Just in case your suffering from insomnia 
Tis a nice looking truck 
Not a bad looking lorry that, obviously I have some bias, Iām a fan of the 3 pointed star, that goes without saying, but I said it just in case 
When I was at TRUCK mag we got a couple of scoops of new motors, Craig Sheer got a phone call about a disguised Stralis and jumped on his motorbike and zoomed across London to get a few pics, I didnāt have to work so hard for my scoop, which is just how I like it
I was doing a road test on a Daf XF 530 and we started out from Charnock Richard, I had Simon Everett the Photographer with me to get a few final shots as we went up the M6, I noticed a funny looking Volvo FM, so went for a closer look and noticed the disguise panels on it, I got the snapper over to get some pics and the driver jumped up off the bunk and started going off on one about how we couldnāt take pictures blah blah blah, while he was hollering at me he left the door open, so we got some good interior shots too I gave the driver a couple of copies of the latest T&D (which I had on me) and told him to ring Dave Young (the Editor at the time) if he had a problem Andy Salter (the Editor of TRUCK at the time and lord and master of this website) called Volvo, told them what we had and managed to wangle some proper pics of the new range from them which we ran in the mag, IIRC the pics he got were of an undisguised FH in the Mojave Desert, much better than an FM covered in tape from Lancashire
Okā¦iāve looked at all the pictures (again), iāve watched the vids and have come to a conclusion. Scania, Volvo, DAF and all the others will not make a truck that looks that good in my lifetime. They are to happy to make a diddy little tweek here and a ponsy little adjustment there. They are waving the white flags and are probably about to throw in the towel as well!!. They have seriously got there work cut out to match that, let alone be better. Mercedes have not only taken control of the baton, they are away and over the hill with it! As has been said, if they can at least match the i-shift (and maybe the 2 pedal Opti-cruise, which i happen to like 
) and have some more grunt on tap so they are able to keep going up the slightest hill, then they are on to a winner. And if that test pilot isnāt nursing a semi, he needs to see a doctor!! And didnāt that 510 sound sweet or was it just because i was running it through my 5.1 system!! Would like to see one in Maritime guise (or something similar), thatād look nice. Anyhoos, im off to do the lottery cuz im having one of themā¦and i canāt see the boss shelling out what i reckon is gonna be āR500 Griffinā prices either 
My opinion is (which counts for squat!!)ā¦
Its nice, its really nice, but it will be a ā ā ā ā ā ā ā sad day, the day that I get a semi over a truck. Iāll get a semi over Holly Willoughbooby any old day of the week, but a truckā¦no way 
Ooooooohhhhhh come now Mr Happyā¦a shiny new motor or something thats probably had more rides than Nijinsky!!!
Least you know where you stand with something thatās had more rides than Nikinsky! 
Actrosman:
Ooooooohhhhhh come now Mr Happyā¦a shiny new motor or something thats probably had more rides than Nijinsky!!!
Shockingā¦More rides than Nijinsky! Iād still give her the joyprong though 
And ye the Mercedes CEO spake unto his design staff ā¦āGive it FANGSā
Iām not sure about it. The front looks like one of those cheap Chinese copy trucks were they take a fairly old truck and disguise it by whacking on an ugly grill and bigger lights. Google HOWO trucks and you will see what I mean.
It does have a decent looking interior with some nice gadgets but being a flagship model you would expect that. We all know that virtually none of the fleet trucks will have any of this, simply a bog standard cab with 2 bunks if youāre lucky. What most companies will get is grey plastic bumpers, cheap seats and dozens of blank buttons in the cab that do nothing. Not forgetting it will still have a regular key that was invented shortly after the wheel.
None of the girly boys have commented on that the driver has his Hi-Viz on in the cab, they are usually swooning and having palpitations at this fashion faux-pas.
Iāve never even a driven a truck with remote central locking, the chances of any tight fleet managers speccing one with a LCD display in the key?! ZERO!
That is a very good looking truck! Always liked the look of the outgoing Actros but judging by the number of Merc trucks that i tow in i wouldnāt touch them with a barge pole! Hopefully it wonāt be the case with the new models.
To slightly echo someone elseās comments, i canāt help but wonder if it would be an autobot or a decepticonā ā ? 
merc0447:
You get a remote control to do your PUI checks
Scania have had the lights function on their key fob for years, used to press it twice and itād go through a sequence of lights.
MAN you press a button then pull the main beam flasher stalk and that goes through a sequence.
Nothing new really other than the display whichāll get broken the 1st time the keyās dropped
Scarab:
Iāve never even a driven a truck with remote central locking, the chances of any tight fleet managers speccing one with a LCD display in the key?! ZERO!
Drove LOTS of trucks with central locking keys, 1st artic I ever drove was a Renault premium, that had it, then an old 06 strallis, that had it, then went onto newer higher spec trucks.
Iāve had less trucks without it than with it.
Rikki-UK:
Post on here and people send you stuffā¦
I have now a copy of the MERC press releaseā¦ which includes thisAn ergonomic workstation and outstanding comfort right up to the best sleeping quality any truck can offer play a major role here. Thatās why the railing with the control elements is built around the driver area in an easy-to-reach designā¦
I was wondering how this ergonomic workstation will work on the right hand drive version? will it be a mirror image of the left hand drive version? I guess weāll just have to wait and see
Tiger.
My mate and also ex boss was approached by mercedes this time last year and asked would he be interested in a new shape actros,he agreed on the understanding we would get the first uk one which they at the time could not give him a price,sneak preview or definate delivery window!!!Think his trust in the Mercedes product will pay off when he gets it.What a shame im not there to get it as i came off the road to take a traffic office job!!What a carrot to get you back on the road though eh?Will post update when he gets any info on delivery date etc,regards Bigreg
Looks mint. Glad theyāve sorted the buttons on the dash and made it modern looking in the cab, the old actros was looking very tired, inside and out.
Vascoingles:
the trucks on our changing system run 24 hours a day 6 days a week and can easily run up more than 300,000kms a years which DAF finds very useful
Could you tell us some more about your āchanging systemā ?. So whatās that all about then ?.
Wheel Nut:
The new design has provoked some comments, two or three mentions of it looking mean and Rikki commented that it looked big, wasnāt the modern design of all trucks meant to portray a more friendly face like the car industry did?
No zb em get rid of the limiter and all the other electric gizmos,put a fuller in it.Perfect.
As one of those who had the Actros when it first came out my only hope is that this time MB has got it right,if they are even doubtful on the units reliability or any other of the mickey mouse faults that cropped up over several years including all the electrics including the braking system being knocked out by that which emanated from power lines and radio masts then I would suggest MB delay it for another 5 years.Alternatively MB are fully aware the extremely low opinion I have of them and their product so let me play with it for a few months.