IVECO Daily (06-09) - Review

The Daily’s gross vehicle weight ranges from 2.8 tonnes to 6.5 tonnes but this vehicle is really a 6.5-tonner that has been scaled down. Hence anyone with the need to carry some serious amounts of cargo would be advised to buy one of the bigger models. The downside is that if you go above 3.5-tonnes, you’ll need a tachograph which will seriously affect the amount of time the van can spend on the road. There is the usual mix of vehicle lengths and roof heights and the biggest model has a load volume of just over 17 cubic metres while the smallest has just 7.3 cubic metres. Payloads, meanwhile start at 1,210kg and rise to 3,640kg. The Daily also features a full steel bulkhead and unglazed rear doors as standard to keep loads from prying eyes. Another plus is that the load area is independently lockable from the front of the van.

A big let-down here. The Daily is the only new panel van on the roads that doesn’t have a driver’s airbag as standard across the range – on lower-powered models it’s a paid-for option at £200 plus VAT. Even the cheapest passenger cars on the roads have an airbag and Iveco should really know better. At least ABS brakes are standard but sadly traction control is an option too and as such the Daily trails behind some of the opposition models. On the security front, the Daily gets an engine immobiliser as standard (but not an alarm) and remote central locking.

The Daily isn’t the cheapest van on the roads by any means but you do get a lot of vehicle for your money. The warranty is three years/100,000 miles and servicing intervals are a credible 25,000 miles. Also worthy of mention is the 24/7 service available from Iveco dealers (that’s the benefit of buying a van from what is essentially a truck manufacturer) and the ‘Assistance Non-Stop’ breakdown service, where the driver is put through to the Iveco call centre in Turin and a mechanic is dispatched from the nearest dealer to the broken down vehicle. We’ve seen it working and it’s great.

Look at how many old Dailys are still blasting up and down Britain’s highways and you’ll realise how their legendary reputation for reliability has been earned. The Daily has been around since 1978 and we bet there are still some original examples on the roads.