Back to the Dark Ages

I gave a detailed report of the new Scania S series truck a couple of posts ago. Very nice truck to drive. Since then I’ve done a significant number of Kilometres in the Euro 6 MAN TGX – more refined than the Scania but with a less assured gearbox. Both were havens of quiet solitude on the highway – insulating me from the world outside (most of the time). I’ll write up about the MAN TGX in a while but today I parked her up and swapped to the Scania 113. I just needed the challenge again! 10 speed manual gearbox. 372HP engine. No retarder. And minimal sound insulation! I’ve swapped the muted rumble of the diesel in two of the best current trucks for the clattering clamour of the 1980’s. Here we are struggling over the River Seine with the engine at full chat in 4L – that’s so loud I couldn’t hear my wife trying to tell me she was going out (not normally a problem!)…