In part one of this year’s Penske drive day coverage, I went for a blatt around Brissy’s hinterland in MAN’s finest and was not only reminded just how refined linehaul has become, but also how much fun regional distribution can be. This month, it’s Western Star X-Series, refamiliarising myself with the ToYA 2024 winner, and trying to get the biggest piece of cabin luggage ever on a plane.

All bases covered

“I’ve just had an epiphany,” I said to chaperone Shane Miller, as we ambled our way through south suburban Brisbane.

“What’s that?” he said.

“Big torque – it comes into its own, not just hunting hills out there beyond the city limits. You know where we are, and that’s great, but I don’t. Even though you’re doing a superb job, I’m still instinctively cautious because I don’t know the road flow, the bridges, side rails and intersections, but I can essentially ignore the truck and just be aware of my surroundings and positioning. I can just leave the torque to it, and the engine’s competely happy to loaf along at 1000rpm, to roll me gently around, along the flats and through the dips and rises. In my old 350 Mack back in the day, at full weight in a situation like this, you’d still have to concentrate on keeping the truck moving as well as try and figure out where you were.”

“That’s so true,” he replied.

Normally on these sorts of gigs they’ll give you a big banger and send you out into the hills and highways to experience its spartan capabilities. But, here, the big 48X truck and dog at 57 tonne all up was on the same suburban/freeway mixed route I would later do in the MAN TGS 26.440. I’m glad I ran around it in the Star first, because by the time I got to the MAN, I had a feel for it.

The route was chosen because the truck and dog in tipper guise will not spend its life solely on the freeway and interstate. A good amount of time, they’d be here among the urban mayhem delivering to sites and supply yards.

This was a lovely machine and, within seconds, I was reassured about the integrity of our ToYA process.

Under the gorgeous hood, a Detroit Diesel DD16 ran the motivation department, set at 418kW (560hp) and 2508Nm (1850lb/ft) with the top rating 448kW (600hp) and 2779Nm (2050lb/ft).

Backed up by the Detroit DT12 AMT, the two make a lovely match – as they should – although I have wondered about the DT12’s sheer number of cogs when, say, pushing into a hot westerly climbing away from Mt Isa toward Camooweal and the Barkly Tableland … especially with three trollies on the pin. Anyhow, that’s not Aotearoa. Behind the trans is the bulletproof Rockwell RT46-160GP rear end on the Airliner air suspension.

Visibility is superb through the big single- piece screen, and when I glanced to my right and left, there was a mirror showing me everything aft. No head movement was needed in order to bring the entire reflected situation in view, and that in turn, means I can get back to looking out the front in about a second.

The 48X is so easy to place on the road – a sloping bonnet with visible corners.

The doors open to 70° so big dudes and dudettes can get in a piece of cake … with their piece of cake, although one additional step between the tank and cab floor would be appreciated. The platform cockpit is so easy to operate – clarity of controls, their availability, the engineering around ergonomics where reach and room are both optimised is so clever. It’s state-of-the-art US styles. Sound levels were ‘US bonneted truck’. I didn’t have a meter but I’ll take a punt at 72–74dB-ish. But oh, the deep 16L rumble when you ‘buried it’ from low down – gorgeous. The ride was as sublime as you’d expect with a long 6×4; I’m yet to sample the 8×4 48X.

Out on the freeway, the assistance modern safety systems like the Detroit Assurance 5 gives can’t be denied; they really are a co-pilot in the chaos of modern motoring. Again, the sheer displacement of 16L motors is always hard to argue with, and the big Star rolled over the rises on the Logan Motorway at 1300rpm in 10th and 62km/h. Just superb!

A big truck with a full-width cab that feels small and nimble in traffic, that’s a hallmark of great design and that’s exactly how 48X is.

The NHVR’s Les Bruza and his engineering team obviously did a superb job with the truck and dog PBS design dynamics because tracking was point perfect and at no stage did it feel like anything other than an enormous car, meaning no hint of nudging from the trolley. Of course, load placement plays a huge part also and so well done Western Star boss for the region, Kurt Dein, on that one. He therefore claimed responsibility for the impeccable dynamics, and hey, who are we to argue; if the accolade is there, grab it I say.

The best little big show in town

Oh, my goodness – Western Star 47X. I haven’t had the chance to get behind the wheel of this ‘little bottler’ in the new range. I’m doing the 47X a huge disservice here, of course. It can be a big truck with a top GCM of 72.5 tonne, but it’s how many shapes you can bash it into at the forge of purchase specification that boggles the mind. At entry it comes with a Cummins L9 and Allison auto, and ends all the way up the chart packing a Detroit Diesel DD13 at 392kW (525hp) 2508Nm (1850lb/ft). Holy heck – 6×4, 8×4, day cab, sleeper cab … it really has got about 52 factorial-worth of different specification options!

My drive truck was a doozy. In fact, this was my truck of the event … this was the carry-on bag. A 47X with DD13 at 377kW (505hp) 2508Nm (1850lb/ft), Eaton Roadranger 18-speed manual, Meritor MT44-14XGP rears on Airliner. It sat loaded with concrete ballast and tipped the scales at around 43 tonne, according to the hosts.

Chaperone on this one was Ray Vella, truck sales manager Northern Region, based in Mackay about two-thirds of the way to Townsville from Brisbane on the east coast. Like all the hosts, he was a top bloke.

Even though the day cab BBC at 2835mm is only 30mm shy of 48X, that combined with the setback front axle and assisted motoring able to be accommodated in the manual version worked superbly.

