given the choice, i would take my old 03 plate ERF ECT (rebadged TGA) over a TGX any day of the week.
i do like TGAs/TGXs but they have developed problems. ridiulously huge steering wheel with buttons too close to the edge which can engage the stereo louder button or worse, the cruise control when you want neither. the cup holder is useless. it still requires written notice before pulling out of any junction. the bunk is less comfortable than its predecessor. the backlight has been known to melt suzies and isnt very well positioned. waaaaaaaaaaay too many buttons around the stereo and temperature controls to be able to see what you want to press while you are driving.
why is the backlight button buried in a row of buttons instead of in front of the drivers knee where it can easily be turned off without climbing into the cab
however, they are comfortable to drive with good visibility but still second choice to an actros
Had TGA440 for 3 years, then TGX440 for coming up to 3 years on bulk haulage so hard work, running maximum weight most of the time. TGA was the better performer, but had a lower diff ratio so whilst it pulled better on hills it used about 5% more fuel.
TGX cab is much better, a good place to work and sleep in. Build quality is good enough for me, treat it like you own it!
Taken the coolbox out, use my own fridge so plenty of standing room & can get out of bed more easily.
AS-tronic gearbox is okay, but you must learn how to use it properly and must think ahead just the same as you would with a manual. Not quite as good to use as I-shift, but will probably last a lot longer!
Have had reliability issues with TGA & TGX, mostly to do with emissions gubbins. EGR units replaced on both, H/P Intercooler on TGX. As an early Euro 5 TGX, it has the completely exposed radiator. No grille or mesh so gets clogged with dust and road dirt and anything else thrown at it. As a consequence, once past 12 months old the engine runs hot with very little encouragement, the fan runs for most of the summer with the gauge regularly up to the 3/4 mark.
In general, I like my MAN’s (MEN?). Could do better on reliability, could do with a better horn!
Pimpdaddy:
I liked the manuals with comfort shift because I’m 100% in control of the transmission. Does anybody still operate them? Last ones we had were 56reg ERFs…
Yes mate, our 08 reg 8w has it. Meant to be great.
Forgot to say that Cordwallis brought our new 6w into our quarry to weigh it and it tares at 11160, the heaviest 6w we’ve ever run.
For comparissons’ sake, my old Foden Alpha tared at 10300 and our Daf CF autos with the same body and auto tailgate as the new MAN tare at 10600.
Still, I hope the rumour as to who’s getting it is true (unlikely)
Do you think that the average operator or driver is set in their ways when it comes to truck manufactures?
How much of your preference lies with “better the devil you know” philosophy over “this is the best manufacturer for this job regardless of what i’m used to running / driving”?
I’m trying to get an idea of how difficult it is to change the perception of a manufacturer to an operator.
Also, I would really like to know if “the industry” really refers to MAN as M.A.N or just “Man”?
Our new MAN day cab unit+ Wilcox tipper trailer went on the road this week. Good reviews so far but as has been pointed out on the old time forum about Smiths “what are the holes in tge bumper for?”
Mans do need to shed a few kgs off their tare weight though.
Only driven one MAN with an XXL cab…hated it with the fire of a thousand suns!
I won’t list all the reasons why as some others posters on here have already mentioned them.There is one i will though.Out of a small fleet of 6 that were delivered brand new back in 2010,they were all taken back by the dealer for a serious brake defect that affected all of them,unfortunately one of them had it’s brakes catch fire before this defect was noticed!!!
Had my 1st day out in the new TGX 440 unit which is replacing the 09 reg mec actros 2544 super space cab. Gotta say on 1st impressions I don’t like it as much as the merc, the mirrors are ridiculous, severely restrict vision on round abouts etc. the fridge/coolbox is a waste of time as its not connected up to run as a fridge. Keep knocking off the cruise control but maybe I just need to get used to holding the steering wheel a different way for the MAN, the radio is crap, turn up any sort of volume and it distorts.
I shouldn’t be too harsh though, I’m grateful to be given the opportunity to drive it, not had my licence 2 years yet and I’ve just spent 18 months in 09 reg merc actros and now I’ve got a brand new TGX 440
Pimpdaddy:
I like scania because of the build quality, the driving comfort, king of the road status, good sound system, reliability & a good dealer network…
King of the road status ■■? No way. It might have been in the 3-series era
selby newcomer:
Had my 1st day out in the new TGX 440 unit which is replacing the 09 reg mec actros 2544 super space cab. Gotta say on 1st impressions I don’t like it as much as the merc, the mirrors are ridiculous, severely restrict vision on round abouts etc. the fridge/coolbox is a waste of time as its not connected up to run as a fridge. Keep knocking off the cruise control but maybe I just need to get used to holding the steering wheel a different way for the MAN, the radio is crap, turn up any sort of volume and it distorts.
