I am planning on adding a couple more trucks to my fleet, of which will not be brand spankers and probably around the 10plate unless I can get a cracking deal on something a bit newer but I want some advice from people who may drive different trucks on a daily basis to find out what is the best on fuel when pulling big 20-28Ton loads
I have a volvo FH at the minute,
I’ve driven a few MAN but was a while ago and can’t really remember,
Iveco rigids were ok not the best of makes I would say but I think they were quite good on fuel not sure about Strallis■■?
Can’t speak for all marques but I can say that the MAN that I drove three years ago regularly topped 10 mpg on a mixture of work (grossing around 40 tonne) the two Mercs I’ve driven since have been high 8’s to high 9’s.
I think anything with gps reliant cruise control is the way forward.i find it generally ups a 7.5 mpg to 8.5 mpg. Other than that, driver training has got to be priority. Any driver can destroy any trucks mpg if they don’t give a pizz about how much they puttin in. I can take a driver who sits at 89kph all day and doesn’t button off way before roundabouts and junctions, up from 7.8mpg, to 9.5 mpg every time. Last month I took one from 7.01 to 9.65mpg. Saved 1200litres over the month I had it.
I’m getting between 8.5 & 9.5 with the occasional 10+ out of my TGX 26.440 15 plate 6 months old with 47,000km on the clock, various loads from 4 to 5 tons up to 28.
I did MK-Neath a couple of months ago, approx 10 tons going, via Oxford-Swindon,M4 & empty coming back using the Heads,M50, A46, M40, total 556km @ 3.91 km per ltr 345 miles @ 11.06 mpg.
The night drivers rag the arse of 'em, pulling Double Deckers, usually getting between 6-7 mpg (if they’re lucky) probably pull away on kick down & brake like Lewis Hamilton at the last minute for roundabouts & junctions.
At the risk of sounding biased, I think a Renault Premium would be a great choice at that age especially if fuel is the main consideration. Plus you should like the gearbox
Chrome Lozenge:
At the risk of sounding biased, I think a Renault Premium would be a great choice at that age especially if fuel is the main consideration. Plus you should like the gearbox
Mattwoodtransport:
I think anything with gps reliant cruise control is the way forward.i find it generally ups a 7.5 mpg to 8.5 mpg. Other than that, driver training has got to be priority. Any driver can destroy any trucks mpg if they don’t give a pizz about how much they puttin in. I can take a driver who sits at 89kph all day and doesn’t button off way before roundabouts and junctions, up from 7.8mpg, to 9.5 mpg every time. Last month I took one from 7.01 to 9.65mpg. Saved 1200litres over the month I had it.
Your absolutley right Matt, it doesnt matter what truck it is if the driver doenst give a fig about the fuel, I recentley had a demonstrator in a customer for 2 weeks, same runs, sames weights, almost identical mileage and hours covered by 2 drivers, 2.1mpg difference between the two of them, quick look at the diagnostic report and its all down to how its driven. The interseting point is if the bad driver had used the truck for 2 weeks the customer would of reported it was bad on fuel, if the better driver had used it 100% for 2 weeks we would of been about 1.5mpg better than his current fleet average.
The difference between his best and worst driver based on his annual milage was over £15k per annumm in fuel!!
the maoster:
Mine today (Actros 2545) approx 80 miles empty, the rest at approx 35 tonne, all motorway with unusually no holdups as seen by high average speed.
Decent mpg from a merc mine is currently showing 4.6mpg over last 3300 miles and that’s driving economy in mind most of drivers are getting 4.3. Full weight all time no empty running at all .
The feedback I have from customer’s is that for fuel you need to be looking at Renault and Mercedes on standard type work, other feedback seems to be Euro 6 Daf down up to 1mpg on Euro 5, anyone else find this?
Tgx 540 24ton on a 60ft extender (not very aerodynamic) middlesbrough to Motherwell and 25 ton back from Motherwell to Mbro today returned exactly 9mpg which i am more than happy with
chaversdad:
Tgx 540 24ton on a 60ft extender (not very aerodynamic) middlesbrough to Motherwell and 25 ton back from Motherwell to Mbro today returned exactly 9mpg which i am more than happy with
Must be down to good driving , well done driver !!! .
chaversdad:
Tgx 540 24ton on a 60ft extender (not very aerodynamic) middlesbrough to Motherwell and 25 ton back from Motherwell to Mbro today returned exactly 9mpg which i am more than happy with
Must be down to good driving , well done driver !!! .
I guess when your paying the bills and your the one the one changing the brake pads in the rain on a dark December morning it makes anyone a better driver
the maoster:
Mine today (Actros 2545) approx 80 miles empty, the rest at approx 35 tonne, all motorway with unusually no holdups as seen by high average speed.
Decent mpg from a merc mine is currently showing 4.6mpg over last 3300 miles and that’s driving economy in mind most of drivers are getting 4.3. Full weight all time no empty running at all .
Was it u haling psv8? Be interesting to know what just so I can avoid have u all got permanently deployed parachutes out the back of the trailer
My best fuel figures in recent at maximium weights have been with Scania, 420 better than 440 IMHO and pulls better.
My previous 460 Daf (manual) gave about the same fuel as my current 440 MAN (arsetronic), but could cover the ground a lot faster for the fuel used.
The MAN’s have not been without trouble, mine (touch wood) hasn’t given trouble yet but it gets looked after and i drive it in manual to keep the revs under control, IMHO not economical enough for so so performance, reliable enough if cared for but will not stand abuse like Scania’s will up to a point…pity really MAN’s of even 15 years ago were ■■■■ near unbreakable, what went wrong.
Our euro 6 440 DAF, which wouldn’t pull you out of bed, and despite reprogramming is giving figures i haven’t seen since the days of two stroke Bedford TMs if it has to do some work, as mentioned above probably one to avoid.
Not enough recent Iveco/Merc/Volvo long term use at full weights to offer an opinion of fuel use, i’ve used them all at light to medium a few years ago but anything should be good floating about with 10 ton on the back.
Agree with the other posters, a proper lorry driver makes the world of difference (no matter how much electronic crap they fit to the things) and not just fuel but brakes tyre and suspension wear and general care of the vehicle.
Always difficult on hearsay from drivers as the difference in economy between pulling say a sub 4m height box/reefer or a 4.2m curtainsider with the curtains a bit slack can be hugely significant.
I’d be interested to know if the figures being quoted are taken from the on board computer or worked out manually. In my experience the numbers on the dash are often about 10% more optimistic than real life.
Misterbreeze:
I’d be interested to know if the figures being quoted are taken from the on board computer or worked out manually. In my experience the numbers on the dash are often about 10% more optimistic than real life.
I posted the pic above of the Actros fuel consumption. Being ■■■■ about stuff like that I actually work it out with a pen and paper every time I fill up and then average it out over the week. Surprisingly the current lorry computer is absolutely spot on +/- 0.1 mpg over the week when compared to pen and paper.
