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Dave Young and Kevin Swallow have the last word With
Page 51
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the exception of the Kerax, and to a certain degree the Trakker's robust chassis design, these trucks were pretty much all in the same bracket. Power ranged from 310 to 330hp, five had manual transmissions, two had extended cabs, and all had been tweaked during the past 18 months.
MAN offered up arguably the blandest vehicleonly Volvo, Oaf and Iveco had optional extrasbut the TGM handled well around the route. delivered power where necessary and was the lightest contender. Daf Trucks, boldly supplying the automated option, offered the most comfortable 75 minutes on the road, while Renault's Kerax toured the route at a consistent speed regardless of the difficulty of the hill climbs.
From a buyer's perspective the Kerax could only be justified by daily, arduous, deep quarry tasks, while the Trakker seems to be something of a halfway house between that environment and lighter aggregates operations. Oaf would represent the driver's favourite with comfort and, after some persuasion, the automated transmission; MAN runs it close as a sound alternative.
The Axor offers a robust, value-for-money package; the Volvo is a sophisticated but expensive truck; and the Iveco is an improving product which might be a bargain.
Cab comfort and handling edged the CF75 past the winning post first, ahead of the Axor, which pipped the equally well matched TGM and competent FL. The Trakker -which had previously acquitted itself well in Italian roadtests at much higher weights -was the easiest and most pleasant manual to drive. The TGM and Trakker's four-overfour transmissions offered the best manual gearshifts.
But we started with the Kerax, and we'll close with it. As the biggest toy in the box it delivered power throughout, tempered by that handy site switch, which made it the most enjoyable drive of the bunch.