Truck & Driver take the DAF XF 480 FTP 6x2 Space Cab on the road

Over the last two weeks Dougie Rankine, editor of Truck & Driver Magazine, looked after the DAF XF 480 FTP 6x2 Space Cab. Dougie put the XF through its paces taking deliveries from Folkstone in Kent all the way to Aberdeen totally 2200 miles across the trip. An impressive trek across the UK seeing the stunning landscape and of course the stunning truck stops!

Over on the Truck & Driver twitter (@TrucknDriver) Dougie kept us updated on his travels in the XF across the two weeks. With his first post of him arriving in Scotland and loading the trailer for a Monday morning delivery in Fife. Dougie tells us the XF drove very smoothly all the way up to Scotland.

Next stop for Dougie was Stoke where he found an old school style Truckstop called ADS Truck Parking just off the A50. Dougie fuelled up on a hearty meal of burger, chips and salad with unlimited tea and coffee, for just £5.80!

After rewiring his beloved 24v oven to be compatible in the XF to make pies for tomorrow, Dougie ran into a bit of a problem. After asking his followers for help with parking in Farnborough and he parked up for the night at the delivery point. However, he was quickly woken up and asked to move on and ended up sleeping at a layby for the night!

After a less than a choice place to sleep for the night, Dougie readied up for the morning to hit the road. Once parked up Dougie tells us he pushed the XF hard all day the day before with a 43t load.

The next day and the weather was very humid, much to Dougie’s dismay he didn’t have the keys to the DAF as it was being unloaded. Quick to think of a solution Dougie cracked open the door to let some air in and was quickly greeted with a pair of wasps trying to breach the cab!

After the days work Dougie parked up next to another XF at Standeford Farm truckstop to get some rest before his 420 mile drive the next day. Dougie hit the road for this epic drive and was impressed with how well the XF performed with the 40-tonne load across the 420 miles. All the while enjoying the interior layout and comfort of the space cab.

Heading to Peterhead across the Aberdeen bypass, however, parking proved to be an issue again. Not only did Dougie struggle for parking he had to queue for half an hour to get into Inverness where he was told the load won’t be ready for at least 3 hours and to come back later.

After some ups and downs across his journey, Dougie at least had the comfortable and ever-reliable 480 XF to keep him going on his 2200 mile trip! The demo has now been handed over to Chris Maddison to see how he gets on with it. Keep an eye on the Truck and Driver twitter for updates!