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ON THE ROAD

30th September 2010
Page 34
Page 34, 30th September 2010 — ON THE ROAD
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Putting away from rest at 60 tonnes in the R 730 proved as unremarkable as it was with 40. But then with up to 3,300Nm of torque in the bottom end, it should be. The latest two-pedal incarnation of Opticruise has (finally) put Scania's auto into the same ballpark as Volvo's I-Shift and ZFs AS-Tronic. It's smooth, fast and fully capable of thinking for itself, although it remains a 'bolt-on to an existing manual box rather than a fully-integrated multi-speed auto transmission. Scania is clearly aware of that and an auto-only gearbox must be the firm's ultimate end-game.

Coupled to the 730 V8, Opticruise seldom needs a reason to change out of top, even at weights well above the UK maximum. Indeed, the ability to lock gears in manual means you can hang onto a cog and let the big vee's revs drop down to 1,000rpm where it just pulls and pulls and pulls. With peak torque available between 1,000rpm and 1,350rpm, Opticruise was invariably demanding upshifts well before 1,700rpm, despite pulling the extra 16 tonnes of weight.

Our road route consisted of highway and mixed country roads, and on both, the in-cab noise levels are staggeringly low. We barely noticed the fan cutting in when the V8 was digging in on a long motorway drag (still on the 85km/h limiter top speed) in marked contrast to Volvo's FH16.700, where the fan sounds like a jet passing overhead. Indeed, you'd have to really rev the V8 before you hear any kind of engine noise inside the new R-cab. Given the choice between a tag and a twin-steer 6x2 tractor, we'd take a twinsteer every-day. Yet for once we found a tag-axle tractor with impeccable road manners. What really stands out, however, is the 730's chassis ride, making it one of the best-handling tractors in the business. The ride signature of a Scania has always tended towards the comfortably 'soft' but never sloppy or wayward. And the new R-Series is clearly no exception.

Meanwhile, should the DfT ever see the light over LHVs, one thing is certain: Scania's R 730 will be perfectly placed to meet the challenge of higher-weight operations. But until then, the World's Most Powerful Series Production Truck' will remain little more than a side-show for the average UK operator,

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