Deals On Wheels Australia - May 2018

Western Star 4800

10 TO CHOOSE FROM

TRUCKS

FOR

SALE

FROM

$170,000

+GST

27-28 tonnes. At just under the NZ maximum of 23 metres, the unit is

built to take 36 pallets.

I will point out another very Kiwi thing about this truck, replicated

in a lot of other Kiwi rigs, is fuel capacity. Brenic’s 9870 sports one

tank holding 450 litres. In Australia you’d run dry before you got to

another servo at that rate, but due to NZ’s size, running out of fuel is

about as likely as losing the Bledisloe Cup.

Powering the 9870 is a Cummins X15 putting out 615hp. Though

the truck is in its formative years for Brenics; they’ve already noticed

improved fuel figures as well as pulling power to spare. Rick credits

the fact that the truck is almost always up to weight as the reason

the big Cummins has bedded in so well.

Leaving aside tourists in Wicked campervans, the other issue for

Kiwi truckies is stability and traction. It’s a country where you can

spend your morning skating on ice, your lunch in blistering heat,

followed by an afternoon of rain and an evening in the snow.

With an auto gearbox and International’s IROS suspension, Rick

admits he was extremely impressed the first time he got caught in

the notorious Lewis Pass. “I had an empty Scania behind me and the

grit truck behind him,” he says. “I couldn’t believe it didn’t skid or

slide.”

While partial credit is given to the way it was loaded, Rick admits

the trailer wasn’t light and the way the truck reacted gave him the

utmost confidence in it.

So, it’s got the room, it’s got the feel, it definitely has the looks and

it can’t be faulted in performance. It’s no surprise that Rick rates the

International 9870 as “the best truck I’ve ever driven”.

Comer and his team at Intertruck have done an outstanding job

creating a New Zealand truck for New Zealand conditions. To surmise

then, in as Kiwi as I can. If you’re gunna take a Tiki tour in the wop

wops, the sweet as 9870 is straight up. Chur!

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