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Magnificent seven
Page 68
Page 69
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CM tests more commercial vehicles than anyone else — and now we are using our extensive database to help you to find the right vehicle. This week it's 3.5-tonne chassis cabs with tipper and dropside bodies.
There's one way to find the best vehicles: put them up against the competition in a group test. Before we began our test procedure we invited our judges, who drive for a living, to rank the seven vehicles in order of how they felt they would impress, without revealing the manufacturers, and repeated the exercise at the end of the day.
The rankings before and after driving were remarkably similar but what soon became apparent to all concerned was the clear division between the European and Oriental marques.
Clear advantage
Toyota had a clear and decisive advantage among the imports, and was only a whisker behind breaking up the home pack.The honest but workmanlike nature of the Isuzu gave it the next spot, while there was little doubt that Nissan and Mitsubishi earned their places at the bottom of the heap.The primary reason for the resistance to the Japaneseorigin trucks was their cramped accommodation, although our testers accepted that any of them would be adequate for driving men and tools to a site or an occasional trip to pick up materials. Any of them would have been prepared to use them on this basis, but nobody fancied driving one very far.
The Europeans were much more closely bunched.While the Citroen comes third in our simple ranking system, as well as being a good product by the standards of its predecessors it can hold its head up in any company. But it just didn't seem to have that final bit of development that marks out the next two. Factor in the Citroen's bargain front-end price ticket though, and you might reach a different conclusion.
Battle for top spot
The battle for top spot was extremely close, and only came out as it did because one of our testing group couldn't make a clear decision. Both the Sprinter andTransit are highly developed products and capable of doing a fair day's work on site, while being equally at home as transport for longer journeys.
The decision to offer the Sprinter in low-power form is questionable, and you can, of course.specify it with a lot more power at the expense of the benefits of availability and cost that a 'one-stop' product has.
At the end of the day, the Sprinter's slightly better perceived quality, coupled with the still disappointingly intrusive noise of the Transit, gave the win to the German.
Tested: Group test, 17 July 2003 Vehicle: Ford Transit 125T350 Engine: Four-cylinder directinjection turbo-diesel Power: 123hp (92kW) Torque: 285Nrn (2101bft) Transmission: Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Body: Scattolini three-way tipper Payload as tested: 1,100kg GVW of chassis cab: 1,686kg Vehicle: Citroen Relay 1800 2.2HDi Specifications Engine: Four-cylinder common-rail turbo-diesel Power: 103hp (77kW) Torque: 240NIrn (1771bft) Transmission: Five-speed manual, front-wheel drive Body: Tipmaster tipper Payload as tested: 1,225kg GVW of chassis cab: 1,805kg Vehicle: Isuzu Grafter NKR-S Engine: Four-cylinder directinjection turbo-diesel Power: 129hp (96kW) Torque: 280Nm (2071bn) Transmission: Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Body: Randon lberica tipper Payload as tested: 1,180kg GVW of chassis cab: 1,814kg Vehicle: Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 308CDI Engine: Four-cylinder common-rail turbo-diesel Power: 80hp (60kW) Torque: 200Nm (1 4-81bft) Transmission: Five-speed, rear-wheel drive Body: TVL Tipper Payload as tested: 1,345kg GVW of chassis cab: 1,695kg Vehicle: Mitsubishi Canter 35 Engine: Four-cylinder directinjection turbo-diesel Power: 123hp (92kW) Torque: 294Nm (2161bn) Transmission: Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Body: Tip master tipper Payload as tested: 1,715kg GVW of chassis cab: 1,875kg Vehicle: Nissan Cabstar El 20 Engine: Four-cylinder direct injection turbo-diesel Power: 117hp (87kW) Torque: 272Nm (2011bn) Transmission: Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Body: Ingimex dropside Payload as tested: 1,525kg GVW of chassis cab: 1,615kg Vehicle:Toyota Dyna 350 D-4D Engine: Four-cylinder common-rail turbo-diesel Power: 102hp (76kW) Torque: 260Nm (1921bft) Transmission: Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Body: Fleet Tip Hydromech tipper Payload as tested: 1,305kg GVW of chassis cab: 1,675kg