It’s the UD Quon – and it’s honestly the best thing that has ever emerged out of Japan.
The hierarchy
For many years now, the European truck companies have ruled the long-haul roost (I’m taking American trucks out of the equation because they’re not really sold in South Africa anymore). Ask any South African long-distance trucker which truck he’d like to drive – and the verdict will always be a European truck. For, while countries such as Japan, Korea, India and China have also produced extra-heavy trucks, drivers have always maintained that they’re not quite in the same league when it comes to refinement or driver comfort.
Transport operators have long been singing the same tune, preferring to order more expensive European trucks. Fleet operators say that the European trucks are more reliable, better suited to long distances, safer and they also offer a better total cost of ownership (TCO).
Until now …
Enter the new Quon
Now that the new UD Quon has arrived in South Africa, all that’s about to change. I can guarantee that, if you traverse our highways, you will soon be seeing a lot of them trundling all over South Africa – because it’s a surprisingly good truck.
To be perfectly honest, when my test drive of the Quon was arranged, I wasn’t expecting much. I thought I would be driving a reasonably competent vehicle with a nice interior and good safety features (I’ve seen the truck before and I’m aware of its features). But, having never got behind the wheel before, I wasn’t expecting that much. I certainly wasn’t expecting to be impressed.
But indeed I was – from the time I climbed into the cab until the very end of the test drive. The Quon surprised and delighted me like you cannot believe!
My test started, of course, with me climbing into the cab. There are only two steps to climb up and I was expecting to go into contortionist mode (aka the old Quon) – because there are two grab handles on the right of the old truck, and you have to kind of lurch from one to the next. Not with the new Quon. The grab handle on the left is still there but there is one very long grab handle on the right-hand side. It made getting in (and out again) quite easy – despite the fact that there are only two steps.
Once inside, I was very impressed by the interior. You can’t walk through the cab, but the layout is quite terrific. I love the textured finishes on the dash. I also like the armrest, which can be locked into various positions. It’s wide enough, which I like, the armrests in some other trucks are for bonsai truck drivers.
The black and silver dash curves around the driver and all the controls are easy to reach. It is much more upmarket than I anticipated. Japanese trucks, while good, have always tended to be utilitarian and practical in the past. I would say that yes this does apply to the Quon, it certainly does the job. But it also manages to offer the driver a decidedly nice, surprisingly upmarket interior – which is great. There are also lots of nice-to-have features, such as cool air on the cupholder compartment – so your beer (only kidding people, relax!) is always ice cold.
Multi-function steering wheel
The adjustable steering wheel is multi-functional and you can operate cruise control, distance control (for the active cruise control) and there’s an eco-off button (if acceleration is required because maybe you need to overtake, the driver can hit this button to remove the limitation on strong acceleration – Cruise Control normally suppresses sudden acceleration and controls engine speed to provide excellent fuel efficiency). You can also control the multi-display cluster in the centre of the instrument panel from the steering wheel (you can scroll through all the functions, such as fuel level, oil level, coolant temperature, voltmeter, driver alert etc). This can be customised according to the operator or driver’s requirements. Driver alert monitors the driver’s behaviour and will warn him if he’s driving erratically (you get progressively louder warnings until the thing drives you completely crazy – which is a super effective strategy!)
There is also a Nenpi coach (“Nenpi” is Japanese for “fuel economy”), which constantly analyses and evaluates driving trends. By providing real-time feedback through the display, it coaches drivers to deliver the best fuel efficiency. It’s like having a little Japanese driver trainer on board. I commented to my co-driver that my Nenpi could well be very disappointed in my driving; I am probably the least economical driver on the planet.
The actual drive
Before I even pulled away after releasing the manual park brake (the Quon doesn’t have an electronic park brake yet), the Nenpi coach was already yelling at me – “avoid excessive idling!” the little Japanese man yelled at me. I ignored him; I was looking forward to driving my brand new Quon GW 26 460 6x4 truck tractor (the truck really was right out of the box; it had done a mere 102 km before falling into the hands of yours truly). All Quons in the range – my test vehicle included – are powered by the Euro Five GH11E engine, which uses the unique properties of both a unit injector and a common rail system.
As my co-driver (who works at UD told me), the GH11 generates torque in a wide revolution range, starting from low revolutions, and features a new fuel injection system and changes to the shape of the combustion chamber. These advances enabled the GH11 to exceed Japanese heavy vehicle fuel economy standards by 5%, and to comply with the stringent pPNLT Emissions Standards, which exceed Euro 6 emission requirements. Maximum power is 346 kW at 1800 to 1900 r/min and maximum torque is 2 240 Nm at 900 to 1400 r/min.
The engine is matched to a wonderfully smooth Escot-VI 12-speed automated manual transmission, developed inhouse by the Volvo Group (thanks to a strategic alliance between UD’s new owner, Isuzu, and Volvo, these gearboxes will still be available to UD going forward). As we were driving, the transmission skipped some of the gears – because the rig was unladen. On that note, I can’t really honestly comment on the performance of the engine, because I drove the horse sans trailer; we certainly seem to blast off from UD Trucks in Rosslyn effortlessly – and we reached the maximum speed limit of 80 km/h in super-fast time.
I expected that, to be honest. What I didn’t expect was the exceptional braking performance. Quite incredibly, the new Quon comes with disc brakes – and they are utterly superb. They feel as though they’re right out of a European truck. When I came up to the first stop street, I told my co-driver to hang on tight; the brakes on Japanese trucks are notoriously sharp. Not with the Quon. Are they effective? Oh yes. Most certainly. But they don’t put you through the windscreen, which is kind of nice.
Thanks to the Traffic Eye Brake System, the truck also warns you if you’re driving like an idiot and you’re about to drive into the back of the vehicle in front of you. During the test drive, I tried this out. Yes, I did try to drive into the back of the vehicle in front of me (albeit not very hard). A very loud audible warning followed. I hit the brakes – but the Emergency Braking System would have done this had I had brain fade.
Out on the road, the cab is quiet – much more so than any other Japanese truck I’ve driven before. The level of comfort is superb; I would have no problem driving a Quon from Johannesburg to Cape Town (hey, maybe that’s my next story!) – it’s super comfortable. There really is no comparison between the old and new Quon.
The steering is a nice balance, normally it’s too heavy or too vague. The Quon is neither, it offers the middle road and the perfect balance between the two.
The active cruise control cruise does a remarkable job; I used it throughout my time on the highway. It works perfectly. You can set a distance of near, medium or far (near is 40 m, medium is 60 m and far is 80 m). It’s not predictive yet; this could be coming in the future – maybe as part of a package. The architecture is already in the truck. I also left the lane assist on throughout my drive; it gives a warning only; it doesn’t physically pull the truck back into the lane.
En route back to UD Trucks, my co-driver encouraged me to do an emergency brake test. He didn’t need to ask me twice. We sped up to 60 km/h and I did a brake test. The truck stopped instantly. It was most impressive.
Eventually, my drive came to an end. Before I parked the truck, I asked Nenpi to rate my driving. As expected, he berated me. And no, dear readers, I’m not going to divulge my fuel consumption (you will all laugh, and it will be an unfair reflection on a great truck). The only aspect where I did get a pat on the back was the area of anticipation. According to my little Japanese friend, I didn’t mess that up.
Never mind. No hard feelings, Nenpi. I enjoyed my drive immensely. The Quon is a great truck. If I was a European truck maker, I would be a little nervous at its arrival.
