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In the top three of the 7.5 tonne-market, Mercedes' Atego is still having technology updates to beat its rivals
There's no denying that the Mercedes Benz Atego range is reaching the final stages of its product cycle, but in the UK marketplace it is still routinely one of the top three sellers at 7.5 tonnes. Although a new model can't be far away, development of today's version certainly hasn't stopped. Behind the familiar face, new technology such as automated transmissions. EEV low-emissions engines and engine stop/start systems are now available.
The 7.5-tonnc model we tested is an 816 example of the range, which encompasses the Mercedes offering up to 18 tonnes, and small city artics. It comes with Euro-5compliant emissions, courtesy of AdBlue. at the lowest. 154hp. rating of the 4.25-litre OM904LA four-pot engine. The transmission is a straight-forward six-speed manual, paired with the MSS (motor stop/start) system, a now standard fitment. This works on the same principle as the EcoStart system fitted to the Sprinter, which shuts down the engine after the vehicle has been at rest for a pre-determined period, with neutral selected and the clutch released. When the dutch is pressed again, ready to engage a gear, the engine automatically restarts. The activation period is adjustable by a technician's laptop, from three seconds to infinity. Ours was set at six seconds. Mercedes' test figures show savings of up to 10% in the right conditions, which seems to correlate with our own experience on the Sprinter.
Obviously, if your operation is all on motorway, you won't save anything, but the more stop-start work you do in heavy city traffic, the greater the possible savings. It's normally possible to turn off the system, but this particular truck had previously been used as a customer demonstrator and the switch had been removed so that the maximum benefit could be illustrated. It still needs driver co-operation, though, to make the effort to engage neutral at rest. The dream pairing would be MSS and an automated manual, but this is still a little way from production viability.
The rest of the vehicle is pretty much the basic offering, with the S day cab. steel suspension and a 4,220mm wheelbase, the fourth longest of the five choices.