1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190 
A PP ‘' S H PP E R
Page 44
Page 45
Page 46
Page 47
Page 48
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Big rigids literally deliver us our daily bread and Volvo's latest brings high-tech to our most basic transport needs.
Considering how important distribution vehicles are to our daily life,in such mundane ways as delivering our food, the truck manufacturers' test fleets are sadly bereft of representatives. In fact, this week's test vehicle is only the second current distribution six-wheeler to feature in our files, The story of the current FM began with its major revamp in the autumn of 2002, since when Volvo's fleet range has established itself as a highly competent product.The FM is especially important in the UK, significantly outselling the premium FH range.There are many detail cab and chassis improvements, but the most significant change is the introduction of a new nine-litre engine, creating the FM9 model that replaced the old FM7 and FM10.
Four ratings of the new D9A are available, at 260,300,340 and 380hp.Among Volvo's claims at the launch were an 80kg weight saving and fuel economy boosted by up to 6%.
One of the biggest improvements in the new FM range is the expanded options list, now effectively shared with the FH and giving a vastly increased potential for personalisation. Buy our test truck and you'll travel many days before seeing its double. It's an FM9 340 6x2 with the l-shift fully-automated transmission, a hydraulically steered rear tag axle and a Globetrotter sleeper cab.
Add a paint job in Nordic Light Pearl — that's posh grey to you and me — an exterior spec that includes a roof spoiler and marker lights, a vertical trio of oval spotlights each side of the grille and full side skirts, and it becomes subtly distinctive.
No less than 10 wheelbase options are available on the FH9 6x2, beginning at 3,500mm. Our test truck rides on the longest 6,000mm frame with an overall axle spread of 7,370mm. Its body is a Lawrence David curtainsider, which is all of 8,610mm long. Mounted behind a spacious sleeper cab it gives an overall length of 11,120mm— that's just a whisker longer than a normal 281t single-axle artic trailer. Features include air-tensioned Armour Sheet Plus load bearing curtains and an RSG cantilever tail-lift.
On the road On the day of our test the sun shone and there was barely a breath of wind. Despite the fairly relaxed gearing given by a 3.8:1 final drive — 50mph needing just 1,200rpm— the FM9.340's 1,600Nrn of torque allowed easy cruising. Our tacho chart shows a virtually straight line from Newbury to the new Severn Bridge. the only divergence being upwards as we crept up from speed limiter to speed limit on the seven downhill stretches.
Having previously sampled Volvo's I-Shift only on long-distance tractors, we were keen to see how the £2,000 option copes with the distribution operations where it should yield the greatest benefits. The controlling lever is on a seat-mounted quadrant, which can be folded away.The lever has positions marked R,N,A,M and L, with another button marked E/P (economy or power) behind it. L is for locking into a preprogrammed low ratio;A is for auto, which does what it says: and M is for manual. In M, shifts are made by a two-way rocker switch on the right of the lever.
While I-Shift has lots of subtleties up its sleeve,a training session is highly advisable. Simply selecting A will achieve easy results. In A or Mall the changes are smooth, with the notable exception of an out-of-character clunk that accompanies the change into low range when coming to a full stop. Block shifts are the order of the day; we typically took only two shifts to reach the eighth of 12 ratios from a standstill.
One of 1-Shift's more noteworthy features is Eco Roll, which engages neutral when it senses the truck is able to coast. Even on what appear to be uneven roads it operates surprisingly frequently, and is almost seamless in action.
Nice as it is for an automated box to make the odd unbidden gearchange on a motorway incline, as expected I-Shift really came into its own around town. Negotiating the congested traffic of Hereford. Ledbury and Cheltenham we were able to concentrate that much more on suicidal pedestrians and car drivers. It significantly reduces driver stress.
The engine brake is a four-stage device.The first two call on a butterfly exhaust valve; the second two activated the Volvo Engine Brake (VEB ). The controller has a position for automatic and can force a downshift to raise engine revs. With cruise control and auto brake mode engaged the system will activate 7km/h beyond cruise speed. But it's not the quietest of its type.
Our test truck was fitted with a 9,000kg front axle, complete with wide-section front tyres. The extra rubber helped the steering precision, with only a slight deterioration on badly rutted roads.The biggest downside of this heavy-duty axle was a very firm ride with a noticeable loss of bump damping, but to be fair this seemed a small price to pay for the protection it gave against axle overloads in diminishing-load operations.
