Road test: Iveco X-Way 420

Iveco has made great strides in the 8×4 tipper market in recent years, and its latest X-Way is bang on the money If you go back to the 1970s, Iveco had an eight-wheeler tailored for UK customers – but that was the old Magirus Deutz 232, which was hugely popular here, even if it was a rarity anywhere else in Europe. It was the last Iveco to use the old Maggie cab and hung around longer than perhaps Iveco would have wanted because the Fiat-cabbed equivalent was a bit too heavy, plus there were fans of the air-cooled engine that Magirus had preferred.

The fact that Ford has never done an 8×4 rigid for UK customers, including, surprisingly, no 8×4 Cargo-cabbed model, meant Iveco never got that extra string to its bow when it took over Ford Trucks in the UK in 1986 Eventually, the Maggie cab, which dated from the 1960s, was binned in the mid-1980s, which saw Iveco, now trading in the UK as Iveco Ford, lose ground in the 8×4 market, not helped by Mercedes and Scania entering it as well as established British product from Foden, ERF and Leyland still being involved. Interestingly, the company never used the Cargo cab on a super-lightweight 8×4.

When the Eurotech range was launched in the early 1990s, the cab finally found its way onto eight-wheelers as the Trakker, but that was in the mid-1990s, a decade after the last of the Maggie-cabbed trucks had been binned. That ‘lost’ decade costs Iveco a lot of market share. In fairness, the Trakker wasn’t a bad tool, but it struggled to win over the market.

The Trakker name was continued when the Stralis AD and AT-cabbed eight-wheelers were introduced. When Iveco launched the superb S-Way range, the eight-wheelers were rebadged as X-Way, although interestingly, the first 8×4 rigid models used the Stralis cabs! But in 2021, the new S-Way AT and AD cabs were migrated onto the X-Way eight-wheelers.

I drove one of those models, an X-Way 480, way back in April 2021 (Trucking issue 458), but it was not only unloaded, it was also only on the tarmac and, in my eyes, too powerful for your average tipper operator. It was also a little unrealistic what the winning specs for an Iveco would be, but recently, I got a chance to address that by driving not only a more suitable X-Way 420 spec but also loaded and off-road. So, on a fiercely wet and windy day, I pitched up at a quarry near Stamford where Iveco had put on a ride-and-drive event.

Two trucks were available, the X-Way 420 8×4 tipper and a 4×4 Daily van, although there were multiple examples of both vehicles. Naturally, for Trucking readers, it was the tipper that was of the most interest and the subject of this piece. Iveco has made the X-Way better suited for off-road capabilities, and this truck will be going head to head with the Volvo FMX, Mercedes Arocs and Scania XT models, amongst others.

As mentioned in Trucking before, Iveco also has the super rugged T-Way model, which is off-road, over-specified for the UK, and none have been sold here – not that Iveco was expecting to! The new X-Way model has been seriously updated. It has enhanced A-pillars, headlight protectors, a new lower footstep to aid entry, a covered towing pin and additional flexible steps to aid access to the cab.

There is also a robust, non-slip step, which is tapered for better access. Other features are a metallic radiator guard underneath the truck, additional flashing light beacons, and sun visors. The cab also has rear windows.

Technical overview

My truck has the Cursor 11 engine option rated at 420hp, but you can order X-Ways with the Cursor 9 or 13 engine options to give a very wide choice of outputs.

However, following the MY2024 launch late last year, the C11 is due to be deleted from the range, so the 420hp will be the upper end of the C9, which will please operators who want to save weight off the chassis, but many might find the C13 is better for both more power – it does up to 570, and soon 580hp – and less stress on the engine. That said, 400-460hp is often for most tipper hauliers and 420 offers that nice compromise between being up to the job yet neither struggling nor using too much fuel. The currently available Cursor 11 is available in 420, 460, and 480hp outputs with torques of 2,000, 2,150, or 2,300Nm.

The Cursor 9 goes up to 400hp while the Cursor 13 starts at 490hp. As I say, though, those options will change soon, but not for 12-18 months at least. You can order an X-Way with any of Iveco’s three cabs – the AD day cab, AT narrow sleeper and AT wider sleeper – high roofs are options on the latter two cabs.

The gearbox is Iveco’s Hi-Tronix 12-speed automated manual – the ZF TraXon used by DAF. The 16-speed version is an option should you feel you need it. The 13-litre engine has to have the AS cab.

Iveco also still offers a 16-speed manual gearbox, should you want that. That will soon be the only manual gearbox you can order in the UK, so those who favour a stick over everything else might be banging on the door of their local Iveco dealer solely for that purpose. If they do, however, they will still be getting a pleasant surprise in the quality of the X-Way.

However, the auto gearbox can have a manual override if you are in an especially sticky situation, and you can run it in automatic, semi-automatic or manual modes. Personally, even for off-road work, I struggle to see the advantages of a manual, especially as there is the option to control this gearbox manually. There is also a creep function for serious off-road terrain.

The truck has engageable diff locks and a useful three-stage retarder. The truck has a 5,020mm wheelbase with a 775mm overhang and has 315/80s R22.5 tyres throughout on steel rims. The additional subframe added to the rear gives the chassis on tippers extra rigidity, and there are additional pivot mounting points fitted at the factory.

