MAN Reviews

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OWNER AND FLEET OPERATORS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hi All,

I’m interested to know what your opinions of MAN trucks are, specifically the TGL and TGX models and especially if you have driven the new range.

I’d be really interested to hear their good and bad points along with what you think of their standard of service, cab sizes and trim quality. How did they fair against other manufactures such as Scannia, Volvo and DAF? Are you an fleet manager that has operated a number of MAN vehicles and what did you like and dislike?

If you give give some truly impartial advice, I would really appreciate it.

Many Thanks,

Gripen402

2

Well having had in excess of 50 man’s over 7 years they are a brilliant tool for the job. our Hungarian operation is also a dealer for them. the tgx’s we have have are now coming up to 400.000 kms without too many problems. seem to have carried over the one electrical gremlin across the range which is the oil filter warning that’s says the filter has dropped off lol. the exhaust bolts shearing and destroying the turbo has been cured as has the fan coupling shearing off also. the wiper motor problem has occurred on about 20% of the fleet but not on others. but is a easy fix.

overall life costs based on 650 k km’s is 2nd lowest in the fleet the lowest being the iveco 500’s we have. highest whole life costs trucks are the scania 580 and the FH13’s. fuel wise they are on par with a 105 510 daf at 8.9 mpg on uk - Italy-uk and all Europe runs at an average weight of 33.8 tons across the board. clutch life etc is on par depending on driver style. interior components all we have had is dump valves in seats and a few dashboard rattles. the sun visors don’t like pigeons . valves and electrical probs are very few and far between and dealer back up and parts availability i rate as very good compared to scania and daf. 85% of ours are on 295/60 low ride so cant give a tyre wear comparison to 295/80 tyres so cant help on that part (others are 315). normal service items as a basket are on par with everyone else to be honest and i have found that with man if a part for a comparable truck is cheaper they will match that price. so all in all a good report.

3

r slicker:
Well having had in excess of 50 man’s over 7 years they are a brilliant tool for the job. our Hungarian operation is also a dealer for them. the tgx’s we have have are now coming up to 400.000 kms without too many problems. seem to have carried over the one electrical gremlin across the range which is the oil filter warning that’s says the filter has dropped off lol. the exhaust bolts shearing and destroying the turbo has been cured as has the fan coupling shearing off also. the wiper motor problem has occurred on about 20% of the fleet but not on others. but is a easy fix.

overall life costs based on 650 k km’s is 2nd lowest in the fleet the lowest being the iveco 500’s we have. highest whole life costs trucks are the scania 580 and the FH13’s. fuel wise they are on par with a 105 510 daf at 8.9 mpg on uk - Italy-uk and all Europe runs at an average weight of 33.8 tons across the board. clutch life etc is on par depending on driver style. interior components all we have had is dump valves in seats and a few dashboard rattles. the sun visors don’t like pigeons . valves and electrical probs are very few and far between and dealer back up and parts availability i rate as very good compared to scania and daf. 85% of ours are on 295/60 low ride so cant give a tyre wear comparison to 295/80 tyres so cant help on that part (others are 315). normal service items as a basket are on par with everyone else to be honest and i have found that with man if a part for a comparable truck is cheaper they will match that price. so all in all a good report.

That’s great news! Thanks for taking the time to jot all of that info down. Gives me a really good idea of what these are like to live with. I’m really interested in the comparison of Total Cost of Ownership compared to the other manufactures.

Others say that DAF and Scania are way ahead and are defiantly the drivers choice with more power and better creature comforts and durability but with the economic climate the way it is, i’m interested to hear your views on how you’ve fond MAN’s fuel economy and TOC compared to the others.

If you could make 3 major changes the TGX what would they be? What is your relationship like with your local dealer? Do you find them to be quite proactive or do you end up having to make the effort to get in touch and find out about new models?

Thanks again,

Gripen402

4

Horses for courses.

take Globby he swears by scania. captain spanky daf’s me man others volvo.

from my personal experience the man from the old F2000 series have always been my truck of choice dealer wise as our Hungarian side is a dealer we don’t tend to get messed about. in the uk you have imexpart who are normally 50% cheaper than man for a oem part.

costings wise we say 3.2 p per km towards maintainance and parts. volvo 5.8p scania 6.1p iveco being 2.8p on overall life costs on parts needed during its life on the fleet. re sale value also is good. we never have a problem selling ours on and have 1 company in the Ukraine who buy every truck we sell and they will then have another hard life after that. some get broken up all depends on the kms etc.

