On The Road
Once again the weather gods smiled on us, thoughtfully providing a clear, bright day. Even the trip through Cheltenham was surprisingly clear, given that it was St Patrick’s Day and the middle of the Cheltenham Festival. But it was a different story in the other direction.
While the Midlum’s true 215hp is comparable with the entry-level rating of its 18 tonne contemporaries, its 700Nm of torque falls behind. The Daf LF220, for example, has 17% more grunt, with 820Nm on tap.
The relatively short gearing, which puts the needle right at the top of the green band at the motorway limit, means it just about gets away with motorway running, but with little in reserve. On the westerly run down the M4 it lost speed frequently, but rarely to less than 50mph; only one downshift was needed.
Attempts to restart on even the relatively gentle 25% (1-in-4) proving ground test hill were aborted without an unacceptable amount of clutch abuse. Speccing the Eaton nine-speed box instead of our six-speeder would give not only more suitable intermediate ratios but also a deeper first gear for hill starts. Frequent operations in tougher terrain would certainly require the 270hp rating as well.
If the Renault common-rail engine is lacking in outright torque it makes up for it in the flat nature of its curve, with at least 600Nm available from tickover to redline. The effect of this is a flexible engine that feels the same whatever the revs.
Renault makes no secret that this example’s driveline was specced for urban duties, and that it succeeds. That leisurely acceleration – a full 10 seconds slower to 50mph – is less than a handicap in town, and on the country roads between the towns it bowls along nicely at the speed limit.
Although on the firm side, ride was very good but it became rather jiggly on certain surfaces it didn’t like, including some bits of motorway. Steering is sharp and precise. There was some roll through roundabouts but not enough to worry about. The experience is generally quit, especially at tickover and low speed, but at higher speeds the noise level becomes greater than the same cab on the Daf LF.
Overall, the Renault doesn’t have such a high quality feel as the Daf.
Brake s(discs front and rear) can be taken fro granted – they just do what they should, effectively and without fuss or drama. One nice touch that Renault has achieved with the cruise control is that as long as you are travelling faster than the set cruising speed, touching the brakes doesn’t affect the setting.
As you’d expect from this size of engine, the exhaust brake needs a decent helping of revs to give its best, usually requiring two downshifts to get the larger of the blue warning lights to indicate optimum retardation. A third, red light warns of engine overspeeding.
Cab Comfort
Although the Midlum cab shares the same underlying architecture as the Daf LF, once through the door it’s obviously a Renault. The whole of the dashboard is pure Premium, the reduced width being accommodated by a small filler panel in place of the glove box.
The standard passenger door is the Vision item with its glazed lower panel and electrically powered sliding top section, helping the good general visibility.
A colourful instrument panel has main dials for road and engine speed with smaller ones showing fuel, coolant temperature, oil and air pressure to the right. A small display screen provides a wealth of useful information, including fuel consumption, cruise control status and driving time. Unnecessarily for a six-speed manual box, it also has a digital display of the current gear.
The DIN-sized tachograph is mounted near the driver’s right knee, with a tray suitable for a box of charts close to his left knee.
The mechanically adjusted steering column is topped by a wheel with a fold-out tacho desk in the centre, and surrounded by stalks controlling cruise control, wipers, radio and information display (on the right) and lights and horn (on the left).
Electric window switches are on the door; secondary switches for hazard lights, reverse alarm over-ride, exhaust brake, heated mirrors, body interior light and tail-lift isolator are to the left of the instrument panel.
There’s a decent amount of storage space for a relatively small cab. Our test truck came with the dual passenger seat, which is now an option. It’s still a useful one, however, as it has a fold-down central backrest with cup-holders and document holder. A handy slot in the lower dash is just about large enough to house an A4 clipboard.
A useful lockable cabinet under the passenger seat provides a safe haven for valuables, and there’s a bin large enough for a briefcase on the rear wall. There’s also a pair of decent-sized and fully trimmed overscreen lockers and various other minor oddment spaces around the cab.
Although the ride in the fixed passenger seat is quite acceptable we were not impressed by the upper seat-belt mounting, which is fixed high enough to threaten to garrotte its occupant by accident. No such worries for the driver, who gets an integrated harness on the fully specced air-suspended Isri.
Entertainment and knowledge emanates from a Renault-branded RDS radio-cassette player above the screen, with its display integrated into the dash. You’ll need to move up to a Premium Privelege or Magnum to enjoy your CD collection.
