EIGHT IT ALL UP

New Model

SCANIA IS THE ONLY TRUCK MAKER OF ANY NOTE STILL PRODUCING A V8 ENGINE IN A HEAVY DUTY TRUCK. THE V8 IS A TRADEMARK FOR THE SWEDISH MAKER, AND WHILE SOME MAY HAVE PREDICTED THE DEMISE OF THE BIG BENT EIGHT, NOT ONLY HAS SCANIA BREATHED NEW LIFE INTO THE CONCEPT, IT HAS PRODUCED A TRUCK THAT DELIVERS SUPERLATIVE PERFORMANCE AND EFFICIENCY IN AN EFFORTLESS AND RELAXED MANNER. WE TOOK ONE FOR A SPIN RECENTLY AND CAME AWAY WITH A BIG SMILE ON OUR DIAL.

The 40 km/h road works speed limit was positioned at the very foot of a long steep climb on the Calder Freeway heading west toward Bendigo. It was the sort of baulk that would have committed many a truck hauling a B-Double and 62 tonnes up a steep incline to a slow and grinding climb. However this was no ordinary truck.

Underneath us was 16.4 litres of throbbing 90 degree V8 diesel producing an industry topping 770hp and 3750 Nm of torque - deep, throbbing, hill killing, load hauling torque.

In a world that has recently been marked by a move to down size and down speed engines, to reduce fuel consumption and to increase efficiency, this 770hp beast stands out as a beacon for high horsepower, under stressed, big engines. As they say at Mt Panorama there is no substitute for cubic inches.

The interesting thing is that Scania is one of those truck makers that has been championing the down-size concept. Its 13-litre six cylinder, which we road tested in the previous issue, is a startingly good example of just that. However the reality is they are not mutually exclusive concepts. Both can be intelligent choices depending on application, weights and end goals and there is a lot to be said for an easy, loping under stressed high horsepower donk that doesn’t have to work as hard as a smaller engine.

Of course the temptation is to use all that extra power and torque on the end of your right foot pushing down on that throttle pedal, and if you do that any truck like the Scania 770 will use more fuel. But more about fuel use and efficiency a little later.

When we were invited to Melbourne to drive the new Scania flagship, after months of lock down and very little chance to test drive any trucks, it was an opportunity we had to grasp with both hands. With a few exceptions we hadn’t had the chance to climb behind the wheel of a proper ‘big’ truck for many months, so there was a degree of excitement when climbed up into the Scania cab.

Scania says it was able to squeeze that extra power and torque out of the V8 with a new free spinning, ball bearing equipped, fixed-geometry turbocharger along with bigger injectors. This has meant faster engine response and better more efficient combustion, and we are told that they have reduced the overall weight by 75kg compared with the previous flagship Scania V8 donk.

The engine’s exhaust manifolds have also been the target of some focus from Scania engineers, with new lighter and more efficient one piece cast iron manifolds for each bank of cylinders, and these are part of the reason the big banger sounds so bloody good.

When you fire this thing up it sounds much like most big diesels , but when you move away with a good dab of throttle that thrum from the V8 and the familiar gutsy, harmonic pulse note that only comes from an engine with two banks of cylinders is there to fill your ears with a glorious mechanical symphony.

When we took off from Scania HQ the hard acceleration away from standstill elicited those marvellous audio notes as the 16.4 litre powered up to haul its 62 tonnes away with impressive ease.

The impressive performance of the V8 is enhanced further by being mated to the excellent Scania Opticruise 12-speed AMT, and given that power and torque the final drive in the test truck was specced with a nice tall ratio at 3.07:1. The tall diff helps with fuel efficiency and given the ample power and torque of the 770, it has the ability to use this ratio without being a laggard on hills and climbs, while running on the flat at not much more than idle speed.

Alongside us on the day of our test was Scania’s Ben Nye who has really been the driving force behind the 770 horse V8 within the company, mounting the case for the truck and working closely with Sweden to develop the spec for Australia.

Speaking with Nye reveals a level of enthusiasm for all things automotive and a real passion for the Scania V8 that is reflected in how well the V8 performs and how well it is tailored to the task.

The test truck was very new, in fact it had just a shade over 800km on the clock when we entered the details in our new Quallogi Electronic Work Diary (the first time we had used the non-paper log book system) before setting off.

Wheeling out onto the Western Ring Road and getting up to speed meant that we soon felt the benefit of another upgrade to the big Scania in the form of its new electric over hydraulic steering and its air bag front suspension. Ben had mentioned the new steering spec before we had departed but that didn’t prepare us for just how good the new system is in real life. It is direct without being twitchy, well damped, comfortable, with the right amount of assistance and above all precise. Unlike steering in other current prime movers the Scania electric system means the driver is not chasing the rig all the time, you can steer a track down the road with ease and confidence.

That might not seem like too big a deal, but steering input and the focus drivers have to place on it can be one of the most fatigue inducing parts of the act of driving a vehicle. Research by car maker Mercedes-Benz decades ago revealed that a vehicle’s steering could influence up to 40 per cent to a driver’s tiredness on a long trip, and depending on such things as the level of steering input needed, and even the size of the steering wheel, this could be dramatically reduced.

Certainly in the relatively few short hours at the wheel of the Scania 770, the comfortable steering and ease of operation meant we still felt fresh when we stepped away from the truck back at Campbellfield, after around 300km.

