Introducing the TGX 26-510
The TGX is produced by MAN Truck & Bus, which is part of the massive Traton Group (it also owns Scania). While MAN does have a factory here in South Africa (located in Pinetown, the plant is as green as this new truck; it’s powered by solar panels), this new model will be available as a Made-to-Order (MTO) unit, and orders will be brought into the country from Germany as Completely Built-Up (CBU) units.
The truck in a nutshell
MAN’s new Truck Generation flagship TGX range represents the crème de la crème of trucks. Don’t just take our word for this. The world’s most important commercial vehicle journalists and editors recently confirmed this when the TGX was named International Truck of the Year 2021. So, the 26-510 has quite some credentials.
What makes it even more remarkable though is its Euro-6 powertrain (which we will discuss in greater detail later in this review). Rather bizarrely, South Africa is still a Euro-2 market. This is crazy; even some developing markets –Turkey, for instance – are already Euro 6 (most first-world countries have been Euro 6 since pa fell off the bus). Practically, this means truck companies are more than welcome to sell trucks here that have long been banned in other markets because they’re simply not deemed “green” enough.
Well, MAN decided that sticking to the bare minimum when it came to emission standards simply wasn’t enough – and the company decided to bring this new model to South Africa. It’s a Euro 6D derivative – and MAN will analyse the performance of the truck in local conditions and test the Euro 6D technology in local long-haul operations.
At Truck Test 2022, it delivered a super-impressive performance (we’ll tell you more about that when we discuss the drivetrain). So, it’s clearly ticking all the boxes…
Exterior
As we’ve said many times in the past, the design of the latest MAN can best be described as an evolution (versus its predecessor) and not a revolution. The single most important thing about the exterior is this: it is aerodynamic, which is tremendously good news when it comes to fuel consumption.
Interior
The interior of the truck is nothing short of exceptional; if it’s not the best, it’s certainly one of the best on the road. Not surprisingly, it’s won a bucket load of awards; they’re really all richly deserved.
The design of the digital driver’s workplace in the truck offers a first-class user experience; it’s easy to operate the numerous assistance and comfort functions of the vehicle intuitively without distracting your attention from the road. The display and operating levels are separated from each other so that the visual information is as close as possible to the line of sight to the road, whereas the controls are within reach from a comfortable seating position.
One of our favourite features is the MAN SmartSelect, which is currently the only system of its kind in use in commercial vehicles. With its turn and press function, it minimises the need to look away from the road when operating the infotainment and navigation menus. There’s absolutely no touch screen to fiddle around with, which is just great.
The TGX 26-510 is particularly well-spec’d, and it comes with a leather steering wheel, interior trim in chrome, and a passenger seat that can be rotated and folded into a worktable for added driver comfort and convenience. Furthermore, the truck is fitted with the large GM cab, which boasts impressive internal headroom of 1,86 m.
Drivetrain
The TGX 26-510 features the MAN D2676 six-cylinder in-line common rail engine, with a power output of 510 hp (375 kW) at 1 800 rpm and a torque of 2 600 Nm @ 930 to 1 350 rpm. Given the fact that it churns out more than 500 hp, it goes without saying that we had absolutely no complaints in the power department.
During Truck Test 2022, which was organised by FOCUS on Transport & Logistics magazine, the fuel consumption was also put to the test – and the TGX 26-510 passed with flying colours. It achieved a remarkable 48,83 litres/100 km on the ultra-demanding N3 (while operating at full load). With the truck being a Euro-6 model, it obviously requires AdBlue too; it used 3.86 litres/100 km during Truck Test 2022. The truck’s average speed was 63 km/h.
Transmission
As is almost always the case today, the TGX 26-510 comes with an automatic gearbox. In this truck’s case, it is the MAN 12 28 OD TipMatic, a constant mesh gearbox with 12 forward gears. The first/top gear ratio is 12.92/0.77.
Safety
The TGX 26-510 incorporates state-of-the-art assistance and safety systems. Worth a special mention are the emergency brake signal, electronic parking brake, turning and lane change support (LCS), and electronically controlled steering that incorporates lane return assist (LRA).
Verdict
We can’t comment on the price – because that’s only available on application. Having said that, we don’t expect a bargain basement price; this is a high-level truck that will come with an equally representative price tag. However, it’s an outstanding vehicle – and you’re getting what you pay for.
Before the International Truck of the Year jurors named it the best truck in the world, they considered a variety of factors, including technological innovation, comfort, safety, driveability, fuel economy, environmental footprint and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – and the truck came up trumps, which is no small achievement.
Also, the MAN senior executives I’ve chatted to reckon that the TGX 26-510 units will offer high resale value in the future for South African operators – which is very important indeed. Bearing this in mind, we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this truck to transport operators who are not only considering their bottom line but also the impact of their vehicles on the planet.
