A MAN of Letters
In addition to its TGL badges MAN’s Euro 4, 7.5 tonner is also awarded top honours in fuel economics with a peerless performance on our Scottish route. Our own student from the University of Life, John Henderson reports back on a day of interesting study. AUGUST is an unusual month for road testing. With the summer holiday season in full swing, the roads can often be much quieter with HGV traffic making you feel as if you’ve unwittingly turned out on a Sunday! Additionally since the change to twice yearly registration plate issuing, the eighth month according to SMMT figures, has now become traditionally slow in new truck registrations. So bearing all this in mind, I readily accepted an invitation from MAN to test their TGL 7.150 Euro 4, 4x2 BB fleet rigid on the 11th day of the month, to take full advantage of the anticipated clearer conditions. The ever strong 7.5 tonne sector of the commercial vehicle market has interesting days ahead, as I suspect London’s congestion charging and emission zones will slowly start to spread to other large cities. This has given electrically powered vehicles a jump start in sales, although with their current limitations in daily mileage, the days of diesel power are far from numbered. MAN’s TGL model is no stranger to the pages to Transport News, as back in our May 2008 issue, a similar truck grabbed the headlines in an A9 speed comparison test, which extolled the many advantages of raising the single carriageway limit for HGVs to 50mph. Arriving at Abington services I met two well known faces in the shape of my MAN minder for the day, Stan Egerton and the TGL truck. With my two day Highland foray still relatively fresh in my mind, it did not take long to reacquaint myself with the vehicle and its well laid out controls. With no queues to endure this time around at the diesel pumps we hit the road much quicker than usual. Remembering to feather the throttle at the correct times to encourage up shifts with the six speed Tipmatic gearbox, I was soon up to the 56mph limited cruising speed on a near deserted M74 motorway. Our TGL for trial came with the basic ‘C’ day cab option and it’s a fine place for a day’s distribution work, offering easy access and egress, alongside comfort levels you’d expect in a much larger motor. Other cab options available are the ‘DK’ four door crew cab, an ‘L’ single bunk sleeper and the range topping ‘LX’ sleeper which features a higher roofline with ample space for two beds. The onboard controls, dashboard and seats are all similar to its big brother TGA which I tested one year ago and this gives the diminutive wagon a real big truck feel. There’s no clutch pedal to worry about inside this vehicle and the Tipmatic drive/neutral/reverse selector is located just in front of the parking brake on a seat side console. This rotational switch also has the appropriate M markings for forward and backwards low speed manoeuvring. MAN dashboards are undoubtedly the most uncluttered in the business, resulting in my mind anyway, that cursory glances and checks are kept to a bare minimum, thus ensuring the drivers outside observations are maximised. This situation is achieved by good use of multi function steering column stalks and although the many features of the three types fitted seemed initially a bit daunting, it’s amazing how your memory pattern soon becomes comfortable with their regular use. To the left hand side is one column controlling the usual indicators, headlamp flash/dip/beam etc, whilst an inner sleeve brings the washers and two wiper arms to life. Across on the right there’s a brace of stalks with the lower, larger unit offering manual pull/push, up and down gear shifts respectively with an end press button for manual or automatic operation. As with the previous TGA model tested, I found the control requires precise use, as being slightly heavy handed can often result in jumping two gears instead of one when changing gear manually. Just above this, a slimmer lever brings the engine brake into play via a simple on/off switch at the stalk end. The useful retarder prevents speeding whilst using cruise control with a three kph overshoot sensor. When engaged manually on long downhill sections, its lively performance always brought the 4x2 rigid into check rapidly. In addition to the standard door, fascia and over screen storage, the TGL also has space behind the seats for a useful moulded plastic cubbyhole and two high level coat hooks. Furthermore our steed was fitted with an optional engine cover storage box which costs £135. Back on the test, traffic levels increased substantially as we skirted Glasgow and headed north east towards Perthshire. Heavy trucks were still low in numbers, but a high volume of cars on what I suspect were family holiday day trips kept me busy on the mirrors. This MAN had the normal five lens set up which included the usual kerbside glass. Being an 06 plate there was no front fitted blind spot or ‘cleavage’ mirror as it’s becoming known, but the excellent visibility from the low line windscreen more than made up for this. With a good supply of slow moving, caravan pulling motorists to overtake, the truck’s acceleration and handling was readily put to the test. Running at a fully loaded 7.5 tonnes, the punchy 150bhp motor and the all round parabolic spring steel suspension made good work of this and the shock absorbers/stabiliser bars set up on both