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!!
Hopefully your customer deliberately put his best and worst driver on the vehicle deliberately …Sad thing is the 15 k is worked out with 2 drivers ,the others have still to be taken in to the equation
Juddian:
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.
If your DAFs are so poor has your dealer been on to technical about it ■■..Not having come across the issue personally ,I would still imagine there is a power and boost test ,which would need to be done with the trailer it pulls as tat along with any gizmos etc are taken in to the equation as they effect fuel consumption …The results would go to technical ,and any new software etc would come from eindhoven …Saying that I can’t remember the last time I had a fuel comsumption complaint ,EURO 2 possibly 3