Well seen a few negative coments on here about modern scanias, are they really bad or is it the same old story, ie knock em if you aint got one, got my first one in 1982 an old Y reg (1982) p cabbed 112, on an all scania fleet, the last one i had was an R reg 144 topline streamline with opticruise gearbox, best thing since sliced bread then.
Even back then scanias got knocked, but i couldn’t knock em, been drivin daft 105 xf 510 horses (they gotta be kiddin, donkeys more like totaly gutless) and 500 horse magnums (gutless).
In between i had the pleasure of driving an F reg 143 450 (1988) went like a train over the A66 and up the A74 at 38 tonne with tipper trailer without touching the gear stick on the hills, god this brings em back. oh and had it just pre limiter, what joy that was deciding what speed “you” wanted to go!!
youtube.com/watch?v=_cQbl_tOtac wow what a sound
i remember my old mans first scania a 80 superthis was followed by a 111 then he got the beast 142 v8 y84yrc ,what a truck it could chase and pass any coach,even when loaded, i have had the pleasure of driving a few in my 20 yrs of trucking my first was 143 470.my last being a r620 with a few odds and sods in between including a left ■■■■■■ 113 360 for walkers of tuxford
I used to drive a 113 360 regularly. it would pull the pants off of the modern 470’s
I think the newer ones are deliberately set so that they don’t accelerate too fast to save fuel. That’s the impression I get anyway, probly wrong but wouldn’t put it past the been counters.
Silver_Surfer:
I think the newer ones are deliberately set so that they don’t accelerate too fast to save fuel. That’s the impression I get anyway, probly wrong but wouldn’t put it past the been counters.
Torque limiter in lower gears to make for smoother power delivery. Volvo do this. I think you need to be in 8th to get full power when with a light load. obv if you’re at max weight it will give more beans in the lower gears but still regulates the power to ensure smooth delivery.
Drove one only last week, cracking motor!
Steve-o:
Silver_Surfer:
I think the newer ones are deliberately set so that they don’t accelerate too fast to save fuel. That’s the impression I get anyway, probly wrong but wouldn’t put it past the been counters.
Torque limiter in lower gears to make for smoother power delivery. Volvo do this. I think you need to be in 8th to get full power when with a light load. obv if you’re at max weight it will give more beans in the lower gears but still regulates the power to ensure smooth delivery.
There must be ways around that though so you can have full power all the time. Modern Suzuki sports bikes are the same, the mapping is more refined in the lower gears but you can buy a small thing called a TRE that tricks the bike into thinking its in fifth gear all the time giving it full power in every gear.
Learn something new everyday, had mine 4 years, least now I know why I can’t spank the bejeesus out of it when solo/empty, you’d probly be just on the traction control most of the time anyway without the torque limiter. Getting it tuned tomorrow though so see what the spanners does to it, 600 hp here we come. 
had a k reg 143 ex riddells of aberdeen went all over europe never missed a beat .very little over took us pulled like a train.they are abit thirsty on the fuel especially wen u get the clowns revin the guts out of em
see scania have outpowered volvo with there new 730 bhp
ajdavis64:
Well seen a few negative coments on here about modern scanias, are they really bad or is it the same old story, ie knock em if you aint got one, got my first one in 1982 an old Y reg (1982) p cabbed 112, on an all scania fleet, the last one i had was an R reg 144 topline streamline with opticruise gearbox, best thing since sliced bread then.
Even back then scanias got knocked, but i couldn’t knock em, been drivin daft 105 xf 510 horses (they gotta be kiddin, donkeys more like totaly gutless) and 500 horse magnums (gutless).
In between i had the pleasure of driving an F reg 143 450 (1988) went like a train over the A66 and up the A74 at 38 tonne with tipper trailer without touching the gear stick on the hills, god this brings em back. oh and had it just pre limiter, what joy that was deciding what speed “you” wanted to go!!
youtube.com/watch?v=_cQbl_tOtac wow what a sound
yes, they are bad IMO, the 4 series scania is the only truck on the market that makes my left knee hurt after only 20 minutes of driving it 
they also give me a bad back
the last decent Scania to come out of the factory was the 143, and they have lived far too long on the good reputation that this truck gave them.
i would quite happily park a brand new topline scania in my front garden, just so that i could throw another brick at it every time i walk past it 
as for the new R series, even the die hard scania fans say that it is a pile of ■■■ compared to previous models, so, it is not necesarilly a case of “knock em if you ain’t got one” 
I started with a 140, a beast of a truck. When the norm was about 240 hp i had 375. But the suspension, solid multileaf springs. A killer. On the 141 it got some cab suspension and parabolic springs, much nicer motor. Got to it’s best though in the 142. 420 ungoverned horses, boy did that thing pull but never the best brakes. Never used to wear out, but didn’t stop you very well either. Then in 143 streamline mode, really in it’s prime. Tons of power, smooth and quiet. Been downhill ever since.
I nominated the 143 as the best lorry ever in a Commercial Motor competition, the panel was made up from former road testers, it lost out to the F88, another favourite, but in my opinion not as good as the 143, I said that no other lorry could handle the workload of a 450 V8, just look at any Irish fridge firm’s fleet in the 90s, they were all 450s, now I’m not paddy bashing, but they used to run a motor harder than anyone, fast, heavy & long days everyday, the only thing that could stand up to it was a V8 Scania, they were an awesome piece of kit.
I owned one of the last ones on a P plate & in the 5yrs or so that I had it I had two minor breakdowns, one an alternator belt, right outside the Scania dealer in Swindon, the other time was on the same estate as the dealer in Peterborough, this time it was an injector pipe, which had probably been leant on when the fitters were changing the filters the day before, it was a pleasure to drive & although the cab wasn’t as spacious as most of the competition, there was a place to put anything you needed.
The 4 series & the new 16 litre V8s are very good lorries, any V8 Scania is, but the best of the lot is the 450 143 & that’s a fact, if you’ve driven one you’ll agree, if you haven’t, well how can you have an opinion?