Road Tests: Mercedes-Benz Axor 1840LS Euro-5

Full marks go to Mercedes-Benz for being the first to be measured at the pumps at Euro-5. This year has been a barren time for heavy truck tests as manufacturers seem to have discarded all their Euro-3 test vehicles, in favour of building up Euro-4 and Euro-5 stocks. And with Euro-3 sales rocketing they've clearly have needed little help from CM. With so much riding on this test Mercedes sensibly played it safe with a proven driveline and sensible power output; and at 40 tonnes consumption will be better than at 44 tonnes. In the event it was no more than a hill start away from breaking the 9.0mpg barrier. Sure you need to factir in the cost of AdBlue (in this case at 3.38% of diesel used). But the improvement in fuel consumption, compared with the otherwise almost identical Euro-3 Axor we tested in 2002, shows that meeting Euro-5 need not break the bank.