On this route, we ran out of freeway at about the halfway mark and motoring along on a homely two-lane country highway only added to the enjoyment. The bonnet rakes away but remains in full view, nothing like the rake on cousin Cascadia, or say, an International ProStar.

Steering is point-perfect, visibility fantastic and mirrors grand. As always, a big semi-trailer loaded with concrete reminded you it was there, within the context of a wonderfully sure-footed combination. We rolled down into Aratula, popped out the far end of the hamlet and there was the Caltex. I slowed to a crawl and gave way to couple of big jiggers rolling through, then gently picked the idle-along gear, turned in, and there we were in the parking bay.

The X-Series is a great-looking range of trucks, and standing back and looking at the 47X, it’s a fine machine – maybe one of the best in its market segment. Good lines.

“Nothing left now but to head back to Penske in Mackay,” I said.

“No Dave. Brisbane.”

“Damn! Okay then. But I’m taking it home, you know that, eh? It’s not staying.”

WHAT MAKES AN X-SERIES

“It’s just a Cascadia with a Western Star badge,” say the ill-informed, as they always do. Let’s then find out what makes an X-Series an X-Series. First of all, they’re a vocational truck, so they’re heftier where they need to be heftier. They’re also higher all around. Observers will have noticed the cab sitting higher off the chassis, allowing a greater cooling tunnel out from the engine bay. X-Series will find itself in harsh hot climates, so cooling is a big thing.

The Cascadia is all about aero so the radiator needs to be as low as you can get it. That means a drop in the frame up front, whereas in the X-Series, the rails run front to back – fewer joins and less complexity, improved frontal (bumper to axle 1180mm (47X) compared with 765mm (48X)) transforms the look, giving the impression of a far more diminutive machine – even though the cabs are identical. That axle possie also helps with manoeuvrability.

But, of course, I opened the door and there it was rising from the floor, the moving stick with numbers written on the top! I know manuals still comprise a healthy market share, but in our world, we’re constantly exposed to the new and trendy; having an OEM give us a brand new model in manual trim to play with is akin to a Lotto win, quite frankly. But it also speaks to Western Star knowing its product and its market. The world in which X-Series will play still has plenty of customers who like to stir the cog broth themselves in big handsome trucks with a proper bonnet and woodgrain dash full of gauges. But neither is it as simple as that, even. The inherent intuition in humans means AMTs still have a journey before they’re fit for the applications where intuition matters, and again, it’s those places X-Series will be found.

We were heading for the Caltex at Aratula about 75km southwest of Wacol on Highway 15. From the moment we rolled out on to Formation Road, it was a completely different experience – one of complete control and satisfaction – I was driving a truck again. Sitting in the passenger seat as a kid watching the masters of the game work a transmission was one of the embers that fuelled the flame of desire to be just like them one day.

The position of the gear lever was just superb, falling naturally to hand and angling away slightly due to the full-width cab. The DD13 is such a lovely motor and happily accepted twos and even two-and-a-half at times that suited, when gravity popped onboard to help, for example. It’s one of the things that still annoys me about AMTs … ’stop changing so many gears!’ You can’t manage the flow of energy in quite the same way with an AMT. The aim is always to get from A to B in the fewest gear changes possible.

We rolled along and yarned about anything and everything – it was spacious, open and incredibly comfortable on a glorious Queensland autumn day. Placing it in the lane was so easy, the torque just allowed the 47X to amble over the rises – it had the same torque as the tipper and dog – and the Jacobs engine brake both retained and entertained in equal amounts.

This cockpit works so well – it’s all there, easily seen and in easy reach. The accoutrements of modern safety impact, towing capability, ground clearance, and again, cooling. “If it’s a 40°C day, it’ll be closer to 50°C a foot off the road,” says technical boss for Western Star Doug Shand. “In the X-Series, we keep the radiator well up.”

Moving back, there’s double-skinning on the front firewall and cab tunnel in ‘Quiet Steel’, a magical steel with sound-deadening qualities.

The cab has heavier-duty door hinges, additional steel in the B-pillars, additional steel across the top of the cab rear wall, as well as additional cross members underneath.

Body builder stays down the length of the chassis can be specced in abundance and wiring can be abrasion-wrapped, or in the event that additional compliance or dust and grime protection is required, there’s the double abrasion wrap that includes connectors.

SWITCHED ON AND CONNECTED

Vocational it might be, but the X-Series has some neat clever bits, too. Things that make everyone’s life a little easier. It’s a full CAN bus truck in terms of architecture and behind the cab, there are junction boxes equipped with Deutsch connections, allowing access to all lighting and pin settings inside and outside the truck. “It’s all there for them,” says Doug Shand.

There’s also programmable spare switches hardwired to the back of the cab, allowing sequential events with the flick of one switch. Being CAN bus you can also program conditional switching, i.e. only when someone’s in the driver’s seat, the door is shut, the beacon is flashing and the engine is running will the PTO engage to put the hoist up. “You can put smarts around anything you like.”

The ease of setup continues to the back of the truck where two additional solenoids are available for the actuation of whatever it is the owner requires. Obviously more can be specced if required.

“We’re making it easier for the body builders, trained technicians, and also trying to stop the ‘backyarders’ tapping into a hot wire to get a power feed and then wrapping the join with insulation tape. We don’t want people in under the dash. A modern truck has a low tolerance for well-intentioned things done badly.”