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THE LANDER HAS LANDED
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Renault launched the Premium Lander over three years ago, but we never really understood what the vehicle was all about. That has been rectified with the launch of Lander v2 — Andy Salter has the details...
For the past three years, Renault's Premium Lander appears to have been a well kept secret.We knew it was something to do with construction vehicles and we also knew it was supposed to be a lightweight, but apart from that we weren't sure how it fitted into the UK line-up—or. indeed, if it was available.
Renault launched a lightweight version of the Kerax eight-wheeler five years ago, along with a construction version of the Premium Distribution range.
But by most accounts this encountered, ahem, a few problems. Essentially the engineers hadn't realised that the UK built tipper bodies without subframes and as a result the chassis wasn't strong enough, with obvious consequences.
But now the Lander is back — and according to Renault, the UK is going to be one of its key markets. Renault Trucks has long suffered in the construction sector from the absence of a lightweight multi-wheeler capable of the odd off-road excursion which is also light enough to go head to head with the likes of the Scania P Series, Mercedes Axor and, more recently, the Hino F Series, Specifications The new Lander comprises a full range of 4x2, 6x2 and 6x4 rigids along with 4x2 and 6x4 tractors. It fills this gap in the Renault line-up and is claimed to be the class leader on payload productivity. Surprisingly there's no eight-legger in the initial line-up, although we can't believe this will be omitted for long. The Lander's mission is to offer users a robust and durable vehicle for 'light' construction applications.This includes: aggregates applications for building sites and road building: concrete mixers: brick and block work; and truck-mounted cranes. For heavier muckaway work, the Kerax remains in the line-up, while the Premium Distribution sits at the other end of the spectrum for on-road applications.
With five chassis configurations, two cab types, two engines and umpteen wheelbase offerings, the Lander is available in more than 60 versions.
The two cabs comprise a low-mounted two-step model with a 1,190mm floor height for easy cab access, and a three-step model with a 1,490mm cab floor aimed at longerdistance applications. Both cabs are available in sleeper, rest and day cab forms, with the rest cab likely to be the most popular for UK tipper operators as it gives some handy storage space for the driver's kit without compromising the body length — the day cab is a bit claustrophobic for our taste.
Inside, the cab borrows a lot from its Premium Distribution stablemate, including the dash layout and easy-to-clean surfaces. If the Optidriver+ automated manual transmission is specified, the gearshift controls are moved to the steering column, improving cross-cab access.
Under the cab, Renault is offering the new 7.2-litre DXi7 and 10.8-litre DXi 11 engines. The DXi7 (the fruit of a collaboration with Deutz in Germany) is rated at 280hp/I,050Nrn and 320hp11.200Nm. By comparison the equivalent Mercedes Axor offering comes in at 290hp/ 1,120Nm and 330hp/1,300Nm. The DXilt power unit is available at 370hp/1,735Nin,410hp/1,900Nm and 450hp/2,140Nrn.All engines rely on SCR to meet Euro-4.
Manual and auto In terms of transmission, the DXi7 drives through a ZF six or nine-speed manual or an Allison auto, while the DXil 1 has a choice of a 16-speed ZF manual or the 12-speed Optidriver*, which is a derivative of Volvo's 1Shift transmission. Braking is by discs all round and air suspension is now available on the rear. The options list includes power take-offs on the gearbox, gearbox/engine and engine.
The chassis has been redesigned for the Lander version 2 — various parts of the chassis have been reinforced to suit the range of applications. For example, UK chassis get extra reinforcement at the rear to support the rear hinge:The chassis rail dimensions are 300x90x8mm.
Renault claims that a 6x4 Lander with the 370hp engine has a chassis weight of 8,205kg, which makes it one of the lightest vehicles in its class at that power rating (a 6x4 Axor is lighter, but it is not available with a 370hp engine).
On the road We took the chance to put the new Lander through its paces on and off road at a recent driving event near Renault's Lyon HO, and on all the major points the Lander gets a big tick.1here was an annoying rattle from the unclerbunk fridge on two of the tractor units we drove, which doesn't bode well, but that apart the Lander offers an assured. comfortable drive.
All the Renault test trucks were equipped with the automated Opticlriver+ transmission, and while we've never been big fans of auto transmissions in tippers, we can no longer think of any reason to avoid autos. Optidriver+ offers three driving modes — economy, power and off-road (in which the optimum gear is selected for tough driving conditions, minimising shifts and giving good driveability).
Vv'e were also pleased to see that Renault's engineers have developed a quick-select action between forward and reverse gears, allowing you to rock the vehicle back and forth if you are in danger of getting bogged down.
On-site handling is excellent. In the lowermounted cab, the engine hump is pretty intrusive — but this cab also offers a much more assured driving position than the slightly taller version. The cab suspension did a great job of evening out the humps and humps. allowing the driver to plough on and maintain momentum. On-road capability doesn't seem to be compromised by the improved off-road comfort; we were pleasantly surprised by the Lander's drivea.bility on asphalt.
The new disc braking set-up is excellent: pedal travel is just right and the brakes are highly responsive. During our short test drive we put it Lo the Lest with an emergency stop — don't ask! —and the fully freighted artic combination came to a halt swiftly, in full control, without any tugging on the steering.
The mirror arrangement gives superb rear visibility but the inclusion of the wide-angle mirror on the drivers' side as well as the passenger side does create blinkers either side of the windscreen, hampering visibility. •