The chassis is a 7.7mm C section, and operators can add extra glitches if required for extra rigidity if they have more demanding off-road operations. The chassis widens slightly at the cab end. The batteries are mounted midway along the chassis by their positioning and can be moved if required, and it is legal to do so.

It is fitted with disc brakes all round and has two 7,100kg front axles, while the rear bogie is rated at 19,000kg. The truck had a 50-litre AdBlue tank and a 290-litre fuel tank – which can be heated and have an anti-siphon device fitted. The engine can run on HVO as well.

The X-Way can have steel or air suspension – with the former most common. My truck had three-leaf parabolics on the rear and two-leaf on the front. Air suspension costs GBP2,000 more and adds 250kg to the weight.

Overall, with a body, the truck weighs in at 13,200kg, which means it can carry an 18,800kg payload, but there are ways to lose about 250kg of that unladen weight, such as spec’ing alloy wheels, to bring the payload into the 19-tonne ballpark. That does, however, come at a cost premium of up to GBP6,000. However, considering it has a day cab, and others – such as MAN – are offering sleeper cabbed eight-wheelers with a 20-tonne payload, it means the Iveco is only sometimes the lightest option.

A 210-litre fuel tank is an option to reduce weight, but, of course, range as well, while the steel air tanks can be swapped for aluminium. The truck’s LED lights were an option, as conventional bulb lights are the standard fit. The truck comes in a drawbar configuration as standard with the necessary air pipes for pulling a trailer – that said, you tend to see 6x4s operating as drawbars more than 8x4s.

The single-reduction rear axles can be swapped for hub reduction. Although not relevant to this piece as such, it is useful to know all the same is Iveco has said it is soon to offer 6×2 tag tractors to UK operators. Having seen a pic of an AD-cabbed S-way 6×2 tag axle tractor unit, the design is there, and it’s being sold in some markets, so hopefully, their one glaring ‘hole’ on the Iveco catalogue might be plugged for the UK very soon.

Also at the MY2024 launch was Iveco’s digital mirror system, and this is being offered across its entire S-, X- and T-Way models, and so that will appeal to those who like these systems and will be an option even for trucks like this.

On the road

Well, this section should say off the road because I didn’t get the chance to take the Iveco out of the quarry, but in all fairness, this was all about its off-road capability. It should also be stressed this was an ‘extreme’ quarry route, with lots of ridiculously steep inclines, hairpin corners, lake-like ‘puddles’ and mud everywhere. Oh, and it was persisting it down and blowing a gale.

No one in the right mind would really want to, or even need to, take a truck on this kind over this kind of terrain – this is a quarry used for showcasing off-road capabilities for all kinds of vehicles, quite often for experience days…. In other words, this was all for fun! Though the serious aspect showcased just what the truck can do, were it necessary.

One thing that struck me was who needs a T-Way? Well, maybe those Italian marble quarriers do! This test drive was short and was certainly slow, for sure, but it was possible to do it all automatically if you so desired; most reasons for going.

Using it in manual mode was to try it out, But that said, we rarely got above 3rd gear, occasionally having a few metres in fifth. But for the standing starts up the stiff banks, it was 1st gear all the way, or in some cases, may be getting a change up into second. But the truck made it up every time and there was never any stalling.

Even when there were some nasty hairpins, the truck never lost its footing at any time. At no point did I think, “This isn’t going to make it”. I even did a hill stop deliberately to start again, and away it went without any fuss, bother or cause for concern.

Being an 8×4 twin steer meant the turning circle was tight, although good for its class, the truck was still manoeuvrable. The steering was good, and the dash, while now a little dated, was fine for the job it was intended to do. A new dash will be available in the MY2024 range.

Conclusions

The 8×4 market was, for so long, a peculiarly British option, in fact, we can – probably – lay claim to encouraging the likes of MAN, Scania, Mercedes, Magirus and Volvo to offer such a chassis in the first place when they came to terms that entering the UK market would be a long term shrewd move.

In the 1980s operators could get 8x4s from at least 13 manufacturers. Now, the choice might be reduced, but the options are more varied in drivelines, cabs, and even axle setups. A tridem X-Way would be a good tool, and for those who don’t need a double drive, an 8×2 with a rear steer is likely to appeal to some, but few tipper operators.

The Iveco has a hell of a lot going for it. It has a proven and very durable driveline. It has a wide range of engine choices and, indeed, gearboxes – that manual option might still win it a few more sales.

The cab is a little basic, but that’s what you need in a tipper. again, if it is too basic, then there are other options at hand. You can tailor the X-Way range to exactly what you need in a tipper chassis, but the 420 I drove, with the AD cab, is probably the most likely set-up for most customers. Yes, this was a fun day (apart from the weather, which ironically had changed to ‘full bling’ sunshine within 24 hours!) and the chance to put a truck through its paces on such a demanding course – including wading through a ‘lake’ – was a very enjoyable use of my day.

But at the end of the day, I came away with this thought. If you operate eight leggers like this, you must give the Iveco a once over because it’s a bit of a hidden gem. It has so much going for it, and a deal must be had.

Ignore Iveco at your peril!

We like

Plenty of power
Robust chasis
Proven driveline
Wide range of options

We don’t like

Dropping 11-litre option
Dahs is dated