breakdown turnout i rate as excellent in all Europe. parts availability very good.

just pm me if you need any more info. cheers Brian

5

i work in a garage and we have approx 50tgxs all working at 44ton
tgx reguire valve clearance to be done 3 or 4 times a year (to stop valve/seat faliure)
clean fuel pre filter and change fuel filter (inc drain fuel filter housing) every 6 weeks (bio builds up in the pre filter and the injectors dont like it)
after approx 600.000 the turbo exhaust impellor snaps off the turbo shaft and sits in the inside of the silencer
axle 3 twin level valves go out of sinc (no air pressure in 3 air bags on one side of chassis)
after approx 500.000 km front cab mounts (bumper off etc)
if a wiper link is worn you have to replace all (as a 1piece)
fuel filter to block mounting bracket shears off
cab lock sensor wires break
axle 3 wings arent mounted to the brackets very well so they go all loose (flaps off and refit mounts)
axle 2 caliper recall at the moment (foc new discs/calipers/pads)
after approx 400.000km “fuel pressure inplauseable” needs a new fuel pump
if the twin electric horns blow a fuse the air gauges pack up (same fuse)
apart from the above they arent to bad compared to the other truck manufactures. all of ours are wide cab semi high roof (xlx i think)and they do drive quite well although the steering wheel is plenty big enough

6

I run 2 TGS 8ws. The 58 reg has a 16 speed ZF and the gearchange was awful. Fair play MAN replaced everthing to do with the gearbox and clutch and it turned out to need more weight on the lever.
I had a Pritarder fitted and that is great on the hills round here but when the seals went the kit was £1000 plus labour.
The rear springs are not man enough for the job.
The 08 is AStronic and 1 morning that packed up then by the time the MAN fitter arrived it had cured itself.
Both of trucks have needed new turbos at under 300000kms
The 58 reg had the engine ECU fail took 2 days to find the fault and the ECU is just under £4k [I bought S/H]
Fuel consumtion around here is under 7mpg on the 440 manual with a youngster at the wheel and around 7.6mpg on the 400 auto with a steadier driver
The propshaft carrier bearings went on both trucks at around 2 years old 1 had a new shaft and the other was modified by a local company to what I call a normal UK type carrier. MAN paid for both
Good points. The cab is quite good for tipper work I find everthing is pretty well thought out. They do handle like they are on rails,not too much lean. Pretty good off road.
Quite light compared with most other 8ws.
Our local dealer doesnt carry too many spares, they do rely on the overnight delivery from Swindon which is good.

7

everything that ramhead mentioned, not forgetting , drivers door hinges drop, hi-pressure intercoolers fail on euro5 engines causing coolant loss but without any leaks. egr modules fail on euro5 engines again coolant loss, lambda sensor faults on euro 5,s. If i was to buy an man it would have to be on adblue not egr, they seem to be a bit more reliable than egr at the moment & better on fuel. thats only my opinion :wink:

8

Basically they are a bag of german crap, spend the extra few quid and in the long run it will be money better spent… scania!!! they arnt made to be thrown away after 3 years :grimacing:

9

The curtains have no stopper at the end of the curtain rail, so they fall off, and it is a pain to thread them through again, the curtains are too small and do not meet up in the middle, letting the light in.

10

not forgetting the con rods punching a big hole in the block on euro 5 egr engines, but they are a nice truck to drive i suppose!!

11

Been running a 2002 TGA for the last four years and found it to be a good truck. It certainly compared well with the version 1 FH Volvos that we had before it. Just bought a 2008 TGX 6x2 from one careful owner driver and you can see how MAN made a good truck better. I think if you keep ahead of the minor issues as outlined by previous posters,you will get very good service from one.

12

The Tipmatic should be called Crapmatic :smiling_imp:

13

we have 3 MAN TGA XXL 26.440’s with the AS Tronic auto gear boxes 2 of them are 2006 56 plate the other is an 07 all had over 500,000kms on the clock and all of them have had new oil pumps and fittings before purchase however!

MAN Recently sent out a recall notices because certain break systems have known serious defects to the point where calipers sieze on and you completely wipe our the break pad and end up over heating the hub and rim.

Last week my MAN went down with this exact problem it has cost the best part of £3000 to put right because MAN couldnt get the parts as its a recall obviously we will claim this back from MAN the bill was as follows.

