legislation changed. The shift is obviously well under way, even if it is taking longer than some predicted.

The latest DAF LF comes with four- and six-cylinder engines, with ratings from 140hp to 285hp, going past the Euro-5 post to deliver EEV-level emissions. At 12 tonnes, the choice is from five ratings from 160hp to 250hp. Previ-

ously, an LF in this position in the range would have had a 6.7-litre six-cylinder 220, but the FR family of 4.5-litre four-cylinder units now runs to a 210 rating, delivering a true 204hp and 760Nm. While it gives away 90Nm of torque, it repays with a 120kg weight saving.

Transmission on the test truck is the ZF AS-Tronic automated six-speeder, the sensible choice even if it does add £1,890 to the invoice. Wheel-

base, at 4,300mm, is the middle of three standard options.The body fitted is a plain vanilla 20ft box, with a Rat-

cliffe tuck-away tail-lift. It is one of DAF’s own brand bod-ies, built on line at Leyland (CM 3 June) . The benefits of this are shorter lead times, and one order, one warranty and one invoice; £52,000 in the case of a basic spec 12-tonne LF45 210 with box body.

SPECIFICATIONS

Test comparison data

Vehicle: AVIA D120Tested: 16/07/09

In brief:

Vehicle: DAF FA LF45 210Price as tested: £58,350 (plus VAT)Engine: 4.5litre, 204hp (152kw)GVW: 12,000kgPayload: 6,590kgBody/payload allowance 7,080kg

Manufacturer: DAF Trucks Ltd, Eastern Bypass, Thame,Oxon OX9 3FB

Website: www.daf.co.uk

Engine: Paccar FR152 Euro 5/EEV turbo-diesel with four valves per cylinder and electronic common-rail injection.Emission reduction by SCR and AdBlue

Cylinders: Four in-line

Bore x stroke: 107mm x 124mm

Capacity: 4.5 litres

Compression ratio: 17.3:1

Maximum power: 204hp (152kW) at 2,100rpm

Maximum torque: 760Nm (561lbft) at 1,400rpm-1,800rpm

Transmission: ZF 6AS 1000 six-speed automated manual

Gear ratios: 6.75, 3.60, 2.13, 1.39, 1.00, 0.78:1; rev, 6.06:1

Final drive ratio: 4.1:1

Clutch: 362mm diameter single dry plate with automated actuation

Brakes: Dual-circuit full air system with ventilated discs front and rear

Parking brake: Spring brake acting on rear wheels

Secondary brakes: Exhaust valve operated by steeringwheel switch

Brake dimensions: Front and rear, 33mm x 34mm

Chassis: Steel ladder frame

Dimensions: 192mm x 66.5mm x 4.5mm

Body specification: DAF 20ft box body with Ratcliffe tuck-away tail-lift

Suspension: Front and rear, parabolic leaf springs withshock absorbers and anti-roll bars

Steering: Power-assisted rack and pinion

Turns lock-to-lock: 3.9

Turning circle: 12.0m

Wheels and tyres: 6.75in x 17.5in steel wheels with Bridgestone 245/70R17.5 tyres

Fuel tank: 200 litres

AdBlue tank: 70 litres

Electrical system: 24V CAN-bus system

Battery / Alternator: 2 x 12V, 175Ah /80A

DAF FA LF45 210

“Factors like legislation, driver demographics and working practices evolve over time, and what

was right in 1980 might not be in 2010”

CMO_020910_032-039 34 27/8/10 14:30:05



02/09/10 COMMERCIAL MOTOR 35

ROAD TESTManufacturer: DAF Trucks Ltd, Eastern Bypass, Thame,Oxon OX9 3FB

Website: www.daf.co.uk

Engine: Paccar FR152 Euro 5/EEV turbo-diesel with four valves per cylinder and electronic common-rail injection.Emission reduction by SCR and AdBlue

