They’ve been on the market now for a year or so, and Scania’s V8 engine line-up is proving to be very popular among linehaul operators, particularly with the explosion in multiple trailer operations. After driving a B-triple rig from Kalgoorlie to Perth with the 660hp and 3300Nm R-Series I can see why.

“The fastest way to increase transport efficiency is with longer and heavier truck combinations . . . The CO₂-per-tonne calculation is favourable (also), and in addition there is the opportunity to run your Scania V8 truck on renewable biofuels.”

Think of it this way. The big Scania used 10 times the fuel that a Hyundai i30 would have used for the same trip. But it carted 62 times the weight. The i30 would use just over 18 litres per tonne. The Scania – just under three. Multiple combinations work.

The 16.4-litre DC16 range starts at 590hp and 3,050Nm of torque and runs out to an eye-watering (and mostly unnecessary for most applications) 770hp and whopping 3,700Nm of torque, although the maximum torque on the big-boomer is only available on the top three gears.  

The engines are compatible with diesel or Hydrated Vegetable Oil (HVO), so if you stay friendly with your local fish and chip shop you might save some fuel when they’ve finished their fry-up.

All the DC16 engines feature the same Compacted Graphite Iron (CGI) engine construction first used in the 730hp V8, which has now been discontinued. CGI is a lightweight cast iron that offers greater tensile strength, stiffness, and fatigue strength than grey iron or aluminium. It allows the extremely high injection and cylinder pressures that are keys to optimum emissions control. 

The R660 is a development of the previous V8 technology rather than a complete re-write. New processes and lubricants have assisted in a weight reduction of 75kgs, however 60 of that saving is in the new Opticruise 14-speed overdrive transmission, which is reduced in size and has an all-aluminium housing. 

The Scania cab is a steep climb up, with a high floor and spectacular all-round vision, but once on-board the comfort and convenience features absorb you with high-quality trim and adjustments. I got settled quickly – mirrors were all adjustable from a keypad on the door – and the steering wheel has a wide enough range of adjustment for drivers many times my size. 

Checks all done and I start up the big V8. If you like the sound of the V8 growl, you’ll need to leave your window open, as the engine noise in the cab is minimal.  Twisting the gear selector into ‘Drive,’ and leaving the mode in Eco, I wheel out around the parked trailers at the Coolgardie truck stop and onto the highway with ease, remembering to leave a lot of extra room for the last trailer. Back in Kalgoorlie I had measured the cut-off on a right-angled turn. The tyres on the rear trailer were nearly eight metres inside the position of the truck’s bogie drives – be careful!

It didn’t take long to wind up to a quiet 95km/h cruise. The truck skipped through 12 gears then slotted into overdrive with a 200rpm drop to 1150rpm, and just kept going. Adaptive cruise was set with a 5km/h margin, and with few inclines and no hills for the next few hundred kms, the Scania invited me to relax and let the truck do all the work. These V8s all have Scania’s Electronic Assisted Steering (EAS) which adds an electric motor to the steering shaft to ease effort and absorb some road irregularities. Blended with air bag front suspension, it’s a sweet ride.

Love this one – armrests are on both sides of the seat. Usually you’re resting the right elbow on the hard plastic of the door sill. Also, the sun visors are a split design, and when combined with the full window side shades you need never worry about glare.

Service brakes on Scanias don’t work all that hard, at least not when the driver has been taught by local driver trainer Karlie Shire. The retarder pokes out a hefty 4,700Nm of torque to drag the speed down in five stages. 

In summary, Scania can expect solid support for these trucks from the WA linehaul community This is especially the case with scheduled service packages that allow monthly operating costs to be very accurately predicted. 

Manfred the Man at Scania Australia.

I arrived at the depot on Kalgoorlie first thing on a Friday morning. Parked out the back was a new Scania R660 prime mover with three trailers hooked up – 36.5-metres of B-double with an extra standard trailer added on.

The truck had arrived from Adelaide the previous night, after a revealing trip for the managing director of Scania Australia, Manfred Streit. Mr. Streit was probably the first Swedish truck company MD to drive a road train across the Nullarbor – and he loved it. 

I spoke to him in Kalgoorlie before taking over the drive for the last leg to Perth. Two years and three months into his assignment here in Australia, Mr Streit has presided over some significant market strengthening for the brand. 

What was revealing for Mr Streit was the population of B-doubles and road trains on the east-west run. Several years ago Scania announced research into “Platooning” using on-board radar tech to maintain a safe distance between multiple trucks. I asked him how the project was going. Although he answered diplomatically, it’s pretty obvious that multiple trailers deliver far more efficiency. Daimler’s decision to suspend its platooning research may be an indicator as well.

I asked him how a country with just over 10.5 million people could host two of the biggest and technologically advanced truck companies in the world and see them consistently thrive against groups from industrial giants like Germany and the US. He couldn’t pin down a key factor (neither could any of his predecessors I’ve asked in the past), but happily pointed out that former Scania people are throughout senior management in the operations of his competition. “Maybe our management style is something to do with it,” he mused.

A version of this story appeared in The West Australian in November 2024