The hydraulically steered tag axle gives the long-wheelbase 26-tonner a turning circle not much greater than that of a large 3.5-tonne van. It turns at a ratio of about 1:3 relative to the front axle and is positively locked in the straight-ahead position above 25km/h and in reverse.The FM9's brakes also proved extremely consistent in proving ground tests, producing short, fuss-free stops.
One section of our usual proving ground routine was unusually impressive. We're cautious on test-hill starts, given the potential for driveline abuse, but after a few moments to compose its thoughts the Volvo romped away up the 33% slope with absolutely no drama, even adjusting the tag axle loading briefly to aid traction.
Productivity
With only one previous 26-tonner,Scania's P94 260,in our test archive, it's hard to make too many direct comparisons on productivity. However, many operators will be more interested in how it measures up against the alternatives, and here we can help.
Firstly, payload. The class leaders in the smaller categories, both with day cabs, are the Mitsubishi Canter 7.5-tonner, with a body/ payload allowance of 4,820kg, and the Renault Midlurn, with 12,930kg on an 18-tonne chassis.
The Volvo has an extra eight tonnes of GV1AT, but its body/payload allowance is I 8,325kg, which is only just over five tonnes greateralthough the big cab accounts for a chunk of this. So in straight payload terms, the decision looks in favour of the big four-wheeler. But there's more to it as you consider the issue of avoiding axle overloading with part loads, and the 6x2 has much greater flexibility.
Turn to fuel, and the current record holder in both 7.5-and 18-tonne categories is Dail The little LF45 150 managed 19.5mpg overall around our Welsh route,with the LF55 220 returning 14.0mpg. Here, the Volvo's 9.7mpg looks rather more competitive.The 260hp Scania 6x2 recorded 8.9mpg, suggesting that the Volvo's extra 80hp was beneficial around our mixed route.
Cab comfort
The FM9 came with the Globetrotter cab, with its high roof and low floor. The bunk area can now be supplied in a variety of layouts. Ours came with a low-mounted single bunk and three large roller-fronted lockers in the roof. You can replace the lockers with a second bunk or, new for 2004-and probably the best solution a high-mounted single bunk above a pull-out storage drawer or fridge.
The mattress on the version tested is too low to use comfortably as a sofa.
The bunk area is equipped with retractable restraining net,smoke alarm, reading lights, cab heater switch and a couple of storage nets.
All versions of the Globetrotter have three lidded lockers above the windscreen which, lik e those at the rear, are fully trimmed inside. There are side lockers beneath each end of the bunk, although access is only from the outside. A pull-out cupholder accommodates two drinking vessels of differing sizes. The cab offers space for longer-term storage of larger items, but day-to-day oddment storage is less generous. Three-compartment bins in each door, and a smallish tray atop the dash are about it.
The instrument panel is a model of clarity, with red needles and white graphics on a black background for the large rev counter and speedo, and the half dozen smaller dials monitoring fuel, air pressure, oil, water and turbo boost.
In the middle is the driver information display panel, showing all kinds of data, from fuel consumption and driving time, via various temperatures and pressures to the status of gears and cruise control. One warning we rarely encounter was seen while waiting patiently for the temporary lights on the A40 out of Cheltenham to go green. After three minutes at idle the computer decides that fuel is being wasted, and lets you know it's about to shut down unless told otherwise.
The left hand column stalk controls dipping, indicators and cruise control; the two stalks on the right look after engine braking, wipers and the information display.A switch panel towards the centre of the dash includes fuel drain and bleed, cab tilt lock, reversing camera, axle lift, diff-lock and traction control override.The heater controls are arranged in a compact group.
DC power is provided by a 24V cigar lighter socket and a 12V auxiliary socket.
Buyers receive a voucher entitling them to a choice of three different audio systems; ours had the RDS radio/single-disc CD player. A panel above the driver's side of the windscreen contains the tachograph and switches for reverse bleeper cancel and lighting for the Globetrotter headboard. The driver's door houses switches for electric heated mirrors, electric windows and passenger door lock. Central locking is not standard, however.
The Globetrotter cab came with the medium level Comfort trim with a fully specced driving seat.The passenger side has a fixed seat with tilting cushion and a seat-belt with a fixed top mount (too high for our comfort).The interior is trimmed almost entirely in grey, relieved by an aluminium strip across the dash.
The FM9 certainly doesn't have any deficiencies in visibility. The usual impressive standard set of mirrors is complemented by a Dutch-style front blind-spot mirror and a reversing camera.This displays its picture through the pop-up Dynafleet screen on top of the dash; it engages automatically with reverse gear or by a manual override switch.