dreamingofoz:
Have to say I’m quite surprised with the comments so far. Maybe I’m not completely bonkers.
No you’re not bonkers, you’d be surprised how many people on here are real fans of them, some of them admit to have been quite skeptical before they drove them, but have changed their minds after actually getting behind the wheel and doing some miles.
Was a sceptic, then they gave me a rental Premium (61 plate) and I was surprised at how nice it was to drive. The ride is good, the gearbox good, but why do I need 5 stalks to get confused with (especially at night)■■, keep turning the lights off when indicating, retarding when using the wipers??, Shame a basically good truck has bits that fall off so easily.
Our Scanny’s are basic, but I like the build quality, and everything is in the right place.
I personally didn’t have problems with the controls, except the radio one forever re-tuning it accidentally
The only criticisms I ever had of them were a bit cramped for my left leg and the lack of storage space, especially outside. Didn’t find bits falling off though, although the choice of trim material and colour means they seem very difficult to keep looking clean.
Scania do have the build quality and hold their value, I’ve just found a 2004 124 Scania for another race team it’s in very tidy condition and all the switches still work, but then they did look at others where electric windows didn’t work and weren’t so well looked after, so some of it could be down to the drivers.
Hopefully it will be as good for them as the M reg Volvo FH they’ve just sold, they had that for 10 years, but were struggling getting parts for it as most of that age go straight for export.
we have 6 or 7 on hire at the moment, and everyone has buttons missing/broken, floppy armrests, - and tacho faults
This gent sounds like if I cant find a fault give me 10 minutes and Ill sure as hell do all I can to find some , plus hes let the cat out the bag as a normal steering wheel attendant .
love the driving position of the scanny over the magnum, but the cab ride on the magnum is second to none, which would i take? hard one, but i think my scanny would just edge it, just
Has anyone had a chance to try the Renault range T?, I’ve seen one article as a direct comparsion with a Scania topline based on cab comfort wiht the range T winning.
Prefer my v8 730 over anything! magnum from Renault, premiums are crap impressed with that new one though as had it on demo on the airport for a week but as they say " you can’t polish A turd! " SCANIA hands down! Merry xmas
I never said that the premium was a better truck than the scania I just find it to be more comfortable and all the switches are well positioned and easy to access whereas the scanias switches seemed a little haphazard to be honest. That said the scania is still obviously a far superior truck in terms of build quality and I for one whilst prefering the renault from a drivers point of view would still opt for the quality and longevity of the Scania should I ever be in the market to buy a truck.
SCANIA730:
Scania you can’t compare them to a renault never late in a V8 mate
Never late but constantly skint.
Please explain, have driven various Scanias since 2007 currently in a 10 year old 580 and in all have had only one breakdown, a 12 plate’s starter motor packed up after 2 years out in Holland so 6 hours down time in 7 years can’t think of many other makes that could give you that kind of reliability, and as for my wages have always been paid above average so certainly no shortage of money here.
I can name you two makes and they were doing it for a long number of years before your Scanias and Volvos hit these shores.
Erfs and Fodens were well known for their reliability. Just was reading an article in Commercial Motor the other week about a firm that ran mostly Scanias but had recently started to buy XF105s Kelly trucks comes along and tells him due to euro six etc. they were putting on a 12% increase!!!. So the haulier works it out the Scania is going to £20,000 dearer than the Super Space
cab Daf XF 105 as the man said what would you do. Eddie.
P222:
I would like to see how an 03 plate premium with 800k on it stands up to the job like my 124L…
In 2010 I was driving a Y Reg 420 Premium with over 900k on the clock doing a mixture of Agricultural, Forestry and Building site work. The interior, especially the seat was looking it’s age, but it was doing the job day in, day out.
But saying that, all the OP was saying is that he thought the Renault Premium was a nicer truck to drive than the Scania R440.
SCANIA730:
Scania you can’t compare them to a renault never late in a V8 mate
Never late but constantly skint.
Please explain, have driven various Scanias since 2007 currently in a 10 year old 580 and in all have had only one breakdown, a 12 plate’s starter motor packed up after 2 years out in Holland so 6 hours down time in 7 years can’t think of many other makes that could give you that kind of reliability, and as for my wages have always been paid above average so certainly no shortage of money here.
I can name you two makes and they were doing it for a long number of years before your Scanias and Volvos hit these shores.
Erfs and Fodens were well known for their reliability. Just was reading an article in Commercial Motor the other week about a firm that ran mostly Scanias but had recently started to buy XF105s Kelly trucks comes along and tells him due to euro six etc. they were putting on a 12% increase!!!. So the haulier works it out the Scania is going to £20,000 dearer than the Super Space
cab Daf XF 105 as the man said what would you do. Eddie.
