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HANDLE WITH EXTREME CARE
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No commission-hungry truck salesman is going to turn down the chance of selling you a 600hp fire-breathing tractor with all the bells and whistles like the Scania Griffin. But do you really need one?
No doubt Scania's engineers know the ancient Latin expression 'sic transit gloria mundi', which translates loosely as 'all glory is fleeting'. Rack in September 2005 they unveiled their fire-breathing 620 V8 as "the most powerful series production truck on the market". Five months later they must have choked on their pickled herring upon hearing the news that the 'other' Swedish truck maker had launched a 16-litre in-line six rated at 660hp.Not that Volvo was smirking for long: in June this year MAN snatched the top gun title for Germany with the 680hpTGX V8. So where's it all going to end? A 700hp tractor will surely be the next step in the race for ultimate power.
As we all know, no one really needs that much power.The UK market for trucks rated at more than 520hp is tiny; maybe that's why Daf dropkicked its long-awaited 560hp twinturbo MX engine into the long grass for the time being. In fact the only operators who can really justify running wagons at 600hp and above are heavy hauliers— but that doesn't stop people from wanting a high-power tractor, especially if they're status-conscious owner-drivers or small fleet operators with a power complex.
And when a punter walks through the showroom door with the wherewithal to buy a 600hp tractor it would take a very foolish salesman to suggest:"I feel Sir would be much happier with a 480."As one dealer recently told us:"You can talk yourself out of sale."And if you really want a large herd of horses at your command the R620 Scania will do,at a pinch.
Aside from being the most powerful rating available in an R Series, the 620 V-bomber has the most torque, a monstrous 3,000Nm.Things start to look even better for lovers of Swedish steel when you consider that all Scania 'longdistance' or 'L' tractors now get an Opticruise auto box as standard.
Of course you'll want to be pampered in your Topline cab, and what better way than by spending an extra £2,250 for the exclusive 'Griffin' package (only available on the R620) which includes a fridge. microwave, coffee maker, Xenon headlamps, twin spots in the sun visor, leather seats with embossed Griffin logos, retarder and cuddly toy (just kidding). As you can see, for a CM roadtester, life's a bitch...
On the road
If only all top-weight tractors drove like an R-Series Scania. From the weight of the steering to the feel of the pedals. it just seems 'right"; even its trademark soft ride leaves you in no doubt as to what's happening where the wheels meet the road. OK, so the tall Topline cab sways a bit on hard cornering, but it's always predictable.
With 620 metric horses this was never going to be too hard. During our first day's canter up the M6 to Gretna the Griffin's big V happily bumbled along at LOOOrpm in top gear, allowing us to zoom up Shap at a steady 85kmIh.The only time we dropped a cog was when we felt like kicking up our heels a bit.
Quite a few 44-tonners can lug down to LOOOrpin and recover, but very few drop to 900rpm or less and come back punching like the Scania R620.The V8's characteristic 'brakka-brakka-brakka is music to the ears — we can understand why owner-drivers love it. tinder hard acceleration it was accompanied by a strange warbling noise:we never did work out what it was.The only other sound we could hear was the turbo whine, because inside the Griffin's lair it's as quiet as the grave. If you think we're exaggerating take a look at the comparison charts.
The latest incarnation of Scania's Opticruise auto is streets ahead of its predecessor. While it's not quite as intuitive or quick-thinking as Volvo's I-Shift, it's as good as ZF's AS-Tronic and operates within a much tighter rev band on the V8,im proving its drive ability along the way.
The only outstanding question with Opticruise is: why still fit a clutch pedal? Scania boss Leif Ostling may think it's a good idea to keep the third pedal: we don't, and neither do the other auto-box manufacturers. The steering column control paddle is easy to use and with Opticruise you can make manual changes without moving out of full-auto— a strong plus point. Barring the odd bit of intervention, either to change up more quickly or cope with our severe A-road section we left it to its own devices.
Coupled to so much power Opticruise delivers great big block changes when you pull away, hut go easy with your right foot unless you want throttle-induced whiplash. If you are running fully freighted and have to pullout into busy traffic the R620's extra oomph gives you the confidence to get on with it. rather than closing your eyes and saying three Hail Marys.
