RESULTS
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Taken as a whole, the results achieved by all six trucks in this Eurotest are a favourable reflection on the efficiency of the latest generation of charge-cooled diesels.
Before getting carried away with the fuel consumption results (two vehicles breaking the magic eight!), it is important to consider the effect on consumption of French conditions_ The common 80km/h speed limit on autoroutes and A-roads means that compared to the UK less fuel is used on the motorway, and the trucks' gearing can be arranged to cope more efficiently with undulating single-carriageway roads.
So despite running at 40 tonnes, the economy figures are better than we would expect from our own 38-tonne Scottish route, although the average speeds are lower.
Should an 80km/h maximum be applied in the UK (perhaps enforced by speed limiters) British fleet managers could at least expect their fuel bills to go down.
The Daf was consistently the most economical over each stage of the route, although it was also the slowest, apart from the underpowered Pegaso.
The MAN used almost as little fuel as the Daf, but combined this with the best performance of the group in terms of average speeds and hill climb times.
There was very little to choose between the Mercedes and the Scania in terms of economy, though the German vehicle was slightly quicker. The Renault showed good speed but lost out on motorway fuel consumption.
Finally, although the Pegaso gave reasonable fuel figures on our test, it simply had insufficient power to match the pace of the others across the ground.
But power isn't everything. L'Offkiel ran a group of 270kW (360hp) tractors over the same route a year ago, and although the fuel figures were inferior, the average speeds were little different, suggesting that the more powerful engines were an extravagance running at 80km/h over relatively gentle terrain.