Break discs both sides as they had severe cracks in them and were ready to litterally drop off
Break pads as they were down to rivets (not kidding when i get back il post a picture of it for you)
Two new calipers as the right side had siezed on completely and the other wasnt far behind
Labour and costs took them two days a blow torch and angle grinder to get it off but the O/S/F eventually came off

The other major thing was the gear box failed £4500 (without labour) to replace, that particular gear box had done only 170,000km before it failed

other than that i cant fault its cab space the newer models are even better in side the mirrors are good however it does lack a little in power with a load on 440hp feels more like 380hp however im returning 7.7MPG (i have top light bar and twin tanks that up the wieght a little)

The old man who drives with me has a renault premium he hits 10.2mpg consistently on a monthly average pulling an average wieght of 23ton a day so its hit and miss really ( the old man really is an old man and rarely goes past 52mph hence the figures which come from esso fuel check)

14

Hi All,

Firstly, thanks for all your information and advise, its been a real eye opener in terms of how you all have slightly different views of MAN tucks.

Can I ask, realistically, how seriously do you all evaluate the “Total Cost of Ownership” calculating the initial cost of purchase, fuel, service and parts etc.

Is this just seen a marketing ploy to sell more trucks or is this now becoming an ever more important factor when replacing trucks in your fleet? To what extent do you calculate the “total cost of ownership” (detail level).

What technology do you use to calculate or gather data on the efficiency of your fleet? What technology would you like to see implemented that would help you measure efficiency and cost effectiveness?

Also, I understand that many operators are originally drivers or originate from a family of drivers. How much are you influenced by your favoured truck manufacture or your long term relationship with that manufacture over other manufactures that may in fact be a better or more suited alternative for your business model?

Many thanks for your involvement, your help is greatly appreciated.

Very best regards to you all,

Gripen 402

15

i drive a new tgx 62 plate MAN nice truck picked up a couple of weeks ago with 75 km on the clock,love this truck apart from the small ad-blue tank which i believe only holds 20 lt at the minute it is burning the same amount of ad-blue as it is in fuel,im currently getting a return of 8.5 mpg hope this helps

16

gripen402:
Hi All,

Firstly, thanks for all your information and advise, its been a real eye opener in terms of how you all have slightly different views of MAN tucks.

Can I ask, realistically, how seriously do you all evaluate the “Total Cost of Ownership” calculating the initial cost of purchase, fuel, service and parts etc.

Is this just seen a marketing ploy to sell more trucks or is this now becoming an ever more important factor when replacing trucks in your fleet? To what extent do you calculate the “total cost of ownership” (detail level).

What technology do you use to calculate or gather data on the efficiency of your fleet? What technology would you like to see implemented that would help you measure efficiency and cost effectiveness?

Also, I understand that many operators are originally drivers or originate from a family of drivers. How much are you influenced by your favoured truck manufacture or your long term relationship with that manufacture over other manufactures that may in fact be a better or more suited alternative for your business model?

Many thanks for your involvement, your help is greatly appreciated.

Very best regards to you all,

Gripen 402

Cost of the unit £19500 not including VAT @ 20% 2006 56 plate MAN TGA XXL 440 Euro 4 non adblue (ours came with twin tanks and top spot lights) works out £419 per week on hire purchase
So far on my unit

AS Tronic gear box £4,500 replacement
Break calipers discs and pads £3000 still not right

7.7MPG average this is calculated by ESSO fuel check done on milage and fuel used im running nearly 2000 miles per week on average with 22.5ton load on average using 725 litres of diesel on average which is costing at the pump £990 with fuel card savings £865 roughly

Personaly parts are expencive most trucks are but MAN seem to charge a premium for the gear box where as the DAF who uses the same box to replace is some £800 cheaper (go figure cause im clueless)

My old man loves mercs but i prefer DAF or volvo the old man started driving in 1965 so i leave him to it he is set in his ways

As for MAN

Customer service is shocking ! i cannot report anything good about it at all you have to sign numerous disclaimers at every single inspection to say they cannot be held liable for the repair work, i spent 27 hours in avonmouth MAN service centre to replace the gear box which is a 5 hour job because i had to stay in the truck they towed it out two nights in a row to the street failing to put my batteries back in so i had no night heater lights or anything it was litterally dumped and i was told yeah its there you can go to bed now (gee thanks)

Would i buy a MAN for myself ? after everything the cab space is very good but theres so much that lets it all down so my verdict indifferent.

