Right, it definatly looks like my truck will be changed in the not too distant future, current candidates are as follows:
SH FM/FH Globby
New Foden with 450 Cat and Space cab
New Stralis 430
Any info on the above greatly recieved, probs/ niggles especially. We are currently running FM and FH’s, both version 1 and 2, but Iveco are coming up with good deals st the moment and the boss seems impressed. I had a look in one yesterday and seems good. He’s hoping to get a demo soon. A freind of his is getting a foden soon and he reckons that they are giving a good deal too, but I heard the Cat is thirsty and the ■■■■■■■ couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pud Whatever it is it will be on a dealer R&M Package.
Good wagon to drive once you get used to the auto box and the cab-roll (which is quite pleasant once you know you’re not actually going to end up face down in a ditch on the first bend ).
Low-revving engine which pulls like a train if you let it lug, and the best designed sleeper cab on UK roads today, IMHO…you’ll shut the electric blind, draw the side curtains, and wonder where the truck went, since it’s all far too civilised to believe you’re still in one.
The top bunk is wide and comfy - my only slight whinge would be lack of headroom once you’re in it, but then the “downstairs” is well-laid out enough that I’ve found I no longer end up retreating to bed to get comfy any way…
You want to get either the 480 or the 16-speed 430 though. I’ve driven the 12- and 16-speed 430s and it does need the extra gears. It also tends to rev the [zb] off itself in auto, so general concensus is that you’re best off driving it in semi 90% of the time, only using auto when you’re crawling in traffic etc.
Our Fleet engineer reckons (and the onboard computer agrees) that we get about 8-8.5 mpg out of them if you drive as above (dips to around 7mpg in auto all the time)…which is good when you consider we run at 44 tonnes, very little empty running, with mostly hi-cube containers (the drag always knackers it… ).
Oh, and watch the engine brake…it has two settings and the second is a tad fierce when you’re empty…as I discovered when I forgot which truck I was in and tried to turn the wipers on full-blast the other day!!!
Out of those choices I would go for the Stralis, despite me being a big fan of the Volvo’s. New has got to be better than second hand.
LucyR:
The top bunk is wide and comfy - my only slight whinge would be lack of headroom once you’re in it, but then the “downstairs” is well-laid out enough that I’ve found I no longer end up retreating to bed to get comfy any way
I’ve found that since I’ve had my current truck with the table and chairs “downstairs” I also don’t go to bed so early and instead stay downstairs reading, watching TV or whatever where before I would have got into the bunk.
My experience of the Stralis is, fortunately, limited. I got fed up of collecting the bits off it and really needed a container to put them all in. The vehicle was a rental, belonging to Hill Hire. I ran it in to them to get some of the rectification work done, and as I drove it in to the garage for them, the exhaust fell off.
The fitter is not impressed by the Stralis in that it is a pig to work on IF YOU CAN GET THE PARTS.
I would not bother with the FM. Even in Globetrotter form, it is still a supermarket trolley. Stick with the FH.
I have not driven the Foden, but I have the DAF 85. If you staying away, it is not much fun.
Having said all that, if we all liked the same thing, a lot of manufacturers would be out of business.
I’ve driven the day cabbed foden, and will say it’s a good cab, and the Cat engine is great. It’s pretty standard Daf kit, but with a foden twist. The driving position is good, and so is visibility from the hot seat.
No idea about the sleeper, go check it out. Many dealers will have a demo unit you may be able to try out.
hate the foden, i can’t understand how any truck maker can take a perfectly good truck like the 85 series daf and ruin it, they also have too many safety devices on them to make driving them feel like a pleasurable experience.
volvo, say no more - great trucks.
iveco stralis - make sure it is the full active space cab your boss is lloking at and not the junior mess.
the auto box is great and takes very little getting used to but you do have to train it, the box has a brain (so to speak), it learns how to drive by your own input in manual drive, once you have spent a couple of days in manual it will adopt to your driving preferences, if you leave it in auto it will go through every single gear change including splits.
unless they have changed it you will find the tv table on the wrong side for the 12volt supply plug, the curtains are not quite thick enough and you struggle to get them to close without leaving a gap.
it really is between the volvo and the stralis, active space beats the fm but if it’s the active time then go for volvo.
The only thing I disliked about the Stralis was the reverse gear being too high it is okay on level yard work but off road on sitework its too high a gear and I feel I dont have the control a clutch gives apart from that I like them but I’d still have a second hand Volvo if that was the choice
I’ve just put a deposit down on a Volvo FH12 and it wasn’t just because it was a Volvo It had as much to do with dealer attitude as anything else.
I only run one motor so I dont think :-
DAF
Iveco
Merc
Scania
Were interested in selling me anything but after some initial confusion (brought about by Volvo HQ in Warwick) I cant fault the customer service I received from the salesman Shaun Hurst at Volvo in Ely.
To be honest when I first set out to get a new motor I had my heart set on a DAF s/s/cab but their service was crap
Hopefully you wont come across this problem if your guvn’r is running a fleet but dont forget the customer service side either.
Oh by the way everybody I’ve spoken to reckons the Stralis is a cracxking motor if a little heavy on the squirt but then Volvo isn’t exactly known for it’s frugalness
johnny:
the auto box is great and takes very little getting used to but you do have to train it, the box has a brain (so to speak), it learns how to drive by your own input in manual drive, once you have spent a couple of days in manual it will adopt to your driving preferences, if you leave it in auto it will go through every single gear change including splits.
I’m glad you’ve said that! I stuck it in auto again for the first time in ages on the final run back on Friday and it didn’t seem to be doing daft changes any more…it crossed my mind that it might have “learnt” from being in semi, but I dismissed the idea as a pipedream…nice to know I’m not imagining things after all!!
Had to give it back to Iveco (off-hired ) so got another one ( ) to “train” as of tomorrow for a week (the regular driver is going to KILL me!! )
Whatever it is it will be on a dealer R&M Package.
).
) so got another one (