The arrival of DAF’s new XG + with its new15-litre engine is much anticipated in the Australian truck market and is certain to steal some sales away from the brand’s European rivals like Scania, Volvo and Mercedes.
The DAF brand has long been hamstrung in this country by a lack of a high horsepower engine, but now with a remarkable effort by Paccar Australia’s engineering team and cooperation with engine maker, Cummins, as well as DAF in Holland and transmission maker ZF, the 15-litre 660 horsepower DAF XG is a reality.
Truck and Bus News had the privilege to drive the new XG+ on a 200 km quick test of the new truck, hauling a single trailer and grossing just under 40 tonnes.
After a day of briefings from the Paccar team at the company’s Australian HQ at Bayswater in Melbourne’s East, it was time to climb aboard the biggest DAF ever fort the drive up through the Yarra Valley to Yea and then via the Midland Highway to Seymour, with a simple run back down the Hume Freeway and into Melbourne before parking up at the Paccar dealership in Derrimut.
From the Paccar factory complex it’s a mingle of suburban arterials out towards the foothills of the Dandenongs, and fortunately at 6am there was little traffic to hold proceedings up in any meaningful way.
The immediate impression from the XG+ was that the new 15 litre is a willing and confident performer, particularly on a couple of dead pulls away from suburban traffic lights up hill. Although we would have loved to have tried the XG+ as a B-Double rig, unfortunately due to logistic issues our test was with the single trailer configuration and minus the 20 tonnes or so extra weight the two trailer set up allows.
One of the things that both Paccar Australia chief engineer, Brad May, and its director of product planning, Ross Cureton told us before the drive was that part of the development brief for this truck was to ‘down speed’ the engine to ensure that some big gains could be made in fuel consumption.
The engine showed its mettle on some of the undulating hills on route to Lillydale and beyond into the Yarra Valley. The engine has plenty of urge with really strong torque, which not surprisingly maxes at 3200NM between 900 and 1400 rpm.
As we mentioned in our story on how the DAF was developed and engineered for the Cummins engine, which by the way in this particular truck is not identified as a Cummins engine, but in fact is labelled as a Paccar PX15, the reality is this is an engine that has a torque curve that is almost as flat a table. That pulling power definitely comes in handy on the undulating, constant stopping conditions in Melbourne’s hilly far Eastern Suburbs. Traffic lights, stop signs, roundabouts and other traffic mean that you can never really gain a consistent cruise speed.
However the DAF made easy work of the task, navigating its way out of suburbia with ease. The 16-speed ZF sourced AMT is one of the best two pedal heavy vehicle transmissions in the business, and with Paccar opting to fit the 16-speed model rather than a 12-speed unit, like many of its Euro rivals, means that the truck always seems to be in the right cog. Even on downshifts as we attacked hills the box, very easily and without fuss, selects a lower gear, or on some occasions two ratios, to maintain revs and momentum. The extra ratios also mean that then engine’s revs are less likely to ‘spike’ up o the downshifts, which of course means extra fuel burn and extra running cost, not to mention long term reliability.
The comment we made to our travelling companion for the drive, Paccar driver trainer, Brad Crockett, was that one of the really big leaps forward in truck engineering in the past decade or so, has been the improvement in steering. The DAF is no exception, with a firm and precise feel through the wheel and a real accuracy for the driver. There is no fighting the wheel to keep the truck on the straight and narrow, it tracks straight and true, while 
the power assistance is nicely weighted and offers good feedback to the driver.
Heading up the Melba Highway, and skirting around Yarra Glen the big DAF handled the twists and turns with a strong degree of precision, manoeuvring through the roundabouts and 90 degree bends through the winery region as we set sail for the infamous Mt Slide.
Mt Slide is a stern test for any truck, and while we would have liked to have tested it with a 62 tonne B-Double, in single format with 40 on board the DAF was very happy. It marched its way up the climb to the Healesville-Kinglake Road intersection, which marks the summit of the climb, taking the task in its stride. We crested the top in 14th gear and that flat, strong well of torque delivered by the 15 litre doing everything asked of it and without any fuss or bother.
At highway cruising speeds along the snaking, undulating Melba Highway, we set the active cruise on 96km/h and trimmed sails for Yea. The DAF galloped along the road and certainly wasn’t holding up any light vehicle traffic, maintaining gaps on following cars, up hill and down dale.