The cabin of the 770 is, like all Scanias, a haven of comfort and calm, with excellent finishes throughout the truck’s interior, sitting high above the road below.

Climb up the steps and slide in behind the wheel and it almost feels car like. The cockpit wraps around the driver’s seat with every switch and control easy to see and use, while the steering wheel is compact, with a flat bottom and a range of control buttons and toggles for cruise control, information screen scrolling and a bunch of other functions, again all easy to use and understand, located on the wheel..

The Scania New Generation cockpits have established themselves as, if not the best in the industry, then very close to it.

It is pretty obvious that you are driving a V8 because a V8 logo is prominent around the interior, featuring on the dash, on the seats and even on the floor mats. It is an evocative engine configuration, and as we mentioned earlier, Scania is the only truck maker still selling the V8 dream, so you can understand the proliferation of the V8 image.

Controls all fall easy to hand with two stalks on either side of the steering column controlling vital functions. On the right hand stalk are the controls for the transmission along with the retarder, while on the left hand stalk are the controls for the wiper/washers and indicators.

Fire the big V8 up and it throbs beneath you, not intrusive but there with its obvious power humming away. Select

D on the right hand stalk and squeeze the throttle and that V8 burble fills your senses, powering away from a standstill with consummate ease.

If the Scania people had not produced the weighbridge ticket indicating the 62 tonne total weight, then you wouldn’t have believed it. The power and torque handles the task so easily that it felt as though the gross was much less.

Powering on to the motorway from the entry ramps demonstrated the impressive torque of the V8, quickly melding in with the traffic and never being a slow moving burden on the vehicles around it.

It quickly becomes apparent how good the new electro-hydraulic power steering and front airbag suspension really are. Maintaining lane position on multi-lane motorways is often a task, but not with the new Scania. Often in recent times, electronic lane keeper warnings become a nuisance as minor lane departures caused an annoying beeper sound. The interesting thing was that in the V8 Scania there were virtually none of these in the 300kms we covered at the wheel of the truck. That is really down to the precision and accuracy of the steering and the true tracking of the truck.

With all of our brief test drive taking place on multi-lane motorways, we are keen to sample the new 770 on some two lane country tarmac to reinforce our feeling that this is possibly the best steering and suspension system we have ever experienced in a truck.

The trip out to Bendigo is basically just one big climb, with some ascents steeper than others. However it seemed no issue for this powerful Swede. With a Scania camera car accompanying us for much of the drive, the effortless climbing prowess of the 770 even surprised the Scania PR at the wheel of the car, who was impressed when he realised the big B-Double was still close to the legal limit, despite being part way up a stern climb.

With the AMT 12 speed managing the cogs, the Scania always seemed to be in the right gear with the engine in the optimal torque band. In top at just under the legal limit, the big V8 mated to the 3.07 final drive allows the truck to lope along at around 1200 to 1250 rpm. On the hills the engine digs deep and maintains good pace, even with the high diff ratio and even on the toughest hills, it never drops lower than ninth gear.

With the adaptive cruise set at 95 and the hill overrun function set with a 10 km/h limit above that, the Scania was easy to control and manage coming off the hills. The system manages the speed very efficiently and seamlessly. The excellent Scania four-stage retarder allows the driver extra resources for slowing the truck, and again there are few retarders in the market that can match the performance of the Scania system.

With so many climbs, and with a pretty high gross, the fuel consumption was at around 1.61 litres per km (or 61.8litre/100km) which was very encouraging, particularly with the odo reading only 1065km by the time we stopped for lunch on the Western outskirts of Melbourne at the Calder Truck Stop. We would love to have the chance to drive it on a long flat run with the engine better run in and a little freer, when we reckon the V8 would amble along, maintaining high gears and low revs, to produce a fuel figure above 2km per litre.

It goes without saying that Scania, which is very diligent with its commitment to lower emissions and better efficiency, has

made the 770 V8 fully Euro 6 compliant, and it does this without the need for EGR, relying solely on SCR. That is good and bad news for some, good because in hot Australian conditions EGR can be a problem for engine heat. Bad, because of the well-publicised shortages of AdBlue, but that is a short term issue.

If asked to sum up the Scania 770 V8 in just one word, then that word would be effortless. The V8 never seemed stressed, overtaxed or struggling. It was relaxed, easy and comfortable, doing its job with great aplomb.

It is clear the new 770 Scania V8. Is one helluva good truck. It is not going to suit everyone or every fleet, but it has a tremendous amount of appeal and will deliver terrific performance and many hundreds of thousands of stress free and effortless kilometres to any operator who puts the money down for one. We look forward to a longer extended test at some time in the future.

SCANIA 770 V8 SPECS:

Engine: Power:

Scania DC16 770 16.4-litre 90-degree V8 770hp (566kW) at 1900rpm Torque: 3700 Nm (2730ft/lb) at 1000-1450rpm Emissions: Euro6 (SCR) Transmission: Scania GRSO926R, overdrive 12 speed, Scania Retarder Fuel: 1030 litres AdBlue: 146 litres tanks Front axle: Scania AM640S Front suspension: Air front springs, 7500kg capacity with anti-roll bar Rear axles: Scania AD200SA Axle housings, Scania RB662/ R660 Differentials Ratio: 3.07 with power divider and diff locks Rear suspension: Scania four bag air suspension, (19000kg capacity) Brakes: Scania electronically controlled disc brakes EBS with integrated ABS and Traction Control Electronic park brake.