AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

'A 30-year step back in time'

3rd August 2006, Page 58
3rd August 2006
Page 58
Page 59
Page 58, 3rd August 2006 — 'A 30-year step back in time'
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Driving a full-sized US truck on public highways is not something experienced by European journalists every day. Thanks to some understanding souls at Detroit Diesel, though, I was able to take a couple of its development rigs out on the highways surrounding Detroit city.

Two days earlier I had ridden shotgun in a mixed Freightliner and Western Star convoy to the still-snowy top of Mount Hood (about 50 miles east of Portland), which gave some indication of what was to come. Before driving out of the Redford factory compound, 1 had to call on skills not used since the Christmas test of a Leyland Marathon a few years back. I took the manual option, a Class 8 Freightliner Century with a similar Eaton transmission to the veteran Leyland. A 30-year step back in time is how l would summarise the experience. While the ride was firm but not uncomfortable, the M-B Actros steering wheel couldn't mask the general vintage feel. Apparently, the inch or so of longitudinal slack in the seat cushion is a design feature. The dash ergonomics simply aren't.

Thanks to a few previous experiences in bonneted Scandinavians, placing the farforward nose was relatively easy, although the small circular wing mirrors took some getting used to. The larger conventional door mirrors are so far from the nose that they have significant blind spots.

Performance, though, was as strong as you would expect from 455hp and 2,100Nm running at around 34 tonnes, progress only hampered by the initial battle with the long gearstick. The purpose of this truck was to test next year's EPA07 Detroit S60 engine, and for that purpose, a laptop was connected to force the DPF to burn off on demand for demonstration purposes. An effective demonstration, as there was virtually no change in the engine's behaviour during the self-cleaning process,

Driving the Freightliner was an experience I would not have missed, but any ambitions to take up driving for a living stay firmly on this side of the Atlantic, and with truly driver-friendly trucks.

Tags

Locations: Portland, Detroit

comments powered by Disqus