The cab of the new DAF is extremely roomy, with this truck sporting a whole new cabin from a clean sheet of paper. The dash and general cockpit area is really well laid out with a big electronic instrument panel right in front of the driver, with a big easy to read speedo dial on the left, with a digital speed display in the middle for those who find it difficult to read an analogue display. On the right is the tachometer, which is also easy to read, particularly given the colours used in the LCD display. The display is a deep black with vivid white numbers and info displayed.
In the middle is a lane keep display while there is also a very handy throttle percentage reading.
Fuel and ad blue has a simple percentage reading for both along the bottom of the tacho, along with a turbo percentage and average throttle opening display. Across on the other side is the odometer/trip meter, outside ambient temp gauge and an average fuel consumption readout in litres per 100km as well as a litres per hour read out for idling.
A simple digital clock readout at the top completes what it a very well laid out and uncluttered instrument panel. Any warning info, temperature spikes, oil pressure problems or any other critical information that could affect the truck is only displayed if it is outside the ideal parameters.
In the middle of the dash is the large infotainment screen that is now equipped with both Apple Car Play and Android Auto integration, which we find much easier to use with maps and apps like Waze. The overall audio package is superb with great sound throughout the cabin. Again it is really such a car like interface when it comes to controls, instruments and things around the cabin.
The transmission is controlled by the wand on the right had side of the steering column with a knurled roller knob in the idle of the wand that allows the driver to select drive, reverse and neutral, while a push button on the end of the wand allows for a switch to manual shifts, while the engine brake is controlled by pulling the wand back toward the driver with the four stages being a huge aid in retardation.
Having said that the XG gets disc brakes all round so its braking power is enormous and very confidence inspiring.
On the other side of the steering column the left hand wand controls washers, and the multi speed intermittent variable speed wipers, as well as turn indicators and high beam, while the lights are switched by a well positioned knob high on the right had side of the dash, that is both easy to see and easy to use.
On the spokes of the steering wheel there are controls for the adaptive cruise and speed limiter functions on the left hand one and seectable information functions displayed in the centre of the main instrument panel.
The entire cockpit is well laid out, logical and easy to use. We have complained, on numerous occasions before, about the over complication of automotive controls and switch gear. Somehow, some engineers and designers forget that trucks are travelling down the road at 100km/h, which equates to almost 28 metres every second, if a driver has to avert their eyes from the road to find a badly positioned or designed switch or control, the vehicle can cover a lot of ground and possibly be put in a dangerous situation.
That’s certainly not the case with the DAF XGs. Its been a very thorough and well executed design exercise when it comes to the cabin and cockpit.
The high roof of the XG and XG plus gives terrific stand up head room making it easy for the driver or passenger to easily get ready for bed, rise in the morning to get dressed and ready for a day at the wheel, with both models boasting interior standing heights of more than two metres
Both XG and XG+ come with an 800mm by 2220mm fully rectangular lower bunk while he XG+ gets a push-button electric adjustable bed on the lower bunk as well as an added top bunk and air suspended passenger seat for two-up driving.
By the time we reached the Hume Freeway at Seymour we were really appreciating the smoothness and quiet of the DAF’s ride and interior soundproofing. We could easily imagine covering a lot of miles in a long driving stint at the wheel of the XG without breaking a sweat or suffering fatigue. It is a very easy truck to drive.
On the dual carriageway the last 100 km into Melbourne showed just how comfortable a workhorse the new Dutchman really is. It ambled down the highway, easily tackling Pretty Sally in 14th gear as it effortlessly and easily ate up the miles.
The most impressive metric for the new DAF was it fuel economy. While pressing on it was still able to record an amazing 2.6 kilometres per litre, covering 226km in pretty good time.
Does Paccar have a winner on its hands? Well we wouldn’t be betting against it. The team at Bayswater have a tremendous track record when it comes to producing trucks that not only work in Australia but more importantly sell.
Some Volvo and Scania owners may not consider the DAF, the Paccar people know that, but they only have to capture a bit of valuable market share and sales volume from its Euro rivals to be considered a success. This is by far the best and most Australian oriented DAF that Paccar has ever sold here and while it may take some sales off the other Euros it probably won’t canabalise sales from its Kenworth stablemates either. Really this Dutchman with an American accent promises to be a perfect addition to Paccar’s arsenal in Australia