Ready for the rough with tit laxter
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• The Paris Show is Renault's home ground, so it was the obvious place to launch its new range of multi-mded tipper chassis. Having decided to start all its latest model names with an M (the latest artics are dubbed Manager and Major), Renault is marketing its tippers as the Maxter.
But the Maxter isn't the only new product from Renault. Up among the tractors, where the M stands for Magnum (even the AE prefix has been dropped), Renault has upped the stakes in the power game with a Magnum 520 rated at 395kW (530hp) courtesy of a tweaked vee-eight Mack EE9-16. All that power is controlled by TBV computeraided transmission, ASR and Airtronic rear air suspension.
Other new members of the Magnum family are the 385ti-19 and 420ti-19 4x2s and the 420tl-26 6x2 for drawbar work. They all have clean running Euro-1 standard engines and Airtronic suspension fitted as standard. Euro-1 engines will also power two additions to the Midliner middleweight range which will be launched next spring as the 180.09 and the 230.13C.
The 220.19 4x2 joins the Manager line-up. It has a 3.8m wheelbase, runs on 315/80R22.5s, drives through Renault's Automatic Clutch System (ACS) and is designed for the refuse market.
Completing the list of Renault's Parisian debutantes was the 120.50 panel van which slots into the Messenger range. It is plated at 5.5 tonnes GVW and offers 16tn of cube.
Renault will be relying on all the newcomers to play their part in regaining market share, but with the construction industry falling ever deeper into recession the multi-axled Maxters will come under particularly close scrutiny as a diminishing band of buyers decide where to spend their vehicle budgets.
The six and eight-legger Maxters are based on three standard chassis (measured from the centre of the front axle to the rear bogie centreline). There's a 4.53m model for tipper and drawbar 6x4s; a 5.66m 6x4 just for wagon-and-drag work and another 5.66m for 8x4 tippers.
Hendrickson Norde rubber rear suspension is fitted as standard, but heavy duty steel suspensions are available to handle a GVW up to 34 tonnes and a GTW up to 60 tonnes. Righthookers are already in production for the UK market.
For power they rely on the 9.8-litre charge-cooled MIDR 06.24.05. The 222kW (302hp) D3 and 249kW (338hp) E3 versions will be available for threeaxled models; all eight-leggers get the E3. Peak power is produced at 1,000 and 2,100rpm respectively with a useful 1,185 and 1,472Nm of torque on tap at 1,300 and 1,200rpm.
A nine-speed B9 synchro box comes as standard with the 18speed splitter version as an option. With standard final drives of 5.125 and 4.625:1 for 6x4s and 8x4s respectively, claimed gradeability is better than 40% (1-in-2.5) with top speeds of 110 and 1161uniti (68 and 72mph).
The range is new but the GT cab will be familiar to operators of the Manager range. In this application it's mounted 60min higher and comes as a flat-roof day or sleeper with optional air suspension. To suit off-road work a short (1.31m) front overhang gives an approach angle of 27' for 6x4s or 28° for 8x4s. There's a claimed clearance of 0.37m below the new E83 front axle when fully freighted, with 0.28m at the rear: brake chambers are vertically mounted well out of harm's way. The straightbeam front axles are 'rated at 7.5 and 7.1 tonnes respectively to ensure good weight distribution at the increased weights.
Despite their extensively flitched, bolted chassis, unladen weights are competitive, ranging from the shortest 6x4's 7,600kg to the 8x4's 8,850kg.
Tippermen will appreciate touches like the main radiator guard, hinged lower cab step, headlight leveller and cross-axle difflocks. Wabco ABS and ASR anti-lock and traction systems are optional extras on all Maxters, with the ASR linked to the fuel injection pump.
If we have to find fault it's with the flimsy looking plastic lower cab front apron which may not fare too well on the rough, but on paper this seems the sort of tipper chassis that thrives on tough tipping work.
Driving impressions
We were able to put the theory to the test with the first UK driving impressions of a rubber sprung 300.26D 6x4.
The cab may be high but the steps and grabrails are well placed. The large rearview mirrors are excellent. In general all-round visibility is good too, but it's let down by the shallow windscreen and door tops which come just a bit too low, forcing the driver to lean forward to look ahead or to the sides over hilly roads.
The high torque figure translates into commendable low-down lugging ability on the drags and the B9 box suits it well, with only an occasional need to split half a gear. Laden to 22 tonnes the Maxter felt positively frisky, pulling away in second on level ground and skipping to fourth, followed by sequential gears. Roundabouts were regularly taken in sixth.
The clutch pedal is light but the accelerator's forward movement is too long and with more
than 5i turns lock-to-lock on the steering wheel the driver has plenty to do in town or on site. Away from the motorways the gearing came as a revelation. Running in top at the 40 or 50mph limits (64-80km/h) the engine pulls sweetly in the green between 1,300 and 1,600rpm.
Drop a gear in built-up areas between 30 and 40mph and the revs are still in the heart of the green band. With a 0.75:1 top gear and 5.125:1 final drive its potential for economic running is considerable.
On site the promised 40%plus gradeability feels achievable and the braking system is well up to the task. The parking brake system covers all axles.
As expected, the butterflytype exhaust brake is of little use unless the engine is revving its heart out. In any case the button is so badly sited as to make it almost impossible to reach. Does anyone know the French for "why bother"?
On first acquaintance the Maxter's strengths outweight its weaknesses, and at £58,000 the 6x4 seems a good buy. When the tipper market finally recovers it should help Renault achieve its 3-4% of the market and, depending on the opposition, could do rather more. 171 by Bryan Jarvis