The Griffin goes well, and stops well too.We've always rated Scania's integral retarder, operated via the column stalk or 'blended' with the footbrake. You can use it as a downhill speed limiter too (via one of the useful steering-wheel buttons). Press the change-down button on the floor when you're in full auto and Opticruise also shifts down a gear (and will continue shifting down) to ensure maximum back pressure for the V8's exhaust brake.
Put that lot together and you've got a formidable stopping system that keeps your service brakes fresh and your pulse rate down, even on long descents. For the retarder alone, we believe the Griffin package is worth every penny of the extra £2,250.
Productivity
OK. let's get it over with...7.58mpg overall from the Scania Griffin is not going to set the world on fire, especially as we've been getting low eights from other 44-tonners around CM's two-day test route but then they didn't have 620hp of engine to feed.
If you want this much power you'd better understand that there's a price to pav.That's not to say the R620 can't be fuel-efficient with a bit of gentle coaxing its first-day return was a perfectly respectable 8.4Impg though you'll probably get more from a 480hp tractor.
Where the R620's phenomenal power does pay off is when the going gets tough. Over our severe A-road section, with its fuel-sapping 1in-7 climbs, the Griffin was not only very quick (well there's a surprise), it was actually more economical than its test rivals. Why'? Because while they were grinding up the hills in a lower gear the big Swede was able to lope up in a higher, more comfortable, ratio, The hideous amount of traffic nowadays means that overall journey times around our test route don't mean much. For a more meaningful reflection of the Scania R620's productivity, check out at its 0-80km/h and hill-climb times.And yes. we probably could have completed the M1 ascent more quickly, but with the bigV thumping away at 1,100rpm in 11th gear (it only needed to drop one gear), rushing seemed rather pointless.
Rather like the mythical Griffin, the R620 Topline 6x2 is a bit of a beast. In fact at 9,230kg it's no lightweight-and that was with only the nearside 410-litre tank filled up. Filling the 230-litre offside tank would obviously have made it even heavier, but on the other hand Scania delivered our test tractor with steel wheels where most rivals roll up on alloys, and this would have saved almost 200kg. In any case, if you're looking for maximum payload potential, look elsewhere.
Cab comfort
We've spent plenty of our time on CM getting in and out of top-weight tractors and the Rcab's step layout is still the best in the business.
Once inside the Griffin cab it's clear you are entering a special world:Ile build quality is as rock solid as you'd expect from this marque. although we can't help wondering whether there shouldn't be a bit more luxury.., such as carpeting over the practical rubber floor covering.And as much as we like the wooden steering wheel and dashboard, £850 is a lot to pay for something you'd expect to be included in the Griffin package.
On which subject,if you want a ready plumbed-in microwave and coffee maker in your R-cab, you'll love the Griffin's 'kitchenette'. It also keeps the dash top uncluttered, although you do lose some storage space. By way of contrast the underhunk fridge needs a rethink. Rather than being a top-loading slide-out unit, it has a flimsy forward-folding door (the locking handle had come off ours) and a cheap plastic tray that you have to pull out to get to everything.lbe Swedes should look at how the Italians,Dutch and Germans do their fridges.
With the high-roof Topline R-cab there's plenty of headroom and space to move about in. It does OK on storage too and there are some neat touches such as the drawer in the dash, below the clever pull-out driver information screen which is part of the optional Interactor 600 fleet management system.The screen can also be used to watch DVDs, so here's a bit of IT that satisfies gaffer and driver alike.
And so to bed.Why Scania doesn't just bite the bullet and extend the back of the R-cab to make room for a standard-sized mattress across the entire width of the cab is beyond us. Instead it persists in scalloping out the front edge of the mattress behind both seats to allow maximum rearward adjustment. All well and good, until you want toga to bed.This entails pushing both seats forward and pulling out the two trays from the bunk base into which you have to put extra fillets of foam just to make the bed a uniform width along its entire length. 'Ibis is an irritating chore at the end of a long shift and it's time it was fixed.
By contrast we love the Griffin's leather driver's seat, which is comfort personified. •