Cylinders: Four in-line

Bore x stroke: 107mm x 124mm

Capacity: 4.5 litres

Compression ratio: 17.3:1

Maximum power: 204hp (152kW) at 2,100rpm

Maximum torque: 760Nm (561lbft) at 1,400rpm-1,800rpm

Transmission: ZF 6AS 1000 six-speed automated manual

Gear ratios: 6.75, 3.60, 2.13, 1.39, 1.00, 0.78:1; rev, 6.06:1

Final drive ratio: 4.1:1

Clutch: 362mm diameter single dry plate with automated actuation

Brakes: Dual-circuit full air system with ventilated discs front and rear

Parking brake: Spring brake acting on rear wheels

Secondary brakes: Exhaust valve operated by steeringwheel switch

Brake dimensions: Front and rear, 33mm x 34mm

Chassis: Steel ladder frame

Dimensions: 192mm x 66.5mm x 4.5mm

Body specification: DAF 20ft box body with Ratcliffe tuck-away tail-lift

Suspension: Front and rear, parabolic leaf springs withshock absorbers and anti-roll bars

Steering: Power-assisted rack and pinion

Turns lock-to-lock: 3.9

Turning circle: 12.0m

Wheels and tyres: 6.75in x 17.5in steel wheels with Bridgestone 245/70R17.5 tyres

Fuel tank: 200 litres

AdBlue tank: 70 litres

Electrical system: 24V CAN-bus system

Battery / Alternator: 2 x 12V, 175Ah /80A DASH DETAIL The cab has a high-quality feel, even if some of the “soft look” dash panels aren’t actually as soft as they look. Luxury seat, although a £820 option, comes highly recommended.

CMO_020910_032-039 35 27/8/10 14:31:55


ROAD

TES

T

On the roadThe new four-pot engine is a revelation. It feels rather lazy and unstressed, even when the clocks show it is actually working hard. Along the M4 and on the Monmouth test hill climb, there was no drop from the speed limit, but a run up the challenging climb out of Wantage was marred by a coun-cil lorry delivering wheelie bins right at the starting point.

The ZF AS-Tronic transmission is entirely controlled from a pod in the same location between the seats as the manual gear lever would be. The main rotary knob starts at ‘N’, turning clockwise for Drive and forward manoeu-vring modes, and anti-clockwise for the same in Reverse. There are two adjacent rocker switches, to toggle between Auto and Manual, and to shift up and down in Manual. This manual change method wouldn’t be the most con-venient if you needed it very often, but fortunately you don’t. Behind the gear control pod is the parking brake lever, which is a bit of a twist if you sit well forward.

Gear shifts are smooth and well-timed, and easy to in-fluence by careful application of throttle pressure, includ-ing the kick-down position. There’s rarely any need to use the manual mode. There is a slight hesitation picking up power from a slow roll, but it’s not significant. Manoeu-vring mode allows very smooth control in both directions.

Unusually for a truck of this weight with a relatively modest engine size, the engine brake is both very effective and easy to use, and is intelligently linked to the cruise control and transmission: exceed the preset over-speed setting and it tries to slow the truck; touch the brake pedal

and it changes down and tries harder. The only quibble is that touching the brake while over cruise-control speed dis-engages it.

The ride is excellent in virtually all conditions and is hard to fault. The only time there was any

noticeable cab movement was after coming to a standstill, when slight sloshing of the test load of water-filled IBCs induced mild sea-sickness.

As you can see from the photographs, the test track was extremely wet, preventing meaningful brake testing, but the four ventilated discs proved strong and progressive on the road.

ProductivityWe were blessed with reasonably good weather for our test run up to Hereford and back, and we were forced by roadworks to take a slightly less tortuous route through Cheltenham, but even so, the overall fuel consumption of 18.7mpg is impressive. Sadly, our database of 12-tonne road tests is rather sparse, with only 16.1mpg of the now defunct (in the UK) Euro-4 Avia D120 to compare. In fact, it would have been a very good result for a pre-limiter 7.5-tonner on the same route, although 23mpg is now the benchmark for the lightweights.

Compared with a 7.5-tonner, the 12-tonner costs in the region of 15% more to buy, while carrying more than twice as much, even when you fit a tail-lift to speed up handling

that extra weight. This example, fully fuelled and crewed, has a net payload well over 6.5 tonnes. Extending our re-cent typical distribution vehicle test figures results in the following simple table of productivity factors.