axles cushioned the ride well, with no major jolts or lurches experienced in a wide range of road surface types. The first timed hill climb on Cairnie Brae produced an identical time to DAF’s LF45.160, tested back in May, but having just 10hp less than the Dutchman meant we set a slightly lengthier time on the much longer pull that is Balmanno Hill. Arriving at Kinross for our first stop the fuel meter showed a usage of just 4.36 gallons, which meant that just like its TGA sibling tested last year, the TGL was currently on course to setting a best ever class fuel consumption figure. Only time and lady luck would tell. With clear weather and only the odd rogue rain shower around, the farmers of Fife were busy collecting the harvest as we moved into the kingdom loop. The fitted JCP glass reinforced plastic box van body was tailored nicely to the TGL cab and measured only 2,325mm wide, which along with the truck’s 4,500mm wheelbase allowed easy, precise positioning on the narrower roads. The six speed Tipmatic had more work to do as the speed limited towns and undulating route geography requires more in the way of ratio changes. Apart from the occasional manual input at my own whim, the auto function proved more than up to the task, with the well set up system continually delivering good, clean shifts. With sixth (top) gear being an overdrive ratio of 0.79:1, I expected the truck to sit in the direct 1:1 fifth on the single carriageway sections. This was not the case at all, as the wide torque curve of the four cylinder EGR power plant offered good power levels even below the 1,000rpm mark. This reduction in gear changes helped the TGL set another top of the class fuel figure on part two of our route. The TGL’s steering wheel is certainly not the smallest around, but delivers an exceptionally precise turning force via its C300 hydraulically assisted ram and little correction is required on the straight and narrow. One benefit of the unit’s largish diameter is that every dial and switch remains in clear view in progressive driving. Having already mentioned the eager engine brake, the actions of a few errant drivers around Glenrothes had me activating the brake pedal with a bit more purpose than had previously been required. The MAN’s all round disc brakes are electronically controlled and are backed up with ABS. My hand written notes for the day mentioned that the ‘slow down’ pedal was slightly sharp in operation to begin with, but once acclimatised to its bite after a few miles I was able to execute safe, anticipatory stopping at all times. Considering we were running fully loaded, these stopping units seemed well within their designed capabilities and retardation abilities were never called into question. After the usual stop for photographs at South Queensferry’s lorry park, the keen performance of MAN’s D0834 engine was put under our microscope, with quick sprints along the M9, M8 and the Edinburgh City Bypass. Progress was brisk on the dual carriageway sections and with 20hp per ton on offer we easily overtook a few maximum weight artics on the two ascents skirting the capital. This was a good warm-up for the A702’s collection of climbs which brought out the best in the engine’s measured 150hp at 2,400rpm. Backed up with 570nm of torque delivered at 1,400rpm, the smooth operation of the 4.6 litre, in-line unit could easily fool the driver into thinking it has six cylinders instead of the actual four fitted and the ever eager, free revving performance made short work of this challenging home straight. The Euro 4, EGR power plant benefits from common rail electronic diesel control and is also available in a 180hp variant. Turning this efficient rotation into motion at the flywheel, a single plate 362mm diameter clutch feeds the previously noted Tipmatic auto change ‘box. ZF manual gearboxes for both engine outputs are listed as a customer choice and back at the business end, drive to the tarmac was courtesy of a HY-0512 single reduction axle. Michelin XZE/2 tyres sized at 215/75R 17.5 with steer and traction treads respectively, proved sure footed and highly dependable throughout the day. After a truly enjoyable run where for once the forecast traffic levels did indeed live up to my expectations with no delays, our truck on trial put the icing on the cake, returning an overall fuel consumption number of 21.41mpg, the best result achieved so far on our northerly sortie with this size of commercial. At the time of writing MAN were in the process of launching their face lifted Euro 5 TGL and TGMs at the IAA Hanover Show, but there is no need just now to think of this TGL 7.150 as the old model, as chances are there could well be a wait of some considerable time before the newcomers arrive here. They say you learn something new every day and I realised after my stint in the MAN that this particular type of commercial will surely be around for some time to come, even after the recent glimpses of its good looking future replacement. Here we have a Euro 4 compliant truck that requires no AdBlue with a well proven chassis and drive train that lends itself to a wide variety of applications. Add in this manufacturer’s ongoing commitment to customer service and back-up and the result is an attractive, complete package which offers amongst the best operating costs in its class. Add up the facts for yourselves, but the grand total I reached was a real education for me!