1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160 
VERDICT
Page 39
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Reputations can be built on innuendo, rumour and sometimes even facts! But if negative ideas become established, they can take a long time to turn around. There seems little doubt that the Actros exhibited some negative points that affected reliability early in its production run that only served to confirm operators' worst fears of modern electronic control systems. With the correct diagnostic equipment faults can be identified quickly and corrected, but for the majority of us, what we don't fully understand we just don't trust.
Six years on, other manufacturers have caught up but Mercedes has a couple of years more experience in the field and so its trucks are the equal to, if not more reliable than, its competitors in this respect. The V6 is powerful, light and compact so offers some advantages when installed in a truck chassis even though UK operators are more familiar with in-line engines. Talk to drivers and they often prefer other semi-auto transmissions that do away with the clutch pedal, but they like the brakes and the roomy cab.
The best thing about Actros is that it's now a 'mature' product that Mercedes-Benz has stood behind; which is not a bad reason to buy one.