newmercman:
I’m a little bit confused here, there seems to be a lot of contradiction.
First of all, who really cares how fast you can pull up a hill? It’s a lorry, they slow down on hills, a 450hp 44tonner will give you 10hp/ton and that is more than adequate to maintain good journey times and keep up with traffic.
Secondly, are you running a business or buying a job? Leasing a lorry is just lining someone else’s pockets, a business should have assets, so buying a cheap used lorry is the place to start, you work your way up to top of the range lorries in progressive steps and top of the range is relative to the kind of work you do.
Thirdly, the LEZ, why worry about that? Unless you’re based within its boundaries or have a profitable contract to go there, I wouldn’t even take it into consideration, just avoid the place, it’s nothing but aggro anyway.
And finally, if you’re thinking of taking your business to the next level, finding work should be the next step, not replacing a perfectly good lorry with something newer and more appealing.
That’s my thoughts on the subject, an opinion, nothing more.
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On the firstly: I’ve got 11.59 ponies per tonne and it couldn’t pull the skin of a rice pudding. A decent amount of power not only means better journey times, (yes I know its minutes a day, but if you save two minutes per day, thats over eight hours saved per year!
On the secondly: I have taken the decision that it’s better to plan to spend a bit more than leave yourself open to expensive shocks. I’m also not advocating a range topper, just a wagon that can handle what I ask of it.
On the thirdly: LEZs are spreading like a plague, its all well and good saying I can avoid London. If all of the 38 planned LEZs go ahead, thats a hell of a lot of the country I cant go to. Also, I’m making a long term commitment here. If all goes according to plan I’ll still be running this lorry in 2025, so future proofing is necessary.
On the and finally: I’m not replacing a perfectly good lorry. I’m replacing a heap of rubbish. Its under powered, even at 510hp, its too juicy, not comfortable enough, too low, (damage to front bumper from the yard at Newell and Wrights Rotherham, nothing silly, just driving around in the land of potholes) and too expensive. Its also hired and coming to the end of its agreement. I am working on the finding work bit too, strangely for a bloke I can handle that much multi-tasking but I see getting the kit right to be the most important bit. I’m not going to be doing something drastically different in a couple of years time, e.g. Heavy Haulage with the wagon I get now, the only thing I might need to add later down the line is wet gear, and all the options I looked at were PTO ready.
I can keep going ad-infintem as I am at the moment on work, its not mega money but it pays the companies bills and it pays mine. What I can’t do is continue to plod along on medium term hires, never committing to a decent motor.
Finally, its all a bit academic now. The extra cost of the Scania was unjustifiable, so I’ve ordered a Renault.