I shouldn’t be too harsh though, I’m grateful to be given the opportunity to drive it, not had my licence 2 years yet and I’ve just spent 18 months in 09 reg merc actros and now I’ve got a brand new TGX 440
The XXL has a built in subwoofer behind the drivers seat, improves the sound and reduces back ache
Can’t blame MAN for the fridge not being connected
i have a 7.5 ton tgl on a 58 plate, i agree with whats been posted as in mirrors etc. build quality is poor, bunk is comfy, radio is crap, the worst thing is the 6 speed auto. when approaching roundabouts you go to stop and if yo havent quite stopped and try to pull away again it just takes ages to select gear and only lets you pull away in first gear which is like max speed in first is about 7 miles per hour.dangerous. i normally change gear manually but then sometimes or should i say most of the time it wont bloody change up from first in manual mode.every other day i pull away and it will not change up in mauual or auto which means i have to stop and switch off and start again.i hate the autobox big time!! truck looks smart though and the engine pulls like a stream train always returns 20 -22 mpg as our company target is 16.5mpg so my boss is happy!
selby newcomer:
Had my 1st day out in the new TGX 440 unit which is replacing the 09 reg mec actros 2544 super space cab. Gotta say on 1st impressions I don’t like it as much as the merc, the mirrors are ridiculous, severely restrict vision on round abouts etc. the fridge/coolbox is a waste of time as its not connected up to run as a fridge. Keep knocking off the cruise control but maybe I just need to get used to holding the steering wheel a different way for the MAN, the radio is crap, turn up any sort of volume and it distorts.
I shouldn’t be too harsh though, I’m grateful to be given the opportunity to drive it, not had my licence 2 years yet and I’ve just spent 18 months in 09 reg merc actros and now I’ve got a brand new TGX 440
The XXL has a built in subwoofer behind the drivers seat, improves the sound and reduces back ache
Can’t blame MAN for the fridge not being connected
Point taken about the fridge, but putting it inbetween the 2 seats wasn’t a great idea, you lose all the space behind the fridge. I don’t have that much of a problem with it as I’m only a day driver, but a couple of the lads who do nights out have taken the fridge out and put their own one in and then also have more floor space as their fridge fits right under the bed.
As for the radio, unfortunately we don’t have the XXL so have to put up with the crap radio.
But overall, I am growing to like the MAN, feels a lot better over bumps than the actros, pulls better on hills as well.
MANs are OK, steering wheel too big and steering imprecise. Scanias look nice but are an ergonomic nightmare and feel like a stoned teenager designed them…
The gearbox (auto) on the two or three MANs I have driven has been pretty poor. The Volvo/Renault autobox is a much cleverer piece of kit. Scania three pedal auto is back with the stoned teenager…
After running a million mile TGA 460 XXL for the last four years,we upgraded to a 2008 TGX 480 XXL two weeks ago. The drivers love it(especially the comfort shift…still the ultimate driver’s choice for control & ease of use) and all around an improvement on what was already a good truck. The TGX was remapped on the dynamometer in Holland to 550bhp and it runs about the same as a Scania R560 powerwise. The fuel economy is excellent and the whole truck is very well put together. The ZF intarder is a gift in hilly terrain and is well integrated with the onboard electronic controls. This truck was well minded by a meticulous owner driver and has over 600,000km on the clock,however it drives like a truck with 150,000kms on the clock. Any MAN/common rail issues have been dealt with and the truck is a dream to drive…quiet,efficient,pulls like a train and very very comfortable and relaxing to spend a day behind the wheel. We deal with a main dealer an hour and a half away from us who have very good workshop technicians who know what they are at and they are very easy to pay…and their parts department is fantastic.
All in all,we find the MAN a very good truck and up there with any Scania,Volvo or Mercedes we have had. An awful lot of your satisfaction with a brand has to do with the backup/competence of your local dealer…some are top class and easy to deal with…others would be better off selling lollipops…
When I hear drivers whining about heater controls etc,I would love to sit them into the Guy Big J4 I started out with for a week and then ask them what they think of modern trucks…very few would last more than a day behind the wheel of the older trucks…
I can only comment from the point of view as a driver so I have no idea what they’re like to run as an operator.
