Never let it be said that Daimler and its lead brand Mercedes-Benz let the grass grow under their feet
A case in point is the latest iteration of the company’s flagship heavy truck , the Actros. While ostensibly under the skin the latest Actros version is the same as its namesake siblings
Enter the new Actros ProCabin, a radically different looking Actros with new body styling designed to promote better aerodynamics on the Actros and this new aero body ProCabin will be rolled as standard on all wide-cab diesel Actros trucks Mercedes sell here. So the new 2.55 metre wide Actros models will be called ProCabin, while Benz will keep selling its older style 2.3 metre wide models using the standard ClassicSpace and Streamspace cabins, depending on the demands operators have.
Mercedes gave us the chance to drive the new ProCabin on a quick jaunt up the Hume Highway from its dealership in Campbellfield to Albury, a stretch many an actors has run in the past an likely many of the new windcheating aero cabs will do in the future.
It wasn’t a particularly long or testing drive, not a huge number of steep climbs apart from Pretty Sally heading out of the Victorian Capital, but it provide the ideal motorway conditions that operators have to cope with in B-Double configuration on this road every day and night of the week.
The first thing you notice once you are up to speed on the highway is just how quiet the Big Benz is at cruising speed. This even though the test truck was not equipped with Daimler’s innovative and very aerodynamic MirrorCam. even without the new tech rear view devices this ProCabin was whisper quiet inside, even on a windy day as it was when we tested it. Take the normal glass mirrors away and fit the MirrorCam and this new ProCabin would be so quiet you could just about here the passenger change his mind.
Mercedes-Benz has been selling its trucks with Euro 6 compliant engines since 2016, well before the tardy Australian legislators decided to drag our rules kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. So the fact that the Government mandated our ADR 80/04 rules which are the equivalent of Euro 6 for all new trucks from 1 November this year, it meant little for Benz, it was already nine years ahead of the legislation.
So the Euro 6 driveline is well proven and the chassis and underlying electronic technology and wizardry in the Actros is also tried and tested and has always worked a treat. In fact Benz reckons it has now amassed an incredible three million kilometres with its Euro 6 drivelines, so you can’t quibble about durability.
However while the basic architecture is underlying in the ProCabin’s electronics , Benz has introduced some updates to its safety tech including the company’s latest incarnation of its Active Brake Assist 6 system, which now utilises the information delivered by a five radar system as opposed to the single radar on the previous Actros, which now have a massive 270-degree view around the truck.
Benz says the safety system has much faster processing in its electronic brain enabling it to process information 20 times faster, something that is vital if you are travelling down the road at 100km/h with 62.5 tonnes behind you. People forget that at 100 km/h a vehicle is covering 27 metres a second, in other words a rugby pitch roughly every four seconds, so getting more info faster is going to be a big help.When you join all of these electronic advancements together with the tremendous vision from the cab and a brace of enhancements to ther warning and avoidance systems such as side guard assist, cross-traffic alert, and pedestrian avoidance then you have a truck that is much safer in urban operations particularly.
Of course Australia’s tardiness to embrace Euro 6 was only matched or exceeded by our tardiness in enabling the same truck widths as Europe, ie: 2.55 metres instead o the old 2.5 metre rule. Just about every one in the truck industry acknowledged that this extra 50 mm wasn’t going to make two hoots of difference in terms of road space or safe passing, however changing the rule means that we can now purchase trucks like this ProCabin, one of the safest trucks in the World. Some muppet bureaucrats stalled for so long that many believed it would never change, but thankfully it has and we have trucks like this as a result.
On a clear and sunny weekday the ProCabin took off from our starting point with the smoothness and fuss free performance we have come to expect from the Daimler clan. The 16 litre straight six OMD473 turbo diesel Daimler family engine is a gem, producing bucket loads of torque and urge, fed through the excellent Daimler 12 speed AMT transmission.
The engine was the 625hp variant which also boasts a very fluent and flatly delivered maximum torque of 3000Nm.
