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194 
AUXILIARY BRAKING SYSTEMS — PROS & CONS It's significant how
Page 61
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many manufacturers now fit a compression engine brake as standard, including Foden, MAN, Mercedes, Iveco (and unofficially, ERF). Order one from Daf or Volvo, however, and you end up paying an extra £1,360 and £1,057 respectively for what others give you free. We reckon it's time Eindhoven and Gothenburg got into lire.
While all the hydraulic retarders tested delivered a pretty similar performance, there was a marked difference in price. Of the three manufacturers who turned up with a ZF Intarder, Renault's installation on the Magnum is the cheapest at £2,995. But that's nothing compared with the bargain basement E1,875 price tag for Scanials own-brand integrated retarder on the R-Series, which offers real value. The Voith on the Actros stands out by virtue of its 23,953 price tag and the fact it's among the heaviest.
Even integrated retarders take up space something to bear in mind if you're running a three-axle tractor, where things can get pretty cluttered on a chassis. Moreover, all the retarders in our test use the engine cooling circuit to dissipate heat, so that means even more plumbing under the hood, And if the engine gets too hot the power of a retarder is automatically reduced.
By way of contrast, you don't have any packaging problems with an engine brake, especially with a PTO and there's no problem with cooling either. Moreover, reliability on the Jake is reportedly very good.
If kerbweight is everything, then a 90kg-plus retarder won't get your juices flowing, despite the potential savings on brake linings. A Jake, however, only weighs 35kg and offers good retardation into the bargain, while MAN's EVB and Volvo's VEB add little or nothing to your tare -and, as mentioned, EVB comes free.
Time for ars final verdict. On balance, while retarders clearly offer ultimate restraining performance, driver confidence, safety and extended service brake lining life potential, they're still too expensive to convince the average operator. Interestingly, Daf, Iveco, Mercedes and MAN/ERF all say they'd look at offering a reduced R&M rate for a truck with a retarder, while Foden says there's a small reduction in R&M pricing on account of the Jake Brake. Scania says it wouldn't affect rates. However, based on a crude 'biggest-bangfor-your-buck' measure, compression engine brakes remain the best value, particularly when they come as standard.
And that won't change until truck makers follow suit on retarders. As we said, no matter how good or safe they are, for many hauliers some things are simply too expensive to justify.