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F . or the latest in our series of group tests,
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we decided to take a look at the world of 3.5tonne chassis cabs. And "world" is the right word, as vehicles offered for sale in the UK in this category can be split by their origin, if not their build, between Western
Europe and Japan. So it was that we invited the four Orientals in the market and four of the best-selling Europeans to come along, the only requirements being 3.5 tonnes GVW with either tipper or dropside bodywork loaded to within 200kg of maximum. It would have been nice to have all vehicles with the same type of body, but the realities of press fleet logistics made this impossible.
Rather than risk the possibility of Ms previous views of any of the contenders clouding the verdict, we once again enrolled a group of guest testers to give us their unbiased views. As well as pulling the trucks to pieces at the proving ground, each of our experts drove them on a half-hour route that encompassed everything from town centre crawls to a brief spell at motorway speeds. Our invitation to the manufacturers soon elicited eight positive responses, and all was going well until we discovered on the day of the test that one of European contenders had suffered an unspecified mechanical malady and wouldn't he coming. What we
did get were the Citroen Relay, Ford Transit and Mernedes-Benz --Sprinter fieldinga depleted home side, with the Isom Grafter, Mitsubishi Canter, Nissan Cahstar and Toyota Dyna representing the visitors. So here we have the magnificent seven—or are they