Mack Anthem 36-inch Sleeper 2022 Review

We first reviewed the Mack Anthem last year in a frantic catch-up with the Mack Roadshow that was touring the country. Amid the pandemic problems, that run was all too brief, and the big Anthem was pulling just one trailer.

During that run, we were promised a longer drive with the Anthem set up with a B-double set and a bit more weight, a promise that was recently filled when we did a run from Melbourne up to Mildura and back over a couple of days.

The Mack was a 6x4 high-roof stand-up 36-inch sleeper cab pulling a B-double set weighing in at 57 tonnes. The big Anthem was wrapped in a matt-black finish that gave it a mean look on the road and the Freighter trailers were finished with black-and-white Mack-branded curtains that really set the rig off.

It had a tough look and gave off a feeling that you just want to get in and drive it, and we got plenty of waves and thumbs-up from people along our route.

Powering the Anthem is the MP8 535hp six that is held over from the truck it replaces. Torque in this version is quoted at 11920lb-ft (2603Nm) and it’s driven through a Mack mDrive 13-speed automated manual gearbox that has a deep reduction gear and multispeed reverse. Our truck was running a 3.09 final drive.

The Mack Anthem takes over from the Mack Granite, itself a truck that has had a great life here and has enjoyed a faithful following of drivers and operators. The Anthem carries over a lot of the Granite’s attributes and I found it like a bit of the old mixed with a chunk of the new.

Not that that’s a bad thing. Traditionalists will like the bonneted looks and the sweep of the analogue gauges topping the wrap-around dash. It’s a sensible layout though with the major gauges fronting the driver and the minor gauges on the wrap-around section.

Similarly, all the switches are grouped together in different clusters on the dash. There is a light- control module on the right of the steering column that controls all the exterior lights including the hazards and the work light on the rear of the cab. The rocker switches for the traction control aids are on the left of the dash, and the transmission controls are sensibly placed on the inside of the wrap-around just near the driver’s left hand.

The left stalk controls the indicators, wipers and the high/low beam, while the right-hand stalk controls the engine brake and the driver-information screen.

The screen sits between the speedo and the tacho and is known in Mack parlance as the Co-pilot. It’s a five-inch colour screen that offers truck info including pre-trip light inspection, trip computer, fuel usage and distance to empty, along with a host of other useful information.

Interestingly, there is no big infotainment screen as seen in many of the opposition trucks, although we have heard a rumour that there may be one coming.

The driver’s seat is a custom Isri job that is comfortable and supportive and offers heaps of adjustment. The flat-bottom steering wheel is adjustable via a foot lever above the accelerator, so you can really set the truck up for a comfortable drive.

The Anthem is not a difficult truck to drive, in fact it's dead simple. Push D, release the brakes and let her rip. However, you can take more control if and when you need to and drive it like a manual or take full advantage of the Mack Powerleash engine brake and the radar cruise control.

The Powerleash is a three-stage engine brake that when used in conjunction with the cruise can keep you from over-speeding on the downhills and can also provide engine braking for slowing down through towns and the like. A simple tap on the service brakes with the engine brake on full will begin the slowing process using the engine brake and automatic downshifts.

Once you get used to it, it is a very handy way of slowing the truck.

Out on the highway, the Mack handles very well. Last time I was up Mildura way, I thought the roads were pretty crappy, but this time they seemed to have improved. Whether it was a case of a lot money being recently spent on them or whether the Mack Anthem is a pretty smooth and well-mannered truck is up for debate, but my drive out and back was a pleasure.

I was reliably informed by my travelling mate from Volvo Group that the front suspension had been worked on in the upgrade from what it was in the Granite and the rear air suspension gave a nice ride too.

The MP8 is a torquey engine that delivers power smoothly and handled the 57-tonne running weight beautifully during the trip. It’s well suited to the mDrive transmission, which downshifts nicely on the hills if you let it do its own thing, or as I tried out, you can shift it into manual mode and change the cogs yourself via the simple + and – buttons.

There are two modes to the transmission, Power and Economy, which is also a just push-button away, but there’s also a détente on the accelerator which will flick it into Power mode for hills. For the most part, I found it easiest just to let the transmission’s smarts do the work for me.

The steering is positive and the Anthem drives nicely through corners and I didn’t bother with the lane departure warning very much throughout the two-day trip.

Related reading:
Top five heavy-duty truck reviews of 2021
Buying used: Mack Titan
Mack hits the Isa Rodeo with JT

The lane departure warning is part of the safety package that comes with the Anthem. It also includes the radar cruise, proximity warning and AEB that are controlled by a camera in the windscreen and low-mounted radar.

There’s also the BlindSpotter system that alerts the driver to vehicles in the blind spot on the left-hand side of the truck. It’s all part of the Bendix Wingman Fusion safety system that come standard with the Anthem.

As mentioned, I stayed in the truck to get the full experience of the Anthem and it was a pretty nice place to be. One of the big deals with the Anthem is that the cab has a flat-floor design so you have full standing headroom between the seats of a bit over 1.8 metres.

There’s ample storage in the cab both at the front and the sides, and there’s three more storage cupboards above the bunk, so you’re not going to run short of places to put your gear on a long run.

The sleeper control panel is a neat feature that contains a USB port for charging your phone or tablet, a 12-volt socket, controls for the Icepack cooling and the switches for the interior lighting.

Also standard are little opening windows at each end of the sleeper bunk that provide ventilation. They can be opened or closed from inside and have screens and blinds. I tried them out and found that they also cut out a fair bit of noise from other trucks when closed.

The mattress is very comfortable and thick and I had a pretty good night’s sleep in there apart from the really noisy truck that one driver left idling for half an hour at about three in the morning, but there’s not much you can do about that…

I had a great time in the Mach Anthem; it’s a nice truck to drive. The interior is easy to live with and the handling of the truck is very sure-footed. It’s got the power and torque to handle the load we had on board with ease, and over the trip I recorded 2.1 km/litre, which is very good for near 60 tonnes.

A couple of gripes I did have included a rattle in the bonnet, which I was told is due to the single-point latch (great for ease of access but maybe it needs more adjustment), and also the position of the ignition key, which is low on the steering column under the right-hand stalk and really hard to get to. But if those are the only problems I had, it’s a pretty good truck.

Mack has done a great job of combining the traditional feel of a bonneted truck with the mod-cons of an up-to-date and comfortable rig for serious line-haul work.

Specifications:
Mack Anthem 36-inch stand-up sleeper
Model: Anthem 64 13L Air
Cab: 36" Stand-up sleeper
Frame: Mack 8mm
Engine: Mack MP8 535hp Euro 5
Torque: 1920lb-ft
Engine brake: Mack Powerleash
Transmission: Mack mDRIVE HD 13-speed with deep reduction gear and multispeed reverse
Wheelbase: 4485mm
Front axle: Mack FXL 14.6 single-steer axle
Front tyres: 295/80R22.5 Bridgestone M840
Front suspension: Parabolic spring
Rear suspension: Mack Air Ride 21.0T
Rear Mack 2370B single reduction 23.0T
Axle ratio: 3.09
Rear drive tyres: 11R22.5 Bridgestone M766
Fuel tanks: LHS 960-litre, RHS 500-litre D-shaped polished aluminium
AdBlue: RHS 150-litre polished aluminium
Afterframe: 1490mm