Hycus:
peirre:
Money over motor every time.
So long as it’s safe and legal, and has a wheel in each corner who cares what badge is on the front.The tartan curtain twitching, spotlight covered V8 drivers care!!
perish the thought that some of that brigade actually get paid good wages at the same time…
paulypaul:
Don’t forget to look out for the lane number “accidentally” left in the window, from Dover or Calais to prove they’re international truckers
Takes one to know one 
robroy:
A lot of drivers I notice slate Ivecos.
I think they are a good looking truck, and I would have one,.given the opportunity, over my Merc (well tbh anything over my Merc)
They seem to cater for the driver with little touches like the chair and table conversion in the bunk area for example, ideal for being weekended or whatever (not that I am anymore)I reckon that it’s a classic case of the o/p’s point…Badge snobbery.
I’m driving a 2009 Strallis this week, it the first time I’ve driven an Iveco since 2003 and that was a well used Eurotech, got to say it isn’t a bad truck, and there are a few extras in here that weren’t in the 2016 Scania I was driving a few weeks ago, which looked great from the outside, but was a bit basic on the inside.
Not driven a Stralis being a Class 2, but have driven a few Eurocargos and they’re just utterly, utterly horrible to drive. Nasty, plasticky interior, steering that requires use of upper body strength to do a 3 point turn, turn circle like an ocean liner, plasticky and vague gearbox… and that ■■■■■■■ indicator chirp. The 12 tonners are a bit better than the 18 tonners to drive but only due to lighter steering. If I saw 2 jobs, one driving an Iveco, and another driving a Scania, I’d rather drive the Scania.
Edit: Oh and the lack of air/adblue gauges in Iveco gets on my nerves as well. Always warns you about low adblue when it’s too late to do something about it. Don’t give a toss about a badge, if Iveco brought out a decent wagon tomorrow I’d be happy driving it, but I’m not happy doing multidrop round the arse end of Cornwall that’s uncomfortable and deafening to drive when I could be in a perfectly good MAN or something.
And with the ‘nanny mode’ in DAF euro 6, you can turn most of that off, and you can bring up gauges on the display at least.
Couldn’t care less about the badge on the front of a truck. Driven old driven new driven sheds and everything in between. One thing I can’t forgive is how crap Mercs are. So uncomfortable over every small bump in the road. Never had that issue in any other truck. It’s the only truck I would rather not drive but our Vulvas have started being replaced with these sheds, I find the larger cab 63 plates marginally better as they have more grunt but still uncomfortable but they are spot hires the 17 plates are on long term hire to us.
It’s not a badge thing as most would say Mercs are more upmarket than all the other makes cause it has a Mercedes badge on it. In my opinion they are just horrid and uncomfortable.
Sometimes it comes down to personal preference, I will drive most anything but I’d swap a 17 plate Merc for our clapped out Iveco Stralis 57 plate that is used purely as a shunt motor on site. I actually quite liked the stralis I took my lessons and test in, just never really liked the Iveco 7.5/18ton trucks but most of them were old and ropey.
But money is what I go to work for, the only reason I would change jobs is for more money/less hours, or if these trucks give me a bad back I may start looking.
knew a guy who jacked a job in when they gave him a new Hino 8 wheeler tipper,he was driving an old Volvo 8wheeler , wasn’t going to drive a piece o jap crap etc he never even sat in it.so bye bye . He tried to get back in years later when they went back to Volvo/dafs ,not a bldy hope. 
Give me back my old Renault Premium I drove a few years ago and I’d be happy. Gladly drive that over a merc, scania etc.
damoq:
Give me back my old Renault Premium I drove a few years ago and I’d be happy. Gladly drive that over a merc, scania etc.
I thought you loved Merc …With the Renault is that a pre Volvo drive train ■■?..
To be honest I don’t think there is that much between trucks ,they all have their issues …A lot is down to the dealer ,and wether they are competent and can retain staff who actually know the product
Sadly some drivers could spend a month away in an Iveco with no issues ,but would still slate it because they want a Scania ,and vice versa some people hate Scania …Some think cost makes it better …
I’d love to work in a workshop as clean as a F1 workshop ,aint going to happen ,though some drivers to seem to think we do ,when they have a huge service / inspection /repairs and are waiting !!! WTF
Personally i’m a snap on man ,costs more and the warranty is good ,then it depends how good a customer you are lol,but I can do the same repair with spanners from Halfords ,or a car boot sale …
norb:
damoq:
Give me back my old Renault Premium I drove a few years ago and I’d be happy. Gladly drive that over a merc, scania etc.I thought you loved Merc …With the Renault is that a pre Volvo drive train ■■?..
