BROOME OR BUST

from Transport & Trucking Australia issue 138

HIGHWAY 1

Road Test

THE CHANCE TO TEST VOLVO’S NEWEST FLAGSHIP FH16 ON A RUN THROUGH WA’S PILBARA TO BROOME WAS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO BREAK OUT OF THE NORMAL TEST ROUTES ON THE EASTERN SEABOARD AND TO SEE HOW THE UPDATED GLOBETROTTER COPES IN THE OUTBACK.

The road stretched on toward the horizon, flat, desolate and barren. Away in the distance, the smudge of ochre coloured low hills framed the landscape like a natural fence. It was one of those scenes that really underlines what a vast place Australia really, is and emphasised the huge distances we have to traverse to deliver goods and necessities to people across the Wide Brown Land.

We were riding in Volvo’s latest FH16, the big banger 700 horsepower XXL cab prime mover. Behind us was a B-Double rig, with the whole shebang grossing just on 60 tonnes, an easy task for the big Swede. This truck in fact had, the previous day, been pulling a 100 tonne road train in some loops out of Karratha, with no less than the President of Volvo Australia, Martin Merrick steering the machine, in what was the Scotsman’s first time behind the wheel of a Road Train.

Our mission was to drive from Karratha to Broome in what was a relay for the Australian truck trade press. Other colleagues had handled legs up from Perth to the Iron Ore capital of the Pilbara. We had the leg to Broome, and still others would pilot on from Broome to Kunanurra. It was great to be able to get out and test a truck in the real outback, and not just the usual run up and down the Pacific or Hume. However above all else it was great to be able to be properly testing a truck given all the Covid issues we have faced in the past 18 months, and little did we know, we would face even worse just a few weeks later with more lockdowns and restrictions.

Despite a crack of dawn start in Karratha, we would be held up for a short time at the yards of Heather Jones’ Pilbara Heavy Haulage Girls, as Heather, always the Volvo ambassador, asked if she could give a local potential customer a spin in the new truck, before it disappeared north and then back across the continent to home base in Brissie.

The hold up was a small price to pay, and after all the purpose of this whole exercise was for Volvo to get the word out and sell more trucks. As it was, we hit the road north around 7am, quickly getting into an easy canter up the bitumen, bound for Broome 850 km up the track. It may have only been about the same distance

as Sydney to Melbourne on the Hume but it was a whole lot more interesting.

As the big 16 litre ambled along it quickly found its stride, the 12 speed AMT Volvo iShift slotting its way up into top.

The road ahead was relatively quiet with the occasional truck some mine spec LandCruisers every now and then, and of course the ubiquitous grey nomad caravanners, who seemed to be everywhere.

With the Volvo adaptive cruise set to 100km/h, the temperature outside nudging 27 degrees, and an extremely comfortable Volvo suspension seat keeping us firmly ensconced in the XXL cab, we were able to settle in and watch the road ahead and admire the stunning Pilbara scenery.

The first thing you notice is just how well the big Volvo steers and tracks. While the North West Coastal (Highway to give Highway One its local name), is smooth and well-made heading north to Port Headland, there are occasional bumpy edges and broken sections which test any truck, but the Volvo tracks very nicely indeed, with never a hint of drama, or the need to shuffle or correct.

One of the aspects of the latest Volvo that is really nifty is VDS, or Volvo Dynamic Steering, a very clever steering program that allows the driver to change the steering characteristics in terms of feel and responsiveness at the touch of the screen while on the move.

Volvo’s PR and special projects man, Matt Wood was our travelling partner for the trip and had formulated his own custom setting, which he had designed for his own tastes, however it also suited us perfectly and that was what felt the most comfortable. It can be changed to deliver more responsiveness, making it sharper or it can be softened to let it roll over rougher roads with less harshness.

There is a degree of what autonomy might feel like in the future as well, with the VDS helping keep the truck in its lane, guiding it gently back inside the white lines if you stray. This is a switchable feature so it can be turned off if the lines on the road and the need to cross them starts to make it annoying.

If there is a flatter bit of highway anywhere in Australia I am not sure where that might be. The North West is as a friend of ours sometimes says, as flat

as a ‘poo carters hat’, so the big 700 hp 16 litre Volvo and its 3250Nm of torque was hardly being taxed, with the 60 tonnes being hauled along with very little fuss or bother.

Inside the cab, was not only comfortable and easy, but also very well insulated and quiet, it was like watching the world rush past from a comfortable viewing pod.

As we went, chat with Matt was comfortable and easy, without the need to raise your voice to be heard or understood. Like all of the current crop of latest gen prime movers the FH16 is extremely well insulated and isolated from noise and climate. About the only truck on the market that is quieter at the moment is the Benz Actros with Mirrorcam, which cuts out a huge amount of wind noise by eschewing the traditional door mirrors. But the Volvo is a very quiet truck all the same.

At times the Volvo feels like it is riding just like a big luxury car with excellent damping matched well to spring rates on the front and through its airbag suspension on the rear axles.

The sense of calm serenity inside the FH16 is enhanced by the room inside the XXL cab, which we sampled with the previous model, in fact testing out the bunk for an overnight stay. It is a big roomy and comfortable cabin and with the built in pull out fridge under the bunk a driver has an extremely comfortable and friendly workplace in which to operate efficiently and safely.

Volvo was one of the first to do a true, high roof cab, when it pioneered the Globetrotter back in the 1980s, and the FH16 has carried through the spirit of the Globetrotter with enormous amounts of space and headroom. You can stand up easily and even the tallest driver would not have to stoop or bump their heads in this spacious and roomy XXL cab.