So how does Daimler make a more aerodynamic shape out of what is a great big rectangular prism stood on its end and attempting to push through atmospheric resistance at 100km/h. Well its all a lot of grafting work and detail to lower the Cd factor by calming airflows over the truck and reducing the apertures, where air is trapped and then becomes turbulent.
Daimler engineers started by extended the front of the ProCabin by 80mm while at the same time smoothing the front of the truck and then sealing any gaps between cab and the chassis and adding an under-cab spoiler to reduce turbulence beneath the truck.
The clever Benz engineers also penned a design that forces airflow where it is needed, most particularly into the cooling system. This of course is a vital thing for trucks working in this country and many other places around the world where tens can soar. Lets face it, after the last two summers of scorching ‘climate change’ summers in Europe no where is immune from this heat rash that is only going to get worse in time.
The aero package is a thing to behold with no stone left unturned in the quest to reduce drag, with the engineers also designing sail-shaped side air deflectors at the rear along with a new rooftop spoiler to ease the air up and over that tall rectangle.
Now Benz is claiming all this results in an average three per cent fuel saving at highway speeds. It may not seem much, but after our 300km long drive to Albury, the truck easily returned 2.3 km/litre fuel economy figure, with a shade under 60 tonnes on board, and that was without really trying. Think about it in terms of fuel costs and realise that for every 1000km you cover in a trucks getting 2.3km/litre, you are spending about $100 less on fuel compared with a truck returning say 1.9km/litre. This would parlay into perhaps a saving of around $1000 a week, depending on mileage travelled, and that means roughly about $52,000 a year, a saving that is not to be sneezed at.
The Daimler people where quick to point out that the special Durabar alloy bull bar it had commissioned for the new ProCabin may well have affected the ultimate aero performance of the truck here in Australia, but it can’t have had too much effect. Of course there is not much call for a bar on trucks in Europe, the only thing they’re likely to hit over there is the speed limit.
Rolling along the Hume, and trust me rolling was the feeling we got driving the ProCabin, because it is so effortless, quiet, workmanlike and smooth. One could easily imagine gobbling up a 1000km in one day, without any overly fatigue inducing struggle.
Part of that effortlessness is due to the revised power steering . Steering is one of the major steps forward in modern trucks. No more do drivers have to constantly fight the wheel for control on our bumpy and unforgiving roads and the steering of this new Actros is at the vanguard of truck steering systems. The electric steering assistance system also helps lane keep assistance and is in fact a part of Mercedes’ Active Drive Assist 3. Turn it on and its electric servo motor which link to the hydraulic steering comes into play, with he cameras and radar watching the white lines on the road beneath the truck cab.
Inside the cab, Benz engineers have delivered a great interior and cockpit/control centre.The dash and multi-media screens remain the same as the current Actr models, already the best in the business. They have fitted out the interior lighting with an array of LED lighting along with gooseneck reading lights added and USB-C sockets which have been fitted into the side panels.
The dash and multi-media screens are much the same as in the current range, with models in the near future set to get wireless Carplay and Android Auto while the whole shebang has received improved and updated graphics.
Mercedes’ Active Brake 5 system, places emphasis on pedestrians as well as vehicles around the truck and is capable of safely braking to 100 per cent up until 50km/h. Now with the sixth generation of this system, it can detect and implement safety features when cyclists are detected as well. It has also increased its speed settings to 60km/h. It is a continual evolution of the cutting-edge safety standards Mercedes are known for. The technology is aimed more for the distribution domain where the current generation of cyclists and pedestrians seem to be diminishing their own spatial awareness, so having trucks that can allow for that makes all our jobs easier.
In addition to the restyled body, the Actros now has new LED headlights with matrix LEDs an option. Interior lighting is all LED with new gooseneck reading lights added. Additional USB-C sockets have been added to the side panels.
Other ProCabin inclusions are new LED headlights, with the option of active Matrix units with automatic high beam control, and the interior has been updated with LED lighting and USB-C charge sockets.
By the time we rolled into Albury a little over three hours after leaving Melbourne, the combination of the ProCabin’s quiet, calm and fuss free dynamics worked to creat almost the perfect environment for a long distance truck driver. we are looking forward to a longer drive to help really appreciate the sophistication of this suave German.