To be honest I don’t think there is that much between trucks ,they all have their issues …A lot is down to the dealer ,and wether they are competent and can retain staff who actually know the product
Sadly some drivers could spend a month away in an Iveco with no issues ,but would still slate it because they want a Scania ,and vice versa some people hate Scania …Some think cost makes it better …
I’d love to work in a workshop as clean as a F1 workshop ,aint going to happen ,though some drivers to seem to think we do ,when they have a huge service / inspection /repairs and are waiting !!! WTF
Personally i’m a snap on man ,costs more and the warranty is good ,then it depends how good a customer you are lol,but I can do the same repair with spanners from Halfords ,or a car boot sale …
I did like the merc but I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed with it. It looks the part and is comfortable. But it’s a truck that’s been hyped up to be something superb when it really is only average at best. The Renault was the one with the Volvo driveline and I would honestly drive one regularly without hesitation. Had one of the DAFs a couple of days last week cos the scania I’ve been driving had to go to dealers to get a fault fixed.[emoji22] Please let the scania be fixed for me going back tomorrow!!![emoji23]
simcor:
Couldn’t care less about the badge on the front of a truck. Driven old driven new driven sheds and everything in between. One thing I can’t forgive is how crap Mercs are. So uncomfortable over every small bump in the road. Never had that issue in any other truck. It’s the only truck I would rather not drive but our Vulvas have started being replaced with these sheds, I find the larger cab 63 plates marginally better as they have more grunt but still uncomfortable but they are spot hires the 17 plates are on long term hire to us.It’s not a badge thing as most would say Mercs are more upmarket than all the other makes cause it has a Mercedes badge on it. In my opinion they are just horrid and uncomfortable.
Sometimes it comes down to personal preference, I will drive most anything but I’d swap a 17 plate Merc for our clapped out Iveco Stralis 57 plate that is used purely as a shunt motor on site. I actually quite liked the stralis I took my lessons and test in, just never really liked the Iveco 7.5/18ton trucks but most of them were old and ropey.
But money is what I go to work for, the only reason I would change jobs is for more money/less hours, or if these trucks give me a bad back I may start looking.
S’funny though this idea that Mercs are uncomfortable.
We had one Merc tractor unit at my Kwik Save depot, it was a 1727 day cab, had a proper manual gearbox, on steel springs all round.
It was a cracking lorry, ultra smooth riding, pulled like a train, stable on the road with super direct steering, quite a long wheelbase considering it was a day cab.
Was miles more comfortable than the 3 and 4 series Scanias that made up the bulk of the depot fleet.
I did a number of trips with it and quite a bit of yard shunting on overtime, if we’d been allocated regular vehicles i would have requested it.
We also had one 2427 6 wheeler double drive rigid, that too was a good tool.
Juddian:
simcor:
Couldn’t care less about the badge on the front of a truck. Driven old driven new driven sheds and everything in between. One thing I can’t forgive is how crap Mercs are. So uncomfortable over every small bump in the road. Never had that issue in any other truck. It’s the only truck I would rather not drive but our Vulvas have started being replaced with these sheds, I find the larger cab 63 plates marginally better as they have more grunt but still uncomfortable but they are spot hires the 17 plates are on long term hire to us.It’s not a badge thing as most would say Mercs are more upmarket than all the other makes cause it has a Mercedes badge on it. In my opinion they are just horrid and uncomfortable.
Sometimes it comes down to personal preference, I will drive most anything but I’d swap a 17 plate Merc for our clapped out Iveco Stralis 57 plate that is used purely as a shunt motor on site. I actually quite liked the stralis I took my lessons and test in, just never really liked the Iveco 7.5/18ton trucks but most of them were old and ropey.
But money is what I go to work for, the only reason I would change jobs is for more money/less hours, or if these trucks give me a bad back I may start looking.
S’funny though this idea that Mercs are uncomfortable.
We had one Merc tractor unit at my Kwik Save depot, it was a 1727 day cab, had a proper manual gearbox, on steel springs all round.
It was a cracking lorry, ultra smooth riding, pulled like a train, stable on the road with super direct steering, quite a long wheelbase considering it was a day cab.
Was miles more comfortable than the 3 and 4 series Scanias that made up the bulk of the depot fleet.
I did a number of trips with it and quite a bit of yard shunting on overtime, if we’d been allocated regular vehicles i would have requested it.
We also had one 2427 6 wheeler double drive rigid, that too was a good tool.
It is funny I agree, I just struggle with bouncing all over the place with small bumps in the road. Personal preference I suppose as to what one person finds comfortable or not.
I wouldn’t buy a car to drive that didn’t feel comfortable and don’t think a truck should really be any different.
damoq:
norb:
damoq:
Give me back my old Renault Premium I drove a few years ago and I’d be happy. Gladly drive that over a merc, scania etc.I thought you loved Merc …With the Renault is that a pre Volvo drive train ■■?..
