magnificent miser
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esi b • Graham Mtmtgomerie...pietures by Dick Ross
AT LONG LAST, the fue consumption record to the Commercial Moto Scottish test route has beer beaten! After remaining at 37. lit/100km (7.5mpg) for thi past five years to the credit of Gardner-engined Atkinson, thi figure has now been pushed ul to a magnificent best ever 35. lit/100km (7.9mpg) by thi OAF 2300.
As well as setting impressivi new fuel consumption stan dards, the DAF was also the firs tractive unit to be tested couple to our new Crane Fruehauf test trailer.
Charge-cooled THE 2300, first seen at Earls Court last year, is fitted with the DHU 825 engine which is turbocharged and charge-cooled to produce 169kW (230bhp) at 2,400rpm. The charge-cooling system preferred by DAF is the air-to-air type with the extra radiator neatly installed in front of the conventional radiator. By the very nature of the design, the required pipework follows a
rather tortuous path, but it doesn't appear to present too much of an obstruction to fitters working on the engine.
The gearbox is the nine-speed ZF 5K-90 constant-mesh design, effectively an eight-speed range-change plus a crawler ratio. At the rear, a robust 13-tonne DAF axle is used with sprial bevel primary reduction and straight spur reduction in the hubs.
Fuel consumption 0 VERALL, there can be no doubt that the outstanding feature of the 2300 was the fuel consumption. It's about time the Scottish route record was broken, but I must admit I am surprised at the ease with which the DAF achieved this result.
It was not a case of one excellent stage result jacking up the average as a glance at the test results panel will show.
Apart from the very hilly A68 section, the worst fuel consumption we achieved was still comfortably over the seven mpg mark!
Two axle ratios are available for the 2300; our particular model had the standard (low) ratio of 5.03 to 1. This limited the top end performance of the machine on the motorway because, although the top speed could nudge 60, a cruising speed of nearer 65mph was more realistic. This was reflected in the overall journey times where the DAF was 90 minutes slower than the Rolls-engined Seddon Atkinson (admittedly with 35 more horsepower) in a total test time of around 17 hours.
Rapid changes The excellent ZF gearbox
allowed very rapid changes indeed which came in extremely handy on the hilly sections. On the long Carter Bar climb, the DAF landed itself in one of these classic gearing situations whereby the exact ration required wasn't available. In this particular instance (treating it as a basic eightspeed box), fourth was too low and fifth just that little bit too high, so it was a case of pulling maximum revs in fourth, using fifth for a couple of hundred yards then back down into fourth.
On the test hills at MIRA, the DAF sailed up the 1-in-5 from rest with no problems at all using the crawler ratio.
One feature of the DAF's handling which caused me a great deal of concern was its behaviour when travelling on heavily rutted sections of the motorway. The front wheels seemed to rebound from one side of the ruts to the other and several times this escalated so much that I had to back right off to get the outfit back in line.
At the end of the test, DAF Trucks (GB) Ltd took the vehicle back to Marlow to try to find what the trouble had been. But at the moment, in spite of dismantling the front end, there is no explanation for this very disturbing characteristic.
At all other times, the steering of the vehicle was excellent allowing very precise control especially on 1 corners. The suspension wi• parabolic springs all rounc an excellent job of coping the numerous surface irregi ties caused by the ever-inc ing number of road works w litter the Scottish route present.
With the help of the Commercial Motor! Crane f hauf test trailer, the DAF 2 gave us some of the braking figures we have ha, a long time. The balance o. outfit was good with t occasional wheel just on 1 point of locking at the very e
of each crash stop. '
The brakes took some getti used to at the start because tlgave the (false) impression tl they were not working very when it was merely due tc slightly longer pedal travel th is customary.
In-cab details THE 2300 cab is a good o from the driver's are with an easily readal instrument panel and well I; out controls. •
During the operational tri we ran into some filthy weath which, if nothing else, proved me how good a spread the D wipers have. It's nice to be a to record that OAF has not fal into, the trap of marketing vehicle in the UK complete w wipers set for left-hand drive.
I was most impressed vu the lack of in-cab noise on . 2300. Quiet cabs tend to associated with the long h. 'Middle East' type of mach such as the OAF 2800 or Sca 141, but the Eindhoven corn ny is carrying the idea down the mere 'bread and buti category.
The noise level remained I however hard the engine v working and, presumably cause of a peculiar frequer condition, the whine of • turbocharger could be he only between 1,900 a 2,100 rpm. Above this and rii up to the maximum rated spe, the turbocharger just could I be heard.
Summary
IT is always difficult to wi what is hopefully a welllanced report on a vehicl performance without bei over-influenced by one o standing feature be it gooc bad. And when this feature the important one of fi consumption, then it becon doubly difficult, I found the DAF 2300 to b very well thought out piece equipment aimed straight a very competitive area of the heavy commercial vehil market. As far as fuel consur tion is concerned, it is in a cl of its own for attempts to find up-to-date Gardner-engin machine to compare it with I-u so far failed.
With its relatively Iii weight, it has a useful payl< potential and at £16,861 (ba it has got to represent gc value for money. Adding £8 for the sleeper cab and £125 the fifth-wheel and rarr brought the price of our I model up to £17,826.