CarBrandLogos archive · DAF · 1997

DAFXF

DAF's long-haul flagship, built to be lived in as much as driven.

Photo: selbst · Public domain

The story

A defining chapter in DAF history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the DAF XF, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The XF replaced the 95 series as DAF's top-of-the-range tractor unit in 1997, and it defined the company's presence on Europe's motorway network for the next quarter of a century. It is a cab-over-engine design, which in long-haul terms means every centimetre of the cab is interior space: standing headroom, proper bunks and storage for drivers who spend weeks away from home.

Daf A.Reijerse & Zn. Wassenaar · Joost J. Bakker from IJmuiden · CC BY 2.0

Design and engineering

Power came from PACCAR's MX in-line sixes, in 11- and 13-litre forms, matched to ZF transmissions and tuned hard for fuel consumption — the metric that decides which truck a fleet buys. Successive updates chased efficiency through aerodynamics, driveline software and lower-friction hardware rather than headline power.

DAF XF 105.410 truck · High Contrast · CC BY 3.0 de

In production

Assembly ran at Eindhoven and at Leyland in the UK, and the XF collected several International Truck of the Year awards across its generations. Its successor at the top of the range, the XG, took advantage of relaxed European length rules to go further still on aerodynamics and cab space.

DAF XF · Joost J. Bakker · CC BY 2.0

At a glance