It’s entirely made of inorganic materials, yet it sounds like a living creature that is up to no good. It roars, growls, hammers and hisses like nothing else on Europe’s main and back roads. The beast will celebrate its 50th birthday soon.
This is how it looked at its birth. The Scania V8 was introduced in 1969 as a 14 liter engine with a maximum power output of 350 DIN-hp.
Throughout the years, it grew into the current 16.4 liter power house with 730 DIN-hp for the most powerful version.
MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Iveco and Renault also offered heavy trucks and tractors with a V8 turbodiesel in the more recent past, but Scania (based in Södertälje, Sweden) has become the last V8-man standing. Apart from that, the competitors’ 8-cylinders just never sounded as distinctive as the Swedish hammer.
G. Douglas Timber Haulage Ltd. from Northumberland in the UK posted multiple high-quality videos on YouTube, featuring their Scania R620 (15.6 liter V8, 620 DIN-hp) 6×2 tractor.
Here’s another one. If you don’t like the music of the V8, there’s still the North East England landscape and on-road scenery to enjoy. FYI, while the camera is clearly aboard the cab, the microphone is placed outside. The tractor is equipped with Scania’s Opticruise automatic transmission.
And last but not least, this older conventional Södertälje bear sounds like a happy camper, roaming the streets of Chicago. The 3-series (as in the model designation 143 on the hood’s side) was offered from 1987 to 1997, the video was posted on YouTube last year.
Nice post and what a sound!
JOHANNES, Thanks for another nice post on European rigs. On brazilian roads no trucks can match Scania, no doubt about that, be that a V8 or in line 6, which I find has a really nice rumble too.
Last month, by pure complete dumb luck, out of the blue, I was invited to atend the launch of the new Scania series in Brazil, and like the other lucky people there I was gifted a handful test drives on them. A boy’s dream was satisfied!
Very nice, I see everything is under control!
Scania’s “Next Generation” was introduced here in the summer of 2016, needless to mention they’re all over the place by now. By the way, Scania also has a truck factory in the Netherlands (in Zwolle, more than 750,000 Scanias have been built there since 1964).
Very cool, although it is hard to beat the sound of a Detroit Diesel 8V92…
https://youtu.be/jWFB-65I5yc
I’m very familiar with the sound of V6, V8 and V12 Detroit Diesels, as nearby (now defunct) truck manufacturer FTF used them in their trucks and tractors. Great sound, music to my ears, although many would call it “noise”…
But unlike the 2-stroke DDs, the Scania V8 is still very much alive and kicking.
FTF story here:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/truckstop-classics-ftf-trucks-screaming-jimmies-going-dutch/
Yes I can tell its an auto shift I like Scanias to drive but I;m not a fan of automatics much preferring a road ranger 18 speed crash box, I see quite a few Scanias on my 600km night run easy to spot but most of what I see at night are the ubiquitous Fonterra Volvo milk tankers, like spotting Corollas in daylight, they are everwhere, You cant beat the sound of a big turbo diesel pulling hard up hill @ 12-1400 rpm V8 or six, our DAFS require a whole gear downshift @ 1050 when the boost drops off but will lug @ 900rpm over a brow if you’re brave enough.
The ‘Gumboot’ towing the digger sounded like a manual but no need to flick the throttle upshifting they are full syncro.
…”The ‘Gumboot’ towing the digger sounded like a manual but no need to flick the throttle upshifting they are full syncro”…
Please explain Gumboot, I never heard of that reference before. A nickname for conventional trucks and tractors?
It sounds like the automatic is using the engine brake to shift. Back in the 90’s when I was paying attention to these things, Jacobs didn’t recommend doing that with their products. Apparently it’s OK with Scania. Was the engine brake designed in house?
I think this will help:
http://www.dieselnews.com.au/sometimes-its-good-to-hold-back-scania-retarder-celebrates-20-years/
Scania, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Renault (through owner Volvo) develop and build their own manual/automatic transmissions.
I love these videos. That sound, man!
Highly recommended for a commuting soundtrack.