Review: 2015 UD Quon 6x4/4x2

The UD Quester is without doubt UD's heavyweight flagship. Built in a state-of-the-art factory in Thailand, this truck is the jewel in the crown of Volvo's APAC region as perhaps the MP10-powered heavyweights carry the flag in the Americas and the Volvo FH rules the group's portfolio in Europe.

The Quester has a GCM rating of up to 80 tonnes although at present the maximum power option is 420hp in the 11-litre GH Volvo Group engine. This truck would offer ideal B-double capability for intra-state and provincial work, particularly when the 460hp version becomes available in 2018.

But the Quester is not available in Australia, held back because of the market and vocational overlap with Volvo models in this power/payload range in the small and highly competitive Australian market.

So the top of the Australian UD line-up is the Quon, a model name based on the Japanese meaning 'far ahead'. A closer, more literal interpretation could be something like, 'looking to far horizons of the future'.

Quon prime movers in 6x4 and 4x2 configurations were available to sample at a recent UD Trucks customer and dealer drive day at Mt Cotton, near Brisbane (click here for the news story). Both trucks carry the Volvo Group driveline, the GH11 420hp engine firing through the Escot V 12-speed automated manual transmission.

Also on show at the event was a new, home-grown Quon 6x2. The new CD 24 380 targets urban and provincial medium-haul freight, where the economic benefits of lower fuel burn and the tare weight of a 6x2 are desirable but the extra traction of a 6x4 isn't required. Click here to read more about the new model.

With around 100 dealers and customers vying for a quick drive of the full range of trucks, the taste test was no more than a quick lick. So what can you tell from such a brief drive? Not much as far as seeing how a truck might fit a certain operation, or how it might handle varying situations such as urban traffic, steep twisting climbs, reversing into tight sites, or sitting at the wheel for long hours.

However, you can get a feel of the getting-in-and-out design of the truck, the cabin ergonomics of the workplace, the ease or otherwise of learning the check/start-up/lift-off process, the visibility fore and aft through corners, and the braking, engine and steering when manoeuvring or coming down hills.

So yes, while falling far short of a long drive through different road environments or observing a vehicle in its day-to-day work situation, a limited drive like that on offer at Mt Cotton is a world ahead of looking at a stationary truck at a show or in a showroom.

So having legitimised the drive to myself, I reached up and pulled myself onto the GW26420 bogey-drive prime mover. It’s hitched to a conventional tri-axle trailer and the gross weight, I’m sincerely told, is 36 tonnes.

The driving position layout is simplicity itself, and a long way from the cockpit style complexity of the big trucks like, say, a Kenworth. But this is the Japanese way: compact simplicity and functionality. And a driver of a truck in this bracket is not saddling up for a 14- or 16-hour shift under BFM or AFM; rather he or she has a list of drops and pick-ups and is facing multiple load and unload situations intercut with stretches of medium to heavy traffic.

For the latter the Quon cab is ideal. In easy reach of the driver's left hand is the unit’s main brake, the simple H-pattern stick of the automated Escot V transmission and the left-hand steering column wand that controls engine braking.

Ignition, start-up and expected driving controls are reached by the right hand without any unnecessary stretching or contortions. On the floor a foot brake and the throttle sit to the right of the drop of the steering column.

Looking ahead, visibility is what you would expect of a modern forward-control truck. Mirrors give a clear view back along the logo and 80th anniversary-painted curtain sider, the latter marking a big milestone for UD Trucks this year.

Release the maxis – do they call them maxis in these little trucks? Put a foot on the brake, pull the compact gear stick back out of park and push it through the gate to the left, where selecting the forward position gives Drive, a pull back selects Reverse. With Drive selected and foot brake released the truck needs only the lightest touch of the spurs to move forward.

This is what the Quon is about – a perfect match of power, freight productivity and simplicity of driving, which all equates to a safe working environment.

The short drive takes in some tight turns, some short leg-stretching straights, and a couple of quick pinches and drop-offs. Retardation through the staged engine brake on the left hand wand is efficient and slowed the truck nicely on the steeper of the descents.

On the longer, more gradual descents, pulling the engine brake off and keeping your foot away from the throttle puts the Volvo Group transmission into what I guess is controlled free-wheeling – the iRoll effect. There is silence in the cab, fuel is cut to the barest minimum and the truck swishes along with just a bit of tyre noise. Using this facility properly is an important tool out of the tool box of driving for fuel economy.

