Volvo FH16
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Volvo’s evergreen 16-litre models, celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, may not always have led the power race, but they’ve never been far from the front. Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to drive a number of examples, including the latest FH16 750. So far, I’ve only driven the 750 in the UK at 44 tonnes, but without doubt, the most enjoyable drive was in 2009 with an FH16 660 8x4 with an Allison transmission. In conditions that would make a UK health and safety rep cringe, we were given free rein to drive the genuine operator truck around a working quarry. Although the Caterpillar artic dump truck on the back, itself fully loaded, gave us a running weight of 105 tonnes, a fraction of the 280 tonnes it has carried, the FH romped up and down the gravel tracks and hairpin bends as if they weren’t there, even stopping and restarting on the steepest bits to prove the point.
Kevin Swallow (deputy technical editor, Commercial Motor)