Cabovers

When you drive a cabover you are always the first one to the scene of the crash. Cabovers aren't that bad, I had one with low air suspension and put air ride under cab and it rode comparable to any Pete I have ever drove. Easy to work on flip the cab and it's all right there. I ran 6-6.5 mpg with a 400 cat wide open back then pulling a reefer trailer. 7+ pulling a flatbed. Downside there is no hood for the guy to back in to at the truckstop while your are parked. So be prepared for a total loss.

 

Correct but there is a big difference in safety between a 80's cab (be they build in the EU or USA) and a present day COE.
Because the EU only has COE development continued and they are now much better.
Plenty off footage on the net which shows how "survivable" a crash is in a COE.

And no matter if you are in a COE or a Conventional,if you come to a full stop in less then 1 second at any speed,even with a seatbelt on,your internal organs still crush themselves at that point.

 

I use to wach truck crash compilations every week and I'd say EU steel cab is much safer US aluminium one, so European drivers are not so unprotected as it looks

 

I 've seenenough-accident with EU COE to believe they are not safe at all and way too expensive to fix at any minor accident

 

It appears that toomanybikes is an expert on the complete Walmart international supply chain. One thing he is completely incorrect on is the wheel cut and turning radius of a typically equipped Argosy. As you can see in the avatar the Argosy I have been driving for 14 years, the 5th cabover I have owned in 35 years of trucking across 3 manufacturers is by far the most maneuverable ever. I routinely get assigned loads that pay big $ because of what I can do with this tractor.

 

In Europe drivers found Argosy too noisy, to rought and they say EU cabovers are better.

 

At this point they may be, Argosy was based off 1997 Century platform, which was probably on the drawing board in 1994 so it's a 20 year old design.

Biggest issue I personally have seen is how they are spec'd, a LOT of Argosy's were low level spec's will make any truck noisy.

 

I don't doubt that your Argosy turns tight; most were on a short chassy for otr and thus tight turning.

Hey I admire your avatar and I like the Argosy. But I do believe this guy is right also:

Given the same length chassy the typical modern Volvo or Prostar will outturn a Argosy. Not that the Argosy could not be updated with a tighter turning axel. I just don't think it is.

 

in europe until recently many trucks were build on platform from 90s and even 80s

currently iveco(1994) and scania(1995) have oldest chassis , daf recently change chassis , volvo and renault also mercedes 2years ago all those platforms were 20years old or older

for example on scania development of that chassis started in 1988 not many things were changed from its release in 1995, in 2004 it get 4bag suspension rear as option rest is same, you can get now same front axles as in 80s ,until recently you could get same spring suspension as in 70s and 80s

 

I miss freightliner coe and my naps on the doghouse.