Getting comfortable behind the wheel is pretty easy as well, with the suspension seat offering a myriad of adjustments and the steering wheel able to be tilted or raised and lowered with ease. It is a simple task to obtain the perfect positioning, which in our case meant 850 km of fatigue and stress free driving.

The driver’s cockpit is also very well laid out. It is always a challenge to climb aboard a new track and to acclimatise to the layout and positioning of all the switches, controls and gauges but the overall ergonomics of the cockpit in the Volvo is excellent.

For a start the gear selection for the 12speed iShift is on a short, stubby lever just to the left and close to the driver’s seat, a place where your hand falls easily to, allowing you to select drive for auto shifting or to select manual mode and to tap up and down through the box.

The dash really encompasses the driver and puts you at the centre of the action, as it should be. At the centre is the main instrument cluster, which is quite clever and well designed with a round speedo gauge and a lineal tacho readout in the bottom quadrant. Either side are easy to read fuel and ad blue gauges, while on the far left is a changeable read out that shows various info including fuel economy, fuel burn rate either moving or stationery, and distance to empty. Opposite that on the main cluster is a readout that can display what audio you are listening to or who is calling you on Bluetooth etc.

Overall the digital instrument display gives driver’s freedom to optimise the displays for every moment they’re using the truck, and whether you are an analogue person or a digital one you’ll still feel pretty comfortable with the way it all works at home.

All of the display info can be accessed and seen by scrolling through the controls on the steering wheel pads. The pad on the left hand wheel spoke controls the adaptive cruise and related functions. Just underneath that is a volume up and down and mute function for the audio, while the right hand pad allows the driver to scroll through the information screens. All very simple, intuitive and well designed.

To the left the dash comes back at an angle with a large AV touch screen at the top, displaying trip computer functions, navigation if needed, audio options which include Bluetooth and phone functions. It is big clear, easy to read and easy to navigate.

The Volvo system has four phases available with a Home view, displaying standard information, covering most functions available and the ability to touch the function to select. There is also what Volvo calls a Focus view which displays adapted information for the most essential driving functions with fuel economy, VDS and a range of other functions

The Navigation view is pretty selfexplanatory showing guidance and directions as well as combining info about speed ,with route and arrival time.

Finally there is the Load view which displays vital info like how much load is on each axle, if any of the axles are

“THE SENSE OF CALM SERENITY INSIDE THE FH16 IS ENHANCED BY THE ROOM INSIDE THE XXL CAB”

lifted or if the differentials are engaged.

Below that is a module for controlling the audio with a large volume nob to easily turn the noise up or down and switches for changing between modes. Air con and heating controls are in a separate module underneath that. Further left are rocker switches such things as diff locks, lane keep assist and other driver aids. The diff lock/control module can be controlled via a dial which in a way lets you dial up how much traction you need, not that the black top in the WA North West provided any opportunities or need for this.

Behind the wheel the 700 hp was really just idling along, sitting in the sweet spot, and absolutely humming in the green band of the rev range. As a result fuel efficiency was reflecting pretty good figures of just under 50 km/100 or just a shade over 2km per litre.

The adaptive cruise control has a learning function built in that also communicates with Volvo’s Cloud based data base, enabling routes and the topography to be recorded, and then drawn on for individual trucks’ cruise control systems, anticipating hills and descents to deliver better efficiency.

Volvo has named this I-SEE and it is part of something it calls CRUIS-E. The system is pretty impressive and it understands from topographical data when the truck is approaching a hill and will up the speed slightly to hit the hill at optimum pace, so that as the truck approaches the apex of the hill, it will decrease the throttle to take advantage of momentum on downhill gradient on the other side of the crest. It’s not a new idea and it is used by a number of makers these days but the Volvo system works particularly well.

One of the things that Volvo engineers have adjusted in the system is the ability to tell the software what length and configuration the truck is, because in its native Europe the system defaults to a single trailer set up.

CRUIS-E works for maximum efficiency around the set cruise speed, backing off the throttle and using the auxiliary brake to work around the speed set by the driver and it offer the driver the ability to set the margins.

The system meshes well together with the I-SEE system using that data stored in Volvo’s cloud server, which is then accessed by other Volvo trucks around the planet. If no other Volvo has driven that piece of road before the system will use the data so that other trucks benefit next time with the data informing the truck’s management system to alter fuel maps and gear change points for the best possible efficiency through CRUIS-E.

Over a sandwich at lunch in Port Headland we chatted about the easy effort of steering the new FH so far that morning. Only our stomachs had caused us to stop, save for that we would be still motoring along to our ultimate goal in Broome.

The day had heated up, with the external temp nudged 30, the sun glinting off every bit of the barren landscape, however inside the air conditioned cab we sipped on cold water from the built in under bunk fridge in total comfort.

We made the error of stopping at the Sandfire Roadhouse for a late afternoon coffee before the final run into Broome, but we baulked at the serve yourself International Roast and hot water, choosing a cup of Liptons instead and climbed back aboard for the final run to our overnight stay.

By the time we arrived at the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse 35 kays out of Broome, the sun had disappeared and the excellent lights of the big Volvo had guided us the last 40 minutes or so into the place we were dropping the B-Double set.

The trip had seen us cover around 850 km returning fuel consumption of 49.1 litres per 100km or just over 2km/litre, which we were very impressed with. After a touch over ten hours at the wheel of the big Volvo, there was not a hint of fatigue and we would have been quite happy to motor on for a few more hours, such was the comfort and ease of the Globetrotter.

There is little doubt Volvo has come a long way in the past 30 or so years and today this new truck is ideally suited to a wide range of Australian conditions and transport needs. This is a very good truck and given Volvo’s commitment to local production it would be a good choice for any fleet.