MAN trucks in general ( reliability etc etc ) receives a great deal of " bad press " on this site , in fact its so bad that you would expect every lay-by and motorway hard shoulders to be littered with faulty MANs . Yet they sell in large numbers and I know of 3 major operators who have nothing but praise for the trucks , I would be very interested to have all comments on the subject .
Every one I’ve ever driven has had bulletproof reliability. Twice as screwed together as my current DAF and ten times better than the Ivecos we’ve got on order.
if you have a driver that will look after the truck, rather than abuse it, then they are a good truck, overall, i have had better reliability from the MAN’s in the fleet than the DAF’s
shame that when things do go wrong, it is usually quite expensive to fix, compared to the DAF
Most drivers pull out that daft cool box under the bunk that gets in the way.
It is not a fridge.
The curtain rings are too small and slide off the rail.Bluetac sorts that out.
Windscreen wash bottle does not hold much water.
Side windows get covered up by black sticky back plastic.
Not sure why they put those windows in ?Ash tray flip cover is flimsy and breaks easily.
Auto boxes spin out on low gradients with ice and snow.
toby1234abc:
Most drivers pull out that daft cool box under the bunk that gets in the way.
It is not a fridge.
The curtain rings are too small and slide off the rail.Bluetac sorts that out.
Windscreen wash bottle does not hold much water.
Side windows get covered up by black sticky back plastic.
Not sure why they put those windows in ?Ash tray flip cover is flimsy and breaks easily.
Auto boxes spin out on low gradients with ice and snow.
some are fridges, some are not, depends on what was specced when ordering, generally, in the XLX cab, it is a cool box, in the XXL cab, it is a fridge
i think you will find most trucks will spin out on ice and snow 
Agree with above.
As a driver of one of several on the fleet.
If looked after by competent drivers then they’re OK, but they do not take kindly to abuse by monkeys.
The cab interiors need screwing back together quite regularly, mine started to self dismantle within a month, i do that sort of stuff meself.
Fuel filters need changing more regularly than on the schedule, they dislike heavy rain, gearbox loses itself and engine goes into semi limp mode, but stopping and restarting usually clears it.
The auto box is crap, but then it is in both the DAF and Iveco too, a much more competent lorry with a real gearbox but the same can be said for almost every other vehicle too.
Not the most economical but not the worse either, economy can be improved by driving the auto in manual when loaded.
Overall i like mine, its comfortable, quiet, the standard exhaust brake is effective if you use the correct gear and revs for slowing, lights are good.
One thing i would suggest is to fit a grab handle over the top of the windscreen, its almost impossible to hang on the front to clean the screen or down mirror due to the lack of grab points, small but bad oversight this, down mirror behind unswept part of screen.
Real downside i find is skittish in the wet, be glad when the OE Goodyears have finally gone from the drive axle, recut now and sometimes getting wheelspin in as high as 11th gear empty on current wet roads, they have been poor from new, be interesting to see how the next set which will be Bridges differ.
As with some other makes TC doesn’t always stabilise the lorry under wheelspin, an inexperienced driver could get these well out of line IMO.
One other thing, the worlds smallest lowest output compressor.
Overall i’d be quite happy to have another one, and would prefer to some other makes, wouldn’t buy a bugger out of warranty unless i knew it personally and who’d driven it.
Large blindspot where the door pillars are.
toby1234abc:
Large blindspot where the door pillars are.
Good point Toby.
and bloody great wardrobe door mirror covers causing massive blind areas at junctions, every bit as bad as Volvo apart from latest models.
The mirrors themselves are good with effective heaters which stay on till you turn them off or turn the ignition off, even the perfect size and shape N/S down mirror is electrically adjustable which is handy.
MAN had issues a fair few years ago with engines failing for some reason or another. I think they’ve sorted this problem(s) now so I wouldn’t hesitate having a new one but I’d be checking like billy O if I was buying a 2nd hander that it had no outstanding recalls.
There was a problem with the oil pump with no warning giving up causing engine failiure but believe there was a recall on it.
As others have said in cab build quality is a bit flimsy and they dont react well to a driver who doest give it a bit of tlc.
They seem to like to throw electrical warnings and faults up at random but thats most makes now.
They tend to go through turbos as well just like the prem.
kr79:
There was a problem with the oil pump with no warning giving up causing engine failiure but believe there was a recall on it.
no recall on it unless the vehicle was on R&M, If you own the vehicle without R&M they will make a goodwill contribution if you ask for it
Silver_Surfer:
They tend to go through turbos as well just like the prem.
Is that drivers…
A, listening and believing the latest hogwash about not allowing the engine to idle.
linked with
B, the now established practice not allowing the thing to warm up and cool down a bit before and after working hard.
or is it the current practice of vastly extended oil change intervals having an effect, as it is with cars like BMW’s which lunch their turbos with boring regularity?
Should note here, a lot of us do not take any notice of fad-of-the-day on the way we treat engines, so we still warm them and cool them as we did years ago, wonder how many turbos driven by the old school are destroyed?
I’d say the above is right to a certain degree. I don’t think it’s as imperative as it used to be, do it a bit but I can’t be bothered idling it for ages.
I think the last glut of work I did was light weight. The MAN’s would still need new turbos at 300k odd clicks. The scanny v8 I had never needed one of its own accord, never did a days work in his life though even though he was 24/6.
I’m max weight all the time now which does have an impact. I may start replacing them pre fail at 300k clicks.
What is the average life of other makes of turbo in people’s exp?
550k on my actros original turbo.
ellies dad:
550k on my actros original turbo.
I hear some very good reports on Mercedes trucks in general , even the Axor .
shugg:
ellies dad:
550k on my actros original turbo.I hear some very good reports on Mercedes trucks in general , even the Axor .
I’m not saying our place buys cheap trucks. But the Axor we have on hire feels like a quality product.
We have 2, an 08 480 comfort shift and a 13 440 auto.
The 08 has 700000 on it at 46 ton 80% of the time ( Ireland ) and in its life has had 2 gearboxes, the pipes for the egr replaced and a water pump and that’s it. It’s been a very good truck, so much so that any future trucks will probably be man as opposed to Volvo which was the main stay for a long time.
They seem to be value for money although I do wonder from now on what it will be like as the mileage climbs