On a recent road test, PowerTorque has been out on the road with the new Western Star 47X for most of the day with minimal interaction with the controls, and just active cruise control on when running on the highway.
This tells us the system is doing its job and making sure that it stays a safe distance from vehicles in front. The radar and video combination sense and react to vehicles they need to without too many false alarms.
Sometimes a slow car in the lefthand lane, or a sign close to the road on the outside of a right-hand bend will make the system cut the revs or apply a little braking, but a split second later it is back on the throttle. If not, the driver simply presses the throttle or moves the truck across the lane slightly, to avoid any issues.
The radar unit in the windscreen is actually quite large, covering a work diary sized area of the opening.
Once the driver sets the desired speed and the preferred following distance, the active cruise control does exactly what it is supposed to do, and the driver doesn’t need to do anything. It is quite responsive, as the truck starts to get into the climb the truck waits, and then decides whether it’s going to grab a gear or not.
Climbing, it is quite happy to sit at around 1200 rpm and let the torque do the work. There’s plenty of pulling power on hand to get the job done. The AMT is responsive, and it changes quickly. The changes are very certain, there is no ponderousness about it, no lag time between gears.
What’s different when you drive an AMT in a European truck with the same sort of setup is that the changing process makes a lot more noise. It’s very much the same with the engine noise, there is a lot more in cabin sound than in its European equivalent.
You can actually hear the gear changes being made and this is clearly a deliberate design style choice. US drivers must prefer to get more feedback from the driveline that those in Europe, who don’t need to hear the sound to know the truck is working hard or changing gear. It’s simply a style thing.
During the 10 hour drive north from Brisbane the truck did its job without fuss, it’s very comfortable. easy, relaxed driving, sitting in a comfortable cabin. The driver can just let it do its business.
This setup, with its wheelbase at 4925mm and a standard day cab is what you might call the Hanson specification, or suitable for any operation similar to that. It doesn’t have large fuel tanks. It is actually quite nicely set up to run tipper and dog with a busy schedule.
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