And then the drive is over, quick as that. I look about for the 4x2 sister ship and locate the GK17420. This unit has a slightly rebel look hooked up to a plain white curtain-sider that carries a light cosmetic touch of road grime.

Swinging on board, checking out the cab space, firing up and lift-off is a mirror image of the GW26420 6x4. This unit is grossing around 33 tonne, I am told, which seems an acceptable weight discount for the loss of one drive axle.

I repeated the circuit with absolutely the same driving sensation, results and the sense of that balanced combination of payload, power and simplicity of driving that UD seems to have released with this Quon.

Coming down the last pinch, held back comfortably by the retardation of the engine brake, I rolled the 4x2 out onto the skidpan where the driver changes were being marshalled. I pulled up and for the first time there was no queue waiting. I glanced across the skidpan. There is a very steep little pinch, a tight turn and a return to the skidpan that the smaller-body trucks were using to demonstrate hill starts.

Why not? I lifted off and headed for the short, sharp climb. None of the UD supervisors were looking so the truck took on the little climb without interference. It slowed, went into fifth, grunted and pulled.

As the steepest part of the climb bit, the transmission banged back into third and first in less than a second. There was a shudder as the gears were changed but they slotted in perfectly. In bog cog there was adequate power and I could let the revs come back into a comfortable range to complete the climb.

Through the rear vision mirrors I watched the drive wheels. There was no slippage, traction was maintained perfectly and I steered the semi wide around the hairpin at the top of the climb and, as the transmission skip-shifted, we rolled out onto the pad under the engine brake's steadying hand.

The hi-vis traffic controllers were looking now with a few disapproving glares. But no one was going to say anything, I was confident, because I had a senior Volvo Group marketing executive riding shotgun and I gave the traffic controllers the royal wave as I wheeled around and parked up.

These prime movers are not aimed at the big end of the prime mover market. Indeed they are specced up to ensure they don't enter that competition. For applications requiring the versatility of trailer-change and short and medium quick-hitch jobs, these trucks are ideal. Backed up by the size of VGA, many operators will be taking the taste test over the coming year as the Group actively hunts new custom.

The objective of the day, UD Vice President Jon McLean (pictured) told me, was to sell the message to conquest customers and big fleets. It was about expanding markets, claiming new territory, spinning off customers currently using VGA product. It is UD's big plunge into the wider market.

Are the Isuzu people shaking in their boots? No … not yet.

UD QUON GW26420 AND GK17420 SPECIFICATIONS:

QUON GW26420
AXLE CONFIGURATION: 6x4
GVM: 26,000kg
GCM: 55,000kg
ENGINE: GH11 Series (11-litre capacity)
POWER: 308kW (420hp) at 1800rpm
TORQUE: 1990Nm at 950RPM
EMISSIONS: ADR80/03 (EURO 5) using SCR (AdBlue)
TRANSMISSION: Escot V 12-speed automated manual (two pedal)
SUSPENSION: UD Trucks multi-leaf six-rod or 4 x Hendrickson HAS460 airbags
SAFETY: Driver airbag, electronic braking (EBS) with ABS and ASR traction control
FRONT AXLE: Forged I-Section with tapered springs
DRIVE AXLES: Inline tandem power divider, 4.333:1 ratio

MAXIMUM RATED MASS LIMITS
FRONT AXLE: 6.5t
REAR GROUP (SIX-ROD): 23.2t
REAR GROUP (AIRBAG): 18t

QUON GK17420
AXLE CONFIGURATION: 4x2
GVM: 16,500kg
GCM: 45,000kg
ENGINE: GH11 Series (11-litre capacity)
POWER: 308kW (420hp) at 1800rpm
TORQUE: 1990Nm at 950rpm
EMISSIONS: ADR80/03 (Euro 5) using SCR (AdBlue)
TRANSMISSION: Escot V 12-speed automated transmission (two pedal)
SUSPENSION: UD Trucks six-rod or 4 x Hendrickson HAS460 airbags
SAFETY: Driver airbag, electronic braking (EBS) with ABS and ASR traction control
FRONT AXLE: Forged I-section with tapered springs
DRIVE AXLES: UD differential, 4.111:1 ratio

MAXIMUM RATED MASS LIMITS
FRONT AXLE: 6.5t
REAR AXLE: 10.5t