oth the FL7 and FL10 share the same suspended tilt
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cab. When the vehicle is used on long haul with a possibility of overnights, operators go for the sleeper version on the FL10. Owner operators like the extra space. Day cabs are popular with fleets for local operations especially with the lower powered FL7 The interior is easily cleaned with wipe-down surfaces; flat floor wells flush with the door sills are easy to sweep out. The washable seat covers, standard on Volvo tippers, are a nice touch. The low step height makes it very easy to climb in and out although it can be a problem on site with high kerbs. Can you believe that Volvo had that swept-around fascia, surrounding the driver with his controls and instruments, as long ago as 1987? A day-cabbed FL10 tested in that year gave a fuel consumption of 33.8 litre/100km (8.37mpg) with a payload of 20.19 tonnes The sleeper-cabbed FL7 260 tested by CM in 1992 returned 34.4 lit/100km (8,21mpg). But it was less than half a km/h slower using the nine-speed gearbox without the benefit of the splitter Both showed they could restart easily enough on a 25% gradient. Spec for spec, the FL10 is about 430kg heavier than its FL7 counterpart.
Steering, brake and clutch efforts are light. Brake actuators, placed high up above the rear axle out of harm's way for site work, look a