It seems CM is never happy...
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
CM has always prided itself on the quality and quantity of its new truck road tests. But 2013 hasn't been a good year for us. So far we are yet to put a single heavy truck around our test route. But it's not our fault: because of the wind-down of Euro-5 and the ramp-up of Euro-6, manufacturers haven't had anything to offer us.
In 1971, we were complaining too — but then it was because of the lack of British-built tractor units available for test. Of the 19 vehicles we put around the route, only 10 were built in Blighty— and only one of these was a tractor unit. "It is notable that the big British names are missing from the list of vehicles tested, there being no AEC, Leyland, Albion, ERF, Foden, Atkinson, Seddon, Guy, Scammell, Commer, Dodge, Ford or Bedford heavies," wrote CM's Tony Wilding. We waxed lyrical about the foreign heavy trucks we
drove in 1971. The Mercedes-Benz LP1632 had a "superb cab interior", while the Volvo FB88 drawbar's "driver comfort, steering, suspension, location of controls and so on, were all first class". It was the same story with the Scania LB140, which was extremely comfortable and exploded the myth that more power means more fuel consumption — the 350hp V8 returned a respectable 7mpg on the motorway — not bad for a 38-tonner.
Meanwhile, the lone Brit, a turbocharged Perkins-powered Dennis Defiant 24-tonne artic, didn't overly impress. While the 7.9mpg it returned was respectable, our testers weren't too enthusiastic about the "rubberiness" of the power steering, and the delay between turning the wheel and the truck's eventual change of direction. It was noisy too, and the suspension was described as being too hard.