To be honest I don’t think there is that much between trucks ,they all have their issues …A lot is down to the dealer ,and wether they are competent and can retain staff who actually know the product
Sadly some drivers could spend a month away in an Iveco with no issues ,but would still slate it because they want a Scania ,and vice versa some people hate Scania …Some think cost makes it better …
I’d love to work in a workshop as clean as a F1 workshop ,aint going to happen ,though some drivers to seem to think we do ,when they have a huge service / inspection /repairs and are waiting !!! WTF
Personally i’m a snap on man ,costs more and the warranty is good ,then it depends how good a customer you are lol,but I can do the same repair with spanners from Halfords ,or a car boot sale …
I did like the merc but I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed with it. It looks the part and is comfortable. But it’s a truck that’s been hyped up to be something superb when it really is only average at best. The Renault was the one with the Volvo driveline and I would honestly drive one regularly without hesitation. Had one of the DAFs a couple of days last week cos the scania I’ve been driving had to go to dealers to get a fault fixed.[emoji22] Please let the scania be fixed for me going back tomorrow!!![emoji23]
Personally I think Renault are under-rated in the higher weights …But their downfall is the size of the dealer network .I remember getting a DAFaid to a Renault ,because the customer couldn’t get the Renault breakdown network to attend .I knew the lad who was on call ,he switched his phone off as it was a Saturday…So since the customer had DAF as well he used us lol
WOAAA ■■? a Scania with a fault !!! lol…I thought you said your lot had got rid of the DAFs ■■?
norb:
damoq:
Give me back my old Renault Premium I drove a few years ago and I’d be happy. Gladly drive that over a merc, scania etc.I thought you loved Merc …With the Renault is that a pre Volvo drive train ■■?..
To be honest I don’t think there is that much between trucks ,they all have their issues …A lot is down to the dealer ,and wether they are competent and can retain staff who actually know the product
Sadly some drivers could spend a month away in an Iveco with no issues ,but would still slate it because they want a Scania ,and vice versa some people hate Scania …Some think cost makes it better …
I’d love to work in a workshop as clean as a F1 workshop ,aint going to happen ,though some drivers to seem to think we do ,when they have a huge service / inspection /repairs and are waiting !!! WTF
Personally i’m a snap on man ,costs more and the warranty is good ,then it depends how good a customer you are lol,but I can do the same repair with spanners from Halfords ,or a car boot sale …
I’ve got a lot of money in Snap On (wouldn’t want to tot it up) but I only buy the things they do well like 80 teeth ratchet handle, sockets and wrenches that type of thing. I’m selective though I wouldn’t be without Snap On Flankdrive Plus in wrenches up to 24mm but over that I don’t see it as worth the money. 36mm wrench in Snap On will be some mental amount but a total waste of money really as you don’t really need that quality as you’re never going to round off a 36mm nut even with the cheapest of the cheap wrenches. I’d say their screwdrivers are another must have and nothing comes close to their Allen and Torx sockets, I’ve found.
If you go on a forum called Garage Journal you can buy a lot of Snap On gear cheaper from the companies that make it for them’ own brand.
norb:
Personally I think Renault are under-rated in the higher weights■■?
I thought the last versions of the Premium were a great truck, only really lacked cab and storage space, but I was happy tramping in one.
One of the places I’m working at they hired in a load of T ranges to cover the extra work, and despite initial scepticism from the drivers, most quite liked them once they’d spent a bit of time away in them. The only real complaint was lack of storage space, as they were fleet spec, and didn’t have rear lockers or a double bunk to put your gear in.
Wouldn’t go anywhere for a job unless they had kitted out Scanias, at a push Volvos if I wanted to do that kind of work.
A.
norb:
WOAAA ■■? a Scania with a fault !!! lol…I thought you said your lot had got rid of the DAFs ■■?
We did get rid of all our DAFs, then they sent another 3 up to replace them. [emoji23][emoji1]. I think it’s cos they are 13 plates and probably out of warranty so they’ve been given to us as we have a workshop at our yard. Oh and as they are up here, they are now only a stone throw away from the best DAF technician in the country should they require dealer assistance [emoji23][emoji23]
I’m a badge snob. Anything but Scania. Maybe because the only ones I’ve ever driven have been the crap ones. The 3 pedal versions made driving them an exercise in frustration!
damoq:
norb:
WOAAA ■■? a Scania with a fault !!! lol…I thought you said your lot had got rid of the DAFs ■■?We did get rid of all our DAFs, then they sent another 3 up to replace them. [emoji23][emoji1]. I think it’s cos they are 13 plates and probably out of warranty so they’ve been given to us as we have a workshop at our yard. Oh and as they are up here, they are now only a stone throw away from the best DAF technician in the country should they require dealer assistance [emoji23][emoji23]
Ahhh depends what is wrong with them lol
norb:
Personally i’m a snap on man ,costs more and the warranty is good …
My lad who is a mechanic found a tool box in my Dad’s shed which belonged to my Granda who was a mechanic in the 40s/50s/60s,.so God knows how old some of this kit was.
Among the spanners was a Snap on socket wrench spanner which was broken. He took it to the Snap On rep and got it replaced by a brand new one.
robroy:
norb:
Personally i’m a snap on man ,costs more and the warranty is good …My lad who is a mechanic found a tool box in my Dad’s shed which belonged to my Granda who was a mechanic in the 40s/50s/60s,.so God knows how old some of this kit was.
Among the spanners was a Snap on socket wrench spanner which was broken. He took it to the Snap On rep and got it replaced by a brand new one.
Imperial or metric?