Knew this would come up at some point in this thread if the British makes were so good then where are they now. To those who hanker after their ERF , Foden or Seddon Atkinson over your Christmas break remove your central heating and windows in your house to get the full benefit of being in the dark ages if these makes were as good as we are lead to believe then why are they no more, and before you ask yes I did drive an ERF Olympic complete ball of dung spent the first 30 minutes in it working out what switch did what as the markings had all worn off and the lorry only 4 years old the build quality of it made an IVECO look first class, also while driving the ERF my wages were the lowest I have had so that puts paid to the theory of crap lorry but decent wages,
I loved ERFs. I had an E14 on heavy haulage for a while back in 2000 and it was a great truck. Mind you, my daily drive back then was an ancient Citroen 2cv van, so I was quite comfortable with draughty slow vehicles which leaked whenever it rained. Still am, come to that … even now I’d take an elderly ERF or a 2 series Scania over a modern truck.
We’ve got a 58 plate DAF 105 on the fleet which is just coming up to 1 100 000Km and still going strong. I prefer it to the later DAFs we’ve got, purely becasue there are fewer electronic gizmos.
erfguy:
I can name you two makes and they were doing it for a long number of years before your Scanias and Volvos hit these shores.
Erfs and Fodens
I can name you two makes and they have been doing it for a long number of years after your ERFs and Fodens.
Scanias and Volvos.
That is only because they don’t make them anymore,
There are plenty of ERF’s & Foden’s still doing it, and not as many Scania’s & Volvo’s of the same age
erfguy:
I can name you two makes and they were doing it for a long number of years before your Scanias and Volvos hit these shores.
Erfs and Fodens
I can name you two makes and they have been doing it for a long number of years after your ERFs and Fodens.
Scanias and Volvos.
That is only because they don’t make them anymore,
There are plenty of ERF’s & Foden’s still doing it, and not as many Scania’s & Volvo’s of the same age
I’ve seen plenty of old Scanias and Volvos still working, you see them all over the place in the Gulf States, and in places like Malaysia where they drive on the left so you see RHD trucks still with their UK haulage company livery.
Anyway isn’t this supposed to be about the OP thinking the Renault Premium is a nicer truck to drive than an R440 Scania?
dreamingofoz:
Have to say I’m quite surprised with the comments so far. Maybe I’m not completely bonkers.
No you’re not bonkers, you’d be surprised how many people on here are real fans of them, some of them admit to have been quite skeptical before they drove them, but have changed their minds after actually getting behind the wheel and doing some miles.
Was a sceptic, then they gave me a rental Premium (61 plate) and I was surprised at how nice it was to drive. The ride is good, the gearbox good, but why do I need 5 stalks to get confused with (especially at night)■■, keep turning the lights off when indicating, retarding when using the wipers??, Shame a basically good truck has bits that fall off so easily.
Our Scanny’s are basic, but I like the build quality, and everything is in the right place.
I personally didn’t have problems with the controls, except the radio one forever re-tuning it accidentally
The only criticisms I ever had of them were a bit cramped for my left leg and the lack of storage space, especially outside. Didn’t find bits falling off though, although the choice of trim material and colour means they seem very difficult to keep looking clean.
Scania do have the build quality and hold their value, I’ve just found a 2004 124 Scania for another race team it’s in very tidy condition and all the switches still work, but then they did look at others where electric windows didn’t work and weren’t so well looked after, so some of it could be down to the drivers.
Hopefully it will be as good for them as the M reg Volvo FH they’ve just sold, they had that for 10 years, but were struggling getting parts for it as most of that age go straight for export.
we have 6 or 7 on hire at the moment, and everyone has buttons missing/broken, floppy armrests, - and tacho faults
This gent sounds like if I cant find a fault give me 10 minutes and Ill sure as hell do all I can to find some brigade, plus hes let the cat out the bag as a normal steering wheel attendant .
If you bothered to read the post, you would see that I wasn’t finding fault, I actually gave the Renault some praise. It is a nice thing to drive, the bits that fall off are fact, the one I have been driving- below, is the best of the lot - but still has bits broken, and the Scannie’s we have that are 2 years older are all still complete & everything still works - another Fact
If I really wanted to find fault & be picky, I could, but the fact is - when you cut your teeth on Guy Big J’s, Seddon’s, TK’s & Mandator’s, (doe’s that make me a steering wheel attendant??) when you compare to what there is now (Basically 7 breeds of truck - we used to call them Lorrys) - There isn’t a bad truck anymore
It all just comes down to personal preference - I know there are some Scanny haters, but I like them - I think they are way overpriced for what they are, and they have their faults (if we are being picky)but I think they are pretty reliable and everything is in the right place for me,
Like the sticky up park brake - can’t miss that, the mirrors are the right way up (for me anyway)
I have a new FM right now - Design is a work of art, looks like the Dash was designed by Bang & Olfsen (but totally unpractical when all the buttons are flush & look the same)
and that electric park brake is stupid - I have one on my car (stupid idea) and why do Volvo make the mirrors upside down, and create a blind spot big enough to hide an 8 legger behind at a roundabout? - just my opinion - I think I am entitled to one. - But it drives quite nice!
magnum from Renault, premiums are crap 
impressed with that new one though as had it on demo on the airport for a week 
but as they say " you can’t polish A turd! " 
SCANIA hands down! Merry xmas 
