MAN TGX 26.640 2022 Review

Penske Australia launched its New Generation MAN trucks in August, giving us a taste of how the trucks drove on a controlled circuit at the RACQ Mobility Centre at Queensland’s Mount Cotton.

However, while that gave us an initial feel for the vehicles, we didn’t get to experience the trucks on the road.

After itching for more wheel time in real-world conditions, we’ve now been able to grab a top-of-the-line TGX for a decent drive out of Melbourne.

Our truck was an MAN TGX 26.640 with a B-double set loaded to a smidge under 60 tonnes GCM. Powering this truck is the D38 15.2-litre engine with 640hp and 3000Nm, so the aim was to go in search of some decent hills to really put it to the test.

Any driver who’s pulled a load west of Melbourne would know the Pentland Hills, just outside Bacchus Marsh, north-west of Melbourne. It’s a good haul up there and a great test for the MAN.

The downhill run home also would showcase another aspect of the truck's talents. The new MAN engine brake offers up to 850hp of braking force in a five-stage setup; it's standard on the TGX with the D38 engine.

One of the big-ticket items in the New Generation MANs is the cab, which has come in for a full refurbishment. The TGX gets a fully digital dash that can be configured in countless ways to give the driver all the information he or she requires.

The main screen in front of the driver is controlled by buttons on the right-hand side of the steering wheel, and it gives all the vehicle info you need. It’s very simple to use and there seems to no end to what you can find out.

The display for the infotainment system is on a screen to the left and is controlled using a system called SmartSelect, which is great. It's controlled using a knob that comprises two circular dials. The outer dial is used to select the mode you want, be it navigation, audio, media or whatever, while the inner dial is used to dive deeper into that mode.

While the system sounds complex, it really isn’t and once you’re used it, you can almost use it without looking.

Another big improvement is to the vision from the driver’s seat. MAN has lowered the dash line and made the windscreen larger, and it wraps around to give better peripheral vision. Enhancing this is the new placement of the mirrors, which gives better vision for cornering or to spot other vehicles at roundabouts.

Sound insulation is also better. It’s a really quiet cab that we were told records just 64dB at cruising speed. This means you can hold a conversation at normal levels, chat on the phone or take full advantage of the upgraded stereo system.

The seats have also been upgraded to Recaros with armrests for the driver and passenger and feature full adjustment every which way as well as a heating function for those cold mornings. The passenger’s seat can rotate and even fold up and make a table if that’s your preference.

The bunk in the TGX is a beauty with an adjustable head section, a 160mm thick inner-spring mattress as well as lighting and cooling controls. The bunk is a full two metres in length, so if you can’t fit in there, you should be out playing basketball, not driving trucks.

There’s plenty of storage in the cab. Above the windscreen are three big boxes and there’s more stash space under the bunk where there is also a big fridge.

Our truck was fitted with the upper and lower bunks, but I reckon most Australian buyers will opt for the single bunk, which gives more storage on the back wall of the sleeper.

There’s full standing height in the cab so it’s easy to get changed and move around. Overall, it really is a nice, luxurious cab well suited to overnight stays or more.

There are four controls are located on the inside of the driver’s door that can be easily accessed from outside the vehicle when getting in or out of the cab. These can come pre-programmed with key functions or programmed according to your individual needs.

Ours had the driver’s window control, the rear work light, door locking and the hazard lights. It just means you can operate these functions without climbing up into the cab – very handy if you’re coupling or uncoupling trailers.

If there’s one thing that modern trucks – especially the European ones – are big on, it’s safety, and the new MANs are no exception.

For a start, they now have airbags, which is something the previous model didn’t have. There’s also electronic stability control, AEB emergency braking, radar cruise control, lane departure warning, anti-slip control and hill start assist, to name a few.

At the launch of this model, we also learned of MAN’s rearward-moving cab. In a crash, MAN’s impact-absorbing deformable cab mounts allow the cab to move back along the chassis up to 750mm, absorbing energy and moving occupants away from the impact zone.

Other safety features worth noting are the automatic wipers and lights, which come standard in the TGX. Suffice to say that this is not only a comfortable truck but a safe one as well.

I had already briefly driven the TGX at the launch in Brisbane, but that was on a track. This was in the thick of it in Melbourne – an entirely different story.

I was immediately pleased to have the extra vision from the cab as we meandered through the streets trying to get out onto the highway to the west.

The new mirrors are great. You get a good view of where your trailers are and of the traffic, and yet you can also see around them to spot traffic coming out of sides streets and on roundabouts. I felt immediately at ease with the truck in the traffic.

On the highway, I liked the steering. It’s full hydraulic, not electrically assisted as in some of the other modern Euro trucks, but it does have a similar feel – it’s light and direct without any vagueness or slop at the straight-ahead position.

Heading up the hills, I could feel the grunt of the D38 and its 3000Nm. We were loaded to 59 tonnes and the MAN hauled it beautifully. I could flick on the cruise and just let the truck do its thing.

The engine lugs really low in the rev range; down to around 900rpm before kickdown on the hills. On the slighter hills it’ll just kick down one or two gears and then lope along at low revs, saving fuel.

The 12-speed TipMatic automated manual transmission is a beauty. It’s basically a ZF box and is smooth and unobtrusive. It provides Performance and Efficiency modes that will vary the revs at which gearchanges occur, working really well in Performance mode when going uphill. The Efficiency mode is better suited to pointing downhill or navigating city streets.
On the flat and at 100km/h, the engine was turning at 1300rpm.

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All too soon, it was time to turn around and head for home. Now we could come down the hills and really test out the powerful engine brake. The setup for this is a stalk on the right-hand side of the steering column that lets you graduate the amount of braking assist by flicking the stalk through any of the five stages.

Conversely, give it one big pull and it will go to stage five straight away, or give it one big push to cancel. Once I gained confidence with the brake I found I could set the cruise control to 98km/h with the overspeed to 102km/h and just let the truck go. As we neared the overspeed limit, the truck would bring on the engine brake and keep us to our speed. Brilliant.

It did take a bit of time to just let the truck go on the cruise control on the downhills, but it did work, and with 850hp of braking we didn’t need much use of the service brakes.

I really enjoyed my time in the MAN. It is a very well put together truck. The fit and finish is exemplary, as you’d expect with a German truck. It has the feel that it will last a long time, and it just has a solid nature about it.

It is powerful, comfortable, ergonomically terrific and easy to drive. Its safety features are up there with the best of European standards.

At the launch we were told that this truck was going to double MAN’s market share in the coming years, and if Penske Australia can get their hands on enough of them, we have no doubt that those aspirations can be achieved.

Specifications:
MAN TGX 26.640
Max Power: 471kW – (640hp) at 1800rpm
Max torque: 3000Nm at 900 to 1380rpm
Type: In-line six-cylinder
Capacity: 15.2 litres
Emissions: Euro 6e
Emission system: Soft EGR, CRT and SCR
Engine turbo charging: Two-stage turbo charging, with charge-air intercooling
Fuel injection: Electronically controlled common rail injection system
Transmission: 12-speed MAN TipMatic AMT
GVM: 26,000kg
GCM: 70,000kg
GCM (optional): 90,000kg
Fuel: 620 litres (left) 460 litres (right)
AdBlue: 85 litres
Axle ratio: 3.36