Wen 2250 Leland Oaf 60.210 MAN 17.192F hile the general
Page 37
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
perception is that operators are wanting more muscle in their 17-tonners, rental fleets also look at durability and quality. The small group of contenders listed for this year's middleweight honours, which saw a pair of German-built 17-tonners up against two from home-based manufacturers, answered those criteria.
The powerful but rather heavy Mercedes 1720L showed its pedigree on the motorway with a performance every bit as good as its lower-powered twin and had plenty of driver-appeal, but it fell behind on productivity and was eliminated early on. This left the MAN 17.192F to face up to the Leyland Daf 60.210 and Foden's 2250.
For the second year running, Foden provided an example of its pick'n'mix bespoke engineering service. Instead of the usual Cummins/Eaton/Rockwell combination, this one had Perkin's charge-cooled 210Ti Phaser power pack matched to the ZF Ecolite six-speed synchromesh gearbox. A well-above average performance from its driveline and some fairly sharp parts prices earned it high marks on fleet appeal, and we judged it quite good value for money.
The fact that it trailed the other two on overall productivity only underlined the calibre of the opposition.
Testers' Choice: MAN 17.192F