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This cab offers a decent kip and, after eight hours' solid snoring,
Page 34
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Cif's man woke
refreshed.
Getting from the drivers seat to the bunk and back again after a well earned kip is ultimately how the space in a sleeper cab will be judged. In the high-roof Axor, the overall access and mobility is hindered by the obvious lack of stepping stones to the bunk. The driver has to negotiate the centre console and grey barrier, which stops him rolling off the mattress, to get to the bed. Once there though the bunk is pretty comfortable and certainly long and wide enough forjust about every type and size of chauffeur.
Once on the single-piece bunk the driver has two overhead buttons, one for the sunroof and the second for the night heater. Sitting behind the steering wheel, the main control panel for the night heater is by the driver's left knee. It's well worth sorting out the temperature before you lie back because only the big toe on your left foot will reach once you've crashed out, leaving you with no option but to lean over and adjust it.
Once the temperature is sorted and the heat dissipates during the night, all you have to do is click the button and the night heater kicks in for a limited period to get the heat back into the cab. The night heater gives a surprisingly smooth drone which actually helps you drift off into oblivion. Alternatively, if it all gets a bit warm and sticky then just open the sun roof and the heat will disappear out the top.
All of the other controls are on the dash, so switching off various lights and the radio means stretching over the centre console. For a bit more room, the back of the passenger seat drops down to level off and act as a welcome flat table surface.
If you need solid darkness to sleep, then make sure you park away from the road and street lights. The two curtains, on rails with Velcro and meeting in the middle, aren't the thickest. But they do tuck out of the way on the sidewalls more than afoot from the door, rather than loitering over the shoulder and ballooning up when driving with the window open.
If you need to the loo duringthe night make sure you get the driver's seat right back and the steering wheel placed forward out of the way, otherwise getting out might take longer than you can bear.
All this might sound a bit negative, but on the good side the cab offers a decent kip and after eight hours' solid snoring CM'S man woke fresh and ready for a day back in the thick of the action on Britain's heavily congested roadways.
Storage for the driver's possessions is pretty good—there is an external locker on the passenger's side, decent door pockets for maps and paperwork, and a centre console with enough space for pens, tacho charts, more paperwork, phones and any drinks.
On the back wall there is full-width storage net for jackets, more maps and folders containing even more paperwork. For bags there are three deep storage containers under the bunk as well as a small sleeve compartment at the head of the bunk for any night-time reading. For rubbish or wrappers there is a removable bin to the right of the passenger seat and the dash has a neat fold out tray for lunch or completing the copious paperwork.
Finally, there are storage units above the windscreen and a passenger glove compartment.
Overall the single-occupancy high-roof Axor cab is a compact affair, but it has Tardis-like qualities with impressive storage and it gave up a decent night's kip.