Cabovers

I am on vacation in the US at the moment.
Although we get US trucks where I am from what has been interesting to me is the price of trucks here.
I think Scania would be to expensive.
In South Africa US trucks compete well with EU trucks because they are cheaper and simpler.
The "South African" American trucks are also built heavier and stronger than the American versions of the same truck.
They weigh about the same as the EU trucks we get here.
Even considering this you could not produce a Scania for Freightliner money.
For the same money I would take a Scania every time but I don't own any for financial reasons.
I can buy almost 3 new Freightliner Columbia's for the price of 2 similar specked Scania's.
You cant compare the quality but for the first 3 years the Freightliners will be producing far more revenue.
After that the Scanias will start showing their quality.
The gap is just to big for the Scania to close in the life cycle of most fleets now days.
Owner operators are another story.
Keep the truck for 15 years , but what large fleets do that now days ?

 

very well said.

 

IMO, to sell scania in US it would be nice idea to renew T-series.

 

but still on terrain way better than any other type of truck , last what they bought are iveco and astra trucks and some other specialised military trucks by iveco also but without doubt they cant compete tatra while offroad ,also they use mercedes and man

 

as for longline it had some very bad solutions .....

R series have only one bunk ....it have very bad used space , main bunk was 90cm wide it would be easily possible to put something like 130cm .....mattress is 30cm thick i dont think that such thick is needed i have 22cm in my room and i cant find reason for more it would be better if they put more storage below than such thick mattress....

also lower bunk was at 60cm or 2ft from cab floor it was i think very hard to sit on it .....also as much i know lower bunk is not possible to lift so right exterior storage was inaccessible from the inside....as for seat on left rear part of cab maybe it was unnecessary ...maybe it was better to put something like volvo have bunk which can be converted to seats .....but most drivers dont like to rearrange cab....

space behind driver seat is very wasted ....all round many things are done wrong ....if they try to think more it was easily possible to fit all that kitchen(original longline had only big fridge, microwave and caffe machine and running water with 45L-12gallons tank) shower and wc in same cab

 

I cant say Scania is the best cabover.
Here drivers love Volvo, from old F12 to new FH and VN. They say only Volvo is better the Volvo. I see that Version-2 is not so problem free like early F12.

About reliable and imple cobovers... I'd pay attention on Argosy, 9600/9800i and Axor. They have less truck specific problems, but powertrains made for new emission standards share problems with EGR, DPF, SCR common for all new engines.

 

cant say on other you mentioned here but axor is itself problem it dont need any other problem it is already worst crap ever , no space at all , bad materials , everything plastic , vibrations ,noise , and it is quite uncomfortable(i am not one who complain about this but axor or big atego is very uncomfortable) not to mentioned other problems ....

here there is only about 5-6 axor tractors all used for day operations because no one would like to drive it

 

i dont know about volvo, it is great truck but cab is too small, they still did not reach F serie .....just remember how bad was first serie of FH it was worst cab ever

when you entering inside you knee always kick cab floor... driving position is good but once you want to get out of seat you cant because of too much big dashboard and gearknob and things around it .....bunks are too small , no space for luggage above windshield because of that lights ....also cold get in thought this holl and cant access to luggage under bed

in cab nothing can beat daf , man have lot of space but driving position and ergonimics are bad...i like new actros mirrors you can see "3km" behind you .....also improvement comparing to last model inside

 

IMO, Axor is a good truck. Why? it is simple and cheap. It is reliable.

Yep, drivers want more room in cab, less noise, smooth ride, so they love DAF, Volvo VN, Actros Megaspase, but I think like an owner. I like axor for low price (really it is one of cheapest E5 trucks on market), it is available with manual transmission, it is available with ABS (not EBS), no so many electronic toys like in Volvo ore Actros.

Yep, I remember headlamp dim problems of some Axors, but new headlamps are good.

The same I can say about International 9800i and Workstar series. Really 9800i is facelifted old style US cabover with really cheap amd simple design. But 9800i cab meets EU safety directives (old 9800/9600 -not), Euro-5 and EPA2010 engines are available.

As for owners low cost cabovers are good)