GVW Net payload MPG Productivity (kilograms) (kilograms) (p/tonne/mile) 3,500 1,500 30.0 2.78 5,200 2,600 27.0 1.78 7,500 3,200 21.0 1.86 12,000 6,590 18.7 1.00

As in any productivity calculation, extra payload is only any good if you can use it. If you operate intensive multi-drop deliveries and can’t physically deliver more than three tonnes of parcels in a shift, there’s little point provid-ing a truck that can carry six tonnes.

▲The wet weather prevented our drivers from conducting proper brake testing

DAf fA Lf45 210

“Gear shifts are smooth and well-timed, and easy to influence by careful application for throttle pressure”

CMO_020910_032-039 36 27/8/10 14:32:20




Service dataServicing downtime: Recommended standard servicing, 180,000km/year. Contract hire: Figures for three years at 180,000km/year, full maintenance, supplied by Lombard. Contact: 0870 010 5896. Parts prices: Retail total of brake linings (full set), headlamp unit, door mirror, wiper blades, oil/air filters and clutch. Residual values: Trade value, assuming 180,000km/year, in CAP Average Condition. Figures supplied by CAP Monitor. Contact: 0113 222 2000

Fact file: Security

Engine immobiliser ✔

Alarm optionalCentral locking optionalDeadlocking ✖

Secure bonnet ✖

Locking fuel cap ✔

Fact file: Plated weights

GVW 12,000kgGCW 15,500kgFront axle 4,500kgRear axle 8,500kg

Fact file: Test weights

Kerb weight 5,410kgNet payload 6,590kgBody/payload allowance 7,080kg

ROAD TEST

Cab comfortClimbing aboard is easy, thanks to doors which open in two stages to a full 90° and a well-placed step. You can have your LF as a day cab or a sleeper – there’s no ex-tended cab “middle way” . The day cab is cosily adequate for most needs, but there’s no space to spare. You could stuff your coat with the toolkit behind the driving seat, with a small rucksack behind the passenger seat, but apart from the semi-raised section of engine hump between the footwells, that’s it for major storage. The remaining space between the seats is filled with a large document bin, with a usefully deep elasticated recess in the lockable lid, and a couple of dual-size drink holders. Other storage comes from a tray on top of the dash, and two one-third-width, net-fronted open trays above the screen, the other third occupied by the digital tachograph, minor switches and two spare DIN slots. The rear wall is also home to a couple of giant coat hangers.

Payload: as tested, kg 6,590

Body/payload allowance: kg 7,080

Service intervals: months/km 12/50,000

Servicing downtime: annual hours 4.00

Contract maintenance: per year £4,648

Basket of spares: £1,362

Residual value: Three years £12,175 Five years £7,850

Dealers: UK/W.Europe 136/1,000

Warranty: basic cover, 12 months unlimited months/km 24 months driveline

List price: basic price £45,510

OWNERSHIP COMPARISONS

CMO_020910_032-039 37 27/8/10 14:33:10


engineThe latest DAF LF comes with four- and six-cylinder engines, with ratings from 160hp to 250hp.

ROAD

TeS

T

and controls can be easily operated

by a gloved hand, if needed, the only exception being the fid-

dly buttons of the Blaupunkt radio/CD/MP3 unit.A large, double-ended ashtray and cigar lighter unit

sticks two fingers up to smoking-at-work rules, while a separate 12V power socket lives in a bin near to the driv-er’s left knee. If the manual gear-change button is less than convenient, the same can’t be said for the more frequently needed engine brake and cruise control/speed limiter but-tons, mounted on the spokes of the steering wheel.

Mirrors are large and effective, but located so as to min-imise blindspots, and the centrally mounted front mirror does its job admirably. There are three front sun visors, with document holders, but in a surprising omission, there are no side visors. ■

The cab has a high-quality feel, even if some of the “soft look” dash panels aren’t actually as soft as they look. The quality feel translates into real benefit, as no creaks, squeaks, rattles or groans were apparent at any time. The soft one-piece moulded floor covering contributed to the very good noise reduction, which we didn’t measure on the move, due again to the amount of water on the track.

