LeeJ:
they sure do a lovely looking truck though…
It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, to me that’s the ugliest truck I’ve ever seen.
I would say if you put the above statement to a VOLVO or SCANIA salesman he would disagree. Eddie.
Dieseldog66:
LeeJ:
they sure do a lovely looking truck though…It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, to me that’s the ugliest truck I’ve ever seen.
don’t you think it looks a bit Renaulty, in a cheap and nasty far eastern way?
I also see plenty
Merc salesmen also double as sales prevention officers I have first hand experience ,it took 6 weeks for a quote locally ,I rang merc in Sheffield and got a quote over the phone.
nothing wrong with the wagon, however the back up is horrendous.
hayday:
Dieseldog66:
LeeJ:
they sure do a lovely looking truck though…It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, to me that’s the ugliest truck I’ve ever seen.
don’t you think it looks a bit Renaulty, in a cheap and nasty far eastern way?
Renault - that well known far eastern company 
I don’t get the new Actros - so many cab width, mounting height, roof height options. I don’t understand how it can be economical to produce? Maybe I’m wrong but most other makes seem to have more standardised panels and pressings. They seem to be appearing in some unlikely places too like in numbers on a fleet I know recently resurrected from a pre-pack - I wonder if they’re giving them away like Man seem to be at the moment?
As far as Merc always being a good truck, my humble opinion is that eps put a major dent in that reputation, and the first Actros semi and auto boxes hammered more nails in. Eps was basically a german engineer’s solution to a problem that didn’t exist - it wouldn’t let you start in what it thought was too high a gear and unfathomably demanded a complete laborious press on the clutch synchronised with a push on the joystick (IIRC only the splits were pre-selectable, and the Acdross semi was all pre-select but still awfully slow). If you rushed it it gave you neutral. I’ll never forget tryin to get a 1644 up a greasy uphill lane with an empty a-frame drawbar - in the dark with no-one around with a tractor to pull me. A horrible cocktail of restrictive box, glacial changes and too much torque and difficulty reversing for another run up on the flat. Having said that maybe I was doing it wrong but if only there had been a manual option in the first place then the majority wouldve taken it and chances are I wouldn’t have been on that lane for half an hour sweating my … off.
Build quality on interiors on the early Actros were iffy too. And I’ve had some experience of how bad some of the dealers are…
Essentially, as a brand I’m not keen.
*re-reading the above it looks like i’m trying to be CF - unintentional honest.
shirtbox2003:
as my post says not many merc trucks about these days. any particular reasons like,price,quality,reliability,availability, service and repair costs. all replies please. regards,jack preston.
If it’s of any interest, quite a few on the roads around Sydney, Oz. Mostly run by the supermarket chains (Aldi especially) in day cab Actros (2644 I think?), also quite a few on container work. Australia Post also have a fair number of Ategos in their 6-legger fleet (with Hino and MAN) but seem to have stuck with Volvos for their prime movers. The slightly confusing thing is that what Britain and the EU know as Axor is also badged ‘Actros’ here though I gather that’s about to change. If my casual observations around Sydney mean anything (probably not) I would guess that the medium and heavy Euro wagons on the road here are 1. Volvo; =2. M-B, Scania, Iveco; 5. DAF; 6. MAN.
Know what you mean sime17 cannot understand all the configurations, same with axor & actross . Anyway build quality can`t be bad as I said earlier we have 4 on the same job not a yr old yet & around the 300 000ks not much prob headlight bulbs apart.
The Actros and Axor had Basically the same chassis and axles,but Axor had the
straight six engine,a narrower cab (same as the smaller Atego/Axor 18/26t rigids),
and alot less electronics,even having a 4 over 4 plus crawler manual box in basic spec.
The Actros had the V6 or V8 engine,and a whole host of electroncs (braking etc)
that Axor didn’t.
Axor was considered the “Fleet” motor,and that is why the new actros is offered
with a narrow cab option,to replace the Axor in artic form.
Kev73:
The Actros and Axor had Basically the same chassis and axles,but Axor had the
straight six engine,a narrower cab (same as the smaller Atego/Axor 18/26t rigids),
and alot less electronics,even having a 4 over 4 plus crawler manual box in basic spec.The Actros had the V6 or V8 engine,and a whole host of electroncs (braking etc)
that Axor didn’t.Axor was considered the “Fleet” motor,and that is why the new actros is offered
with a narrow cab option,to replace the Axor in artic form.
Umm, thanks Kev, I think 
I’m still confused but maybe that’s my age. Actually, scrub the ‘maybe’. We also get Actros/ Axor 6-legger rigids here but nowhere near as common as the Atego 6-leggers. The 2005-> Ategos also have that Merc ‘slap-over’ 8-speed + crawler range change, an annoying relic from the past (I used to come across them in 70s & 80s 1617s) when everyone else is using a switch on the lever, it annoys me beyond all reason some days.
ParkRoyal2100:
Kev73:
The Actros and Axor had Basically the same chassis and axles,but Axor had the
straight six engine,a narrower cab (same as the smaller Atego/Axor 18/26t rigids),
and alot less electronics,even having a 4 over 4 plus crawler manual box in basic spec.The Actros had the V6 or V8 engine,and a whole host of electroncs (braking etc)
that Axor didn’t.Axor was considered the “Fleet” motor,and that is why the new actros is offered
with a narrow cab option,to replace the Axor in artic form.Umm, thanks Kev, I think
I drove a brand new Axor earlier this year and it didn’t seem to be too bad a motor but that slap across the gate range change was awful and the gearchange very rubbery, I love manual boxes but that had to be the worst I’ve ever driven and loosed the motor down badly.
You can get an Actros as a 6x4 and 8x4 rigid,but as they come with hub reduction
drive axles,and drum brakes,they tend to be too heavy for the uk market,so you
don’t see many,only for specialised work mainly.
The AXOR/ATEGO rigids are the same thing,all MB did was facelift the cab,and change it to AXOR above 18t,so you can have a 52 plate and a 55 plate 1823 rigid,
the 52 being Atego,the 55 Axor,but mechanically they are the same
the only one that differs is the mixer chassis,where the Atego has a 6speed + splitter,and the Axor went over to a 4 over 4 plus crawler