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TIPPER LITE 2009 PART TWO
Page 39
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And the winner is...
Summary (7.5 tonnes) The 7.5-tonne trucks in Tipper Lite 2009 all had clearly defined roles, making a side-by-side comparison difficult. The 'yew Eurocargo with its steel body looked and felt like it could cope with the rigours of quarry or muckaway work all day long. The MAN TGL, with its grab crane neatly behind the cab, offered good visibility and manoeuvrability essential on highway utility works. The lsuzu Forward provided the best payload of nearly four tonnes without having that 'big truck' feel.
On the road, all the trucks were loaded to maximum gross, and none had any problems keeping up with the traffic or staying within the legal limits, The Isuzu and lveco auto boxes coped admirably, the Isuzu Easyshiff feeling just a touch smoother through the changes than the Eurocargo's ZF.
In the cab, all three offer a comfortable environment, with plenty of room for two passengers and some protective equipment. The placement of the tipper controls was at times bizarre, but the manufacturers assure us that positioning is a matter of operator choice.
Crowning the Isuzu Forward as our winner may be controversial, but it took honours in the subjective points-scoring and offers a clear payload advantage.
Summary (18 tonnes) When your writer became old enough to drive, the four-wheel tipper was the ubiquitous general-purpose vehicle, largely unchanged from Hell Dnver days.
Today's scene is more sophisticated, with specifications driven by spreadsheets that demand the sort of payload/cost figures produced by 32-tonne GVWs.
But as Smith's Volvo proves with 70,000km in a year, there's still work for a compact four-wheeler, especially as legislation has gradually allowed it to gross at 18 tonnes. A net payload of 10 tonnes on a footprint not much bigger than a Japanese pickup can't be ignored for the smaller jobs that still exist.
Of the pair of 18-tonners tested, the MAN had some issues relating to its chosen specification, but disregarding these, it was the German that seemed the most complete product overall