I’ve driven lots of TGXs as well as the older TGA (inc the ERF badged variant). I never liked them all that much. In fact there are things about them that’d make prefer to drive almost anything else. The steering is very slow and the lock is hopeless. Combine this with the huge steering wheel and you end up with an artic that feels like a rigid to manoeuvre. The older manual gearboxes felt clunky to change but the comfort shift was a good idea, although it sometimes had trouble releasing the clutch at the right time so wasn’t always very smooth. The newer auto boxes are terrible, slow to react when setting off from standstill, selecting too higher gear if rolling slowly so you have to wait for it to change up again before you get moving properly making the negotiation of roundabouts and junctions something of a lottery, do not always make a very smooth change, especially on downshifts, will often change down hysterically when you’re trying to let the truck roll down hill (accelerating without using un necessary fuel) so can be difficult to drive smoothly. The newest boxes seem to have been further hampered by the disabling of most of the manual gearchanging options (see my other thread) with the only remaining options being next to useless.
The cab suspension on the older units (11 plates and older) was awful with a floppy loose feeling to it. It felt like it was bottoming out all the time even when the trucks were new. This was on the XL cabs. The latest one I’ve driven is a XXL and this has better damping on the cab but there’s still a lot of rolling about so you don’t get much of a feel for what’s going on underneath you. Not sure about the newer XL version. They might’ve redesigned the cab mounting for the newer models so that could be better too.
The cab interior, especially the XXL, is very roomy but has less storage space than you’d expect for a cab of its size. The abomination known as the ‘storage/fridge box’ in the middle takes up most of the available floor space and is always in the way, even when fully retracted under the bunk as far as it’ll go and so makes the cab feel a lot smaller than it actually is. They seem to waste a lot of space under the bunk either side of the storage box. If they made the box wider it could be a better fit under the bunk and protrude less into the floorspace. This combines with the silly guard rail arrangement on the edge of the bunk to make it impossible to sit on the side of the bunk with any degree of comfort.
The interior lights are barely ok, the ones in the roof are more use than the ones mounted over the windscreen which in an XL cab are right in front of your face and so blind you when you’re sitting in the drivers seat. If you’re left handed and trying to write at night, no matter which lights you use there are always shadows cast on the page. The mirrors give a pretty good rearward view but are terrible when you come to a roundabout or T junction. Very hard to see round. The windscreen on the XXL cab is ridiculously tall. What’s the point of that? All that space could be used to accommodate some more storage lockers. I don’t need to look at the sky when I’m driving. The hazzard light switch is next to the diff lock switch and out of sight behind the steering wheel making it difficult to switch on without hitting the diff lock by mistake unless you take your eyes off where you’re going. This all smacks of basic poor design and lack of thought. I loved my old Topliner 124. I’m not really a Scania fanboy and think the R cab is a major step backwards in terms of ergonomic design but the 4 series had so much that was right about it for me with so much thought being put into its design that made it easy to work with and live in. The storage box that fitted well under the bunk, the interior lights that even left handers could write by without a shadow being cast, the quick, positive steering with a wheel that while not small seemed to fit in proportion to the rest of the cab etc… I could go on. There was little, if anything I didn’t like about those motors and I’d be just as happy with the 53 plate Topliner I used to have as with the brand new TGX XXL I have now, probably more so as it had a gearbox that worked properly and although it was a 10 year old high mileage truck it was beautiful to drive. I never used to notice the Scania when driving it if you know what I mean. It just did what I wanted it to smoothly and unobtrusively. I notice the MAN alright but for the wrong reasons
The bunks are comfy and a good size. The motors seem to pull reasonably well but get let down by the auto box changing when it doesn’t need to and losing speed un necessarily. Fuel consumption seems reasonable from what I can see. The on board computer thing always shows me getting 8.5/9 mpg with anything but top weight loads.
I guess a lot of this is all down to personal taste. The Topliner fitted me perfectly while others hated them. Some love their MANs while I moan about mine. From a drivers perspective the main points of concern are the auto box, steering and blind spots from the huge mirrors. They are otherwise ok, just, but could be a lot better with a little more thought put into the design.
)