The driving seat fitted is the £820 luxury job, which came with the greatest recommendation; we hardly noticed its existence, and being a DAF demonstrator, this was backed up by a duplicate for the passenger.

The almost symmetrical dashboard is light grey with a contrasting black central section. A distinctly un-truck-like instrument panel is comprehensive and clearly laid out, with the on-board computer operated by a large rotary control knob. Stalks on the fully adjustable column are convention-al, lights on left, wipers on right. Most of the chunky switches

OPeRATiOnAL ReSULTS

Fuel consumption:

Overall

Motorways

A-roads

AdBlue rate, % of diesel

Fuel cost, £/100km

AdBlue cost, £/100km

Total cost, £/100km

Average speed:

Overall

Motorways

A-roads

Hill performance:

Monmouth

Wantage

18.7mpg (15.1lit/100km)

20.3mpg (13.9lit/100km)

18.0mpg (15.7lit/100km)

4.5%

16.61

0.29

16.90

66.1km/h

84.1km/h

60.4km/h

2min 28sec

2min 27sec

DAF FA LF45 210

“The driving seat fitted is the £820 luxury job, which came with the greatest recommendation;

we hardly noticed its existence”

CMO_020910_032-039 38 27/8/10 14:33:47




Colin Barnett

With DAF’s sales performance con-sistently dominat-ing the UK market, it doesn’t take a genius to observe that it provides what the market wants.

Almost the entire package is proof of a well designed and thoroughly developed product.

Even something like suspension tuning, which many rivals struggle to perfect for UK conditions, is spot on.

It’s not perfect, though. An extended day cab option would be a useful compromise that would surely suit many operations, and there are a few ergonomic issues, such as the lack of side sun visors, that would be fixed in a perfect world.

As for the 7.5- v 12-tonne argument, the figures speak for themselves. If you have suitable loads for the 12-tonner, why pay nearly twice as much to mess around with a relic of a bygone legisla-tive era?

And when you finish with it, you can still down-plate to 7.5 tonnes and sell it to the non-HGV race transporter or horsebox market.

NEXT WEEK

TESTS ON THE WEB...

Isuzu Rodeo Denver pickup is tested

DIMENSIONS xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxxx

Acceleration:

(seconds)

Braking distance:

(stopping distance, m) Not tested due to flooded track

In-cab noise

dB(A) Not tested due to flooded track

In-cab noise

dB(A) Not tested due to flooded track

0-80km/h

37.7

32km/h

48km/h

96km/h

32-64km/h

15.8

48km/h

64km/h

Tickover

48-80km/h

20.7

64km/h

80km/h

BEHIND THE WHEEl

Overall width 2,240mmOverall length 7,810mmOverall height 3,190mmExternal cab height 2,600mmStep heights 500/400mmCab floor height 900mmCab length (inc exhaust) 1,600mm

Cab Internal height (max) 940mmBody length 6,096mmBody width 2,240mmWheelbase 4,300mmFront overhang 1,270mmRear overhang 2,240mmloading height 990mm

ROAD TEST

You can now find CM’s road tests on the web. We have uploaded hundreds of CM’s in-depth truck and van road tests to www.roadtransport.com – just click on the link at the left, which says ‘Road tests’. There you can search for tests by vehicle type, make and model, or you can go to the manufacturers’ pages listed there.

The tests are complete – with every fact and figure from the print version – and they’re free to access. You’ll also find a list of the road tests on the web at www.roadtransport.com/alltests

Complete CM road tests – all free to access

Fuel consumption:

Overall

Motorways

A-roads

AdBlue rate, % of diesel

Fuel cost, £/100km

AdBlue cost, £/100km

Total cost, £/100km

Average speed:

Overall

Motorways

A-roads

Hill performance:

Monmouth

Wantage

DIMENSIONS

CMO_020910_032-039 39 27/8/10 14:41:14

cm tests the daf lf at 12 tonnes - commercialmotor.com · the latest daf lf comes with four- and...

Documents