This is not a mines bigger than yours post but just an observation on the new Actros. I think we have about 60 now. This one I drive was put on the road about 2nd week in Sept2012 & is double shifted on the same run daily, has covered over 500 000 ks & has not been too much bother which for a new model can`t be bad, although it did breakdown last Fri (broken wire in harness for Starter) they have had one or two probs headlight bulbs regular I think the power steering on some have been a prob & we have a cracked step on ours but overall has not done bad for the hard life its had. Do not think there will be that many out there with the same mileage but if there is whats your thoughts & how have they performed?
When I got 1 of those, it was a 62 plate, within 12,000km’s the ad-blue system packed in, had Merc out with a van, tried a few things, couldn’t fix it.
Went into Merc, came back with same fault.
It reported a fault with ad-blue, never used any ad-blue, but never lost any power either.
I just recorded the fault everyday on my defect sheet and carried on - nice not having to put ad-blue in.
Also, headlights, yeah. At LEAST 1 per week (double shifted truck) and a pain in the arse to do too, flip open this, remove this screw, flip that open, remove 4 out of the 8 screws now visible.
And if it’s the drivers side, you can’t open the drivers door whilst the 2nd flippy thing is open, making testing new bulb a pain.
All I could say is, they could’ve done better IMO.
Steering lock not as good as old Actros, engine not as good either.
We got a load of them also and ours are approaching 100,000 k now and apart from a cracked step in one or two they seem pretty reliable. We have the Euro 6 coming soon with the PPC fitted so that’ll be good in fact we have one on trial now. Unfortunately quite a few of ours have damage on the front corners where it’s that extra bit lower.
Some of ours are nearing 300k, we got them in December 2012 so there doing a fair crack but nothing like yours lol
More likely bald bloke the damage is because they’re driven by any tom,■■■■ or Harry and most don’t care. It’s the same at our depot up here, some of us are allocated units here but trying to keep them clean and in one piece is a challenge especially as some couldn’t drive a stick up a pigs arse.
Where’s Wally:
More likely bald bloke the damage is because they’re driven by any tom,■■■■ or Harry and most don’t care. It’s the same at our depot up here, some of us are allocated units here but trying to keep them clean and in one piece is a challenge especially as some couldn’t drive a stick up a pigs arse.
Also at least 6 or 7 have had the back of the cabs smashed in with drivers missing pins with a fridge trailer but it’s not happening with our Volvos, most strange. And as for the beige interior it’s just not suited to a multi user vehicle.
bald bloke:
Where’s Wally:
More likely bald bloke the damage is because they’re driven by any tom,■■■■ or Harry and most don’t care. It’s the same at our depot up here, some of us are allocated units here but trying to keep them clean and in one piece is a challenge especially as some couldn’t drive a stick up a pigs arse.Also at least 6 or 7 have had the back of the cabs smashed in with drivers missing pins with a fridge trailer but it’s not happening with our Volvos, most strange. And as for the beige interior it’s just not suited to a multi user vehicle.
2 Possible reasons for this, either the drivers are lazy and cant be arsed to press a few buttons on the wheel or control, or they dont know how to use them, despite it being very straight forward, it probably falls into the same category of driver that doesnt understand the digi units and just shoves the card in and drives
trubster:
bald bloke:
Where’s Wally:
More likely bald bloke the damage is because they’re driven by any tom,■■■■ or Harry and most don’t care. It’s the same at our depot up here, some of us are allocated units here but trying to keep them clean and in one piece is a challenge especially as some couldn’t drive a stick up a pigs arse.Also at least 6 or 7 have had the back of the cabs smashed in with drivers missing pins with a fridge trailer but it’s not happening with our Volvos, most strange. And as for the beige interior it’s just not suited to a multi user vehicle.
2 Possible reasons for this, either the drivers are lazy and cant be arsed to press a few buttons on the wheel or control, or they dont know how to use them, despite it being very straight forward, it probably falls into the same category of driver that doesnt understand the digi units and just shoves the card in and drives
^^ This. There’s no excuse NOT to use the controls on the new Merc, they’re on the bloody dash.
I do remember something that kept taking the control away though, was it the seatbelt warning or something? I can’t remember, it’s nearly a year since I last drove 1. I just remember a few times when backing under the trailer and pressing the button and thinking ‘that’s not worked’, look at dash and there’d be something on there that had cleared it. But, it could have been the warning for the ad blue fault or a bulb out.
We’ve got a 10 plate merc with 590,000 kms on the clock. It has its moments but still looks smart enough 
Where’s Wally:
More likely bald bloke the damage is because they’re driven by any tom,■■■■ or Harry and most don’t care. It’s the same at our depot up here, some of us are allocated units here but trying to keep them clean and in one piece is a challenge especially as some couldn’t drive a stick up a pigs arse.
Blame tom and ■■■■ not me, the last Actros I drove was for Maritime !
The truck I currently drive here is a 2005 and at the moment has 953,000 miles / 1,534,330km on the clock and just goes and goes without any issue at all. I would like something newer but the new trucks here often suffer awfully when it comes to reliability on this side of the pond compared to the old sheds that have been well maintained.
I thought ours were bad, 700k km 3yrs old…
Can’t understand why some blokes don’t use the air suspension when hooking up or un coupling. Amateur hour.
What’s euro 6 with PPC mean baldy?
I wouldn’t even bother going back in the office if I skipped the pin on a fridge & smashed the back of the cab of an mp4.
Remember when Celsius First got new fm’s for birds eye at Hams Hall & a bloke smashed the cab on the first day…
Pimpdaddy:
I thought ours were bad, 700k km 3yrs old…
We have another 3 on the same job all nearly 500 000ks & its a tight job, outward heavy, return about 30t so dont have a easy life. One driver gets out & its within half hr next back in same men on it 5 days a week then weekends might do a couple of trips with other drivers. Dont think there will be that many 62 plates out there with that sort of mileage. We will also have some on different jobs a couple of months newer but up in the 400 000ks. As I say they have there faults but for a new model on the market they haven`t done so bad.
Missing the pin shouldn’t matter if you’re connecting up slowly like you should. I’ve missed the pin and dinked the cab a few times but I’ve never even put so much as a scratch on the back of the unit. No need to hammer at it at Warp 1.
Same with disconnecting, if you do it slowly enough and you ain’t put the legs down you should see the trailer start to drop. I regularly see drivers drive off like they’re launching from a drag strip without even looking behind.
Silver_Surfer:
What’s euro 6 with PPC mean baldy?
Power point control, it has full European mapping and it only works in cruise control. When approaching a bottom of a hill lets say it will give you some more power and maybe change down a gear for you and when going up an incline it knows where the peak is and it’ll ease of the gas and slow you down in anticipation of the fact that you’ll now be going back down the other side.
I believe it costs roughly £1,000 to factory fit it but it seems to be as much as 5% better on fuel.
Terry T:
Missing the pin shouldn’t matter if you’re connecting up slowly like you should. I’ve missed the pin and dinked the cab a few times but I’ve never even put so much as a scratch on the back of the unit. No need to hammer at it at Warp 1.Same with disconnecting, if you do it slowly enough and you ain’t put the legs down you should see the trailer start to drop. I regularly see drivers drive off like they’re launching from a drag strip without even looking behind.
i hate seeing drivers flying through it. vrrrrm…BANG! our fitters think this is why we have had 2 fifth wheels going in for repair on 63 plate trucks.
back under, lift the suspension then back in low reverse until it clunks. No damage to the unit, fridge or landing legs. It isn’t difficult to do and it is less hassle all round with fewer repairs and downtime. If you don’t want to do the job properly, don’t do it at all 