17

I know of a particular Volvo fh12/380 that’s been doing round timber forestry work since it was bought in 1996. It is on the road every day and can hold it’s on at 44 ton or so. About a month ago it was due to go around the clock for the second time,the only major work it’s had done are injector’s and a clutch.The cab is crap onit and that stupid raked windscreen is so intruding but,a truck is supposed to make you money first.Try getting that review from any TGA/S/X you’ll never do it. Volvo are a good truck.
I once watched an ex Nolan Actros come off a lowloader in a dealer’s as it was traded in.An 1848 normal cab,it was regidtered in 1999 and had 2.4 million on the clock,orignal gearbox,engine and backend.Mercedes(usually)are a good truck. And so are Scania and Daf and possibly Renault,the rest… :cry:

18

ellies dad:
I know of a particular Volvo fh12/380 that’s been doing round timber forestry work since it was bought in 1996. It is on the road every day and can hold it’s on at 44 ton or so. About a month ago it was due to go around the clock for the second time,the only major work it’s had done are injector’s and a clutch.The cab is crap onit and that stupid raked windscreen is so intruding but,a truck is supposed to make you money first.Try getting that review from any TGA/S/X you’ll never do it. Volvo are a good truck.
I once watched an ex Nolan Actros come off a lowloader in a dealer’s as it was traded in.An 1848 normal cab,it was regidtered in 1999 and had 2.4 million on the clock,orignal gearbox,engine and backend.Mercedes(usually)are a good truck. And so are Scania and Daf and possibly Renault,the rest… :cry:

Can beat this one my first volvo was a P reg (1997) flat cab 380 its still in daily use only major mishap i had with it was when a valve decided to come loose and be fired through the block by the piston 2 weeks later it was back on the road.

What did i have as a replacement? one of the first FH12 globies with the big hump in the middle 1994 N reg this is in 2010 BTW and it is still running that was a 420

And if you trundle up and down the M6 theres a 1970’s volvo old L reg still working the logs in daily use !

Volvo IMHO are the best a few cab faults but i cant really fault them.

19

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=75641

20

baby_trucker:

gripen402:
Hi All,

Firstly, thanks for all your information and advise, its been a real eye opener in terms of how you all have slightly different views of MAN tucks.

Can I ask, realistically, how seriously do you all evaluate the “Total Cost of Ownership” calculating the initial cost of purchase, fuel, service and parts etc.

Is this just seen a marketing ploy to sell more trucks or is this now becoming an ever more important factor when replacing trucks in your fleet? To what extent do you calculate the “total cost of ownership” (detail level).

What technology do you use to calculate or gather data on the efficiency of your fleet? What technology would you like to see implemented that would help you measure efficiency and cost effectiveness?

Also, I understand that many operators are originally drivers or originate from a family of drivers. How much are you influenced by your favoured truck manufacture or your long term relationship with that manufacture over other manufactures that may in fact be a better or more suited alternative for your business model?

Many thanks for your involvement, your help is greatly appreciated.

Very best regards to you all,

Gripen 402

Cost of the unit £19500 not including VAT @ 20% 2006 56 plate MAN TGA XXL 440 Euro 4 non adblue (ours came with twin tanks and top spot lights) works out £419 per week on hire purchase
So far on my unit

AS Tronic gear box £4,500 replacement
Break calipers discs and pads £3000 still not right

7.7MPG average this is calculated by ESSO fuel check done on milage and fuel used im running nearly 2000 miles per week on average with 22.5ton load on average using 725 litres of diesel on average which is costing at the pump £990 with fuel card savings £865 roughly

Personaly parts are expencive most trucks are but MAN seem to charge a premium for the gear box where as the DAF who uses the same box to replace is some £800 cheaper (go figure cause im clueless)

My old man loves mercs but i prefer DAF or volvo the old man started driving in 1965 so i leave him to it he is set in his ways

As for MAN

Customer service is shocking ! i cannot report anything good about it at all you have to sign numerous disclaimers at every single inspection to say they cannot be held liable for the repair work, i spent 27 hours in avonmouth MAN service centre to replace the gear box which is a 5 hour job because i had to stay in the truck they towed it out two nights in a row to the street failing to put my batteries back in so i had no night heater lights or anything it was litterally dumped and i was told yeah its there you can go to bed now (gee thanks)

Would i buy a MAN for myself ? after everything the cab space is very good but theres so much that lets it all down so my verdict indifferent.

That’s really interesting! Do you think that your dad, being set in his ways with mercs echoes the same sentiment of most operators?

I’m trying to get an idea of how difficult it is to change the perception of a manufacturer to an opperator.

Also, I would really like to know if “the industry” really refers to MAN as M.A.N or just “Man”?

Thanks