Yesterday I visited an agricultural exhibition and fair nearby, held every year in August. More on that in a later article. Also present at the show was a small number of panel vans and light trucks, owned by farm tractor dealerships and other agricultural related companies.
Let’s have a look at them, going from compact to a true mini-semi.
The smallest van was this 2013 Peugeot Partner with a 90 hp 1.6 HDi 16v engine. Compact and nimble, with an overall length of 4.38 m (14’4”). Its payload capacity is 630 kg (1,389 lbs). The Peugeot Partner is identical to the Citroën Berlingo.
This must look more familiar, a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. Mr. Jan Peters and his sons drive this 2007 Sprinter 209 CDI panel van. The 209 CDI is powered by the 2,148 cc OM 646 diesel engine, maximum power output 88 hp @ 3,800 rpm.
It’s very common, certainly in this segment, that a panel van tows a tandem axle trailer. The payload capacity of the Sprinter is 1,068 kg (2,355 lbs) and its registered maximum towing capacity is 2,000 kg (4,409 lbs). The tools, equipment and workshop are in the van, the large chunks are loaded on the flatbed trailer. That’s what I call versatility and efficiency.
The cargo compartment is getting bigger now. Here’s a 2006 Renault Mascott box truck, RWD and with dual rear wheels. The Mascott was basically a heavy-duty truck version of the Renault Master, it was marketed by Renault Trucks. Jan van den Berg’s Mascott has a 156 hp 3.0 liter Nissan ZD3A604 engine. Diesel, of course.
The truck’s legal maximum GVM is 5,500 kg (12,125 lbs) which means you’re not allowed to drive it here with a car driving license (category B, up to 3,500 kg GVM).
The production of the Mascott ended in 2010. A new generation of the Renault Master was introduced in 2011, also offered as a heavy-duty RWD chassis-cab with dual rear wheels. The Master is also sold as Opel~Vauxhall Movano and Nissan NV400.
The last one for today is a downscaled semi: a 2015 Iveco Daily 40C21 tractor unit, towing a 2006 Kuiper single-axle semi-trailer.
The current generation of the Daily was introduced in 2014. Available -in multiple wheelbases- as panel van, minicoach, chassis-cab and tractor unit. Bring the chassis-cab to a coachbuilder and you can get pretty much any truck body you want, from a dropside flatbed to a motorhome.
There’s the fifth-wheel coupling, also visible is the drive axle’s air suspension. The Daily tractor has a 205 hp 3.0 liter FPT engine, which is the most powerful engine offered, and may legally tow a semi-trailer with a GVM up to 7,365 kg (16,237 lbs).
When looking at maximum towing and payload capacity, the Iveco Daily exceeds its competitors like the Ford Transit, Renault Master and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.
Coming up next: much bigger tractors.
I really like the grille-headlight treatment on the Daily…
Sweet! This looks like the business section from our church directory, also known as the “Dial A Dutchman”
“For all your agricultural machinery, call John Peters & Sons or John Vandenberg”.
Every 10+year old Sprinter in my area (Cleveland, Ohio) is severely rusted.
You apparently don’t have that problem in the Netherlands (although I do see a small spot forming on the rear wheel arch).
thanks Johannes
always like seeing these ROW smaller commercial vehicles
(big ones too of course :))
Thanks for the truck show. I look forward to your future treatises too. I sold commercial application trucks for many years of my life. I always look at equipment that is on the road, especially for the unusual. As for these trucks, we do not have these in The States. This is a treat.
Are pickup trucks towing goosenecks not extremely common in the US though? In terms of load capacity these upgraded cutaway vans are basically the European equivalent, albeit rarer. Usually a medium duty cabover box truck would be the more common configuration.
What’s the benefit of that Iveco outfit vs a rigid 7.5t truck? Little “artics” like that are virtually unknown in the UK.
Legally a BE-driving license (simply said, car/van/tractor + a trailer towed by said vehicle) will do to drive it. The tractor itself has a legal maximum GVM of 3,500 kg, typically a small tractor like this is called a “BE-tractor”.
However, the total GVM of the whole rig is limited to 7,000 kg if you got your BE-driving license
after January 1, 2013.
Apart from that, a rigid truck is a rigid truck, whereas a tractor can tow all kinds of semi-trailers. Regardless the weight segment.
These mini-semis are very popular here, and an Iveco Daily is the preferred tractor choice. Simply because it has the most heavy-duty chassis compared with its competitors.
I saw a similar rig this morning, delivering kegs of beer to inner-city hotels. Space would restrict overall length, so perhaps there is a gain in maneuverability but also in being able to load one trailer while another is delivered.
So I guess the reason they are almost unknown in the UK is the licence requirement.
“Urban artics” are common as beer delivery vehicles here, but are presumably a bit heavier and the tractor unit is typically a DAF LF.
I doubt that a smaller semi arrangement is more manouverable than a straight truck to begin with. I’m thinking of even more compact Japan right now and over there most trucks are four axle straight trucks in the first place.
I don’t know if legislation differs, but these mini-semis seem like a particularly Dutch thing. I’ve even seen a flatbed Ram with a fifth wheel towing a short lowbed with a wheel loader on it in the Netherlands before, but over the border here in Germany they’re almost non-existent and generally only used as attention-grabbing promotional vehicles for public events, towing relatively large but lightweight activity/stage/office trailers.
I drove a ’17 Partner a couple of weeks ago and couldn’t believe how comfortable the thing was. Work vans these days are worlds awat from what they were.
Somehow I didn’t get the editor. Where you read “awat”, I meant “away”