Truck tractor Renault T480 T-High GOLEADOR Tractor 4x2, 10A35X-type

Road Goleador

Daniil Minaev, photo by the author

Time flies inexorably fast! Six years ago, the merger process between Volvo Trucks and Renault Trucks was completed, and “Premiums” and “Magnums” went forever into the past... And what in return - today is exactly about this.

The new Renault Trucks range is divided into four series. The T series is intended for long-haul transportation, K – heavy construction trucks, C – general construction vehicles, D – delivery vehicles. This time at the NAMI test site I was able to get quite close to the T-series tractor, and not just a simple one, but a limited-edition T-High GOLEADOR series, specially released in honor of the football championship. But in order to draw some comparative conclusions and clarify the details, that day I drove a couple more tractors with a diamond on the radiator lining (T440 4x2 and C440 6x4), and seasoned the final test with K440 dump trucks with 6x6 and 8x4 wheel formulas.

Unexpected double unification

Remembering the Renault Kerax and Renault Lander, which were used not only in favorable European conditions, but also in Africa and Latin America, where there are many of them to this day, and they have earned a reputation as durable, unpretentious and relatively affordable cars. Probably, the chassis of the new series largely coincides with the successful design of its predecessor, but at the same time, it is absolutely impossible to say that the new line is a different cabin on the old chassis: the company has simply continued to use some well-proven solutions for more than one decade. Among such long-livers is the original design of the air spring suspension of the rear axle on truck tractors - a double-cylinder design on integral brackets with beam springs and a transfer case with locking mechanisms for dump trucks. Then the “Volvo-Scandinavian” unification brought its positive results to the design.

According to the designers, all elements of the car, be it the frame, chassis and cabin, are designed to withstand the harshest operating conditions. The frame is made on straight side members 8 mm thick, and in some places it is additionally reinforced. The fasteners used in the connections are now unified with similar Volvo parts. Wiring harness connectors and air lines with their connecting connectors are laid separately to simplify maintenance and increase reliability. Many components mounted on the frame are equipped with protective covers to prevent damage to components due to contact and possible shock loads. I took a closer look and noticed that not only the frame bolts, but also many other elements were now installed from the friendly Volvo brand.

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Marketing and business

The truck tractor - the subject of our test - is a ready-made optimized specification, moreover, festive and very bold, but this is an exception to the rules of the Renault Trucks company. Many of the new generation Renault Trucks are assembled... by the customer before they are manufactured. No, of course, not in the literal sense. The point is this. The assets of the French-Swedish automaker have everything you need: a set of cabins of different heights, colors and capacities, a set of frames of different lengths for different wheel formulas and bases, a set of engines, gearboxes, drive axles and all other transmission units. We have our own and partner solutions for bodies and other superstructures and many comfortable or specialized options.

In order not to bring down all this abundance on the head of the future happy owner of the equipment, a team of application managers patiently and meticulously combines vehicles for each client, not just for specific tasks, but for narrowly targeted transportation. This fact forced me, along with the test of the main tractor, to find myself for a few minutes behind the wheel of a pair of general construction dump trucks, and very exotic ones, which cannot be said about them outwardly.

One of them, with a 6x6 wheel arrangement, not the largest body of 16 m3, a manual 12-mortar gearbox and very slow drive axles, a gear ratio of 6.5 on tall wheels (24''). Apparently, its operator will have to transport cargo of very high specific density, but slowly and on a short shoulder.

The lower berth is not the widest in the class, but has all the traditional comfort and equipment typical of European tractors

The owner of another dump truck wanted the car to be cheap, yet quickly transport at least 20 m3 of bulk cargo, and even consume almost no fuel. The result was a Renault K440 8x4 with a Comfort day cab, a manual gearbox, a minimal set of options, axles that were fast enough for a dump truck, a ratio of 4.41, on road tires 385/65 R22.5 at the front and 315/80 R22.5 at the rear.

I gave this example in order to better understand the configuration policy of our today's protagonist - the Renault T480 T-High GOLEADOR long-haul tractor.

About the nuances

Those who like to drive heavy cars on the highways will be disappointed. Engineers have provided for a forced speed limit. The tractor will not go above 90 km/h either with or without a semi-trailer. The blocking, of course, can be removed, however, this will raise certain problems. Independent intervention will void the warranty, and you can only officially get rid of it at the manufacturer. Although I am sure that our enterprising craftsmen will find the best way for themselves and not be left without the support of official dealers, and get the opportunity to exceed the speed limit.

The second and, perhaps, the main stumbling block for many in thinking about purchasing a Renault Trucks T460 is finances. And it’s not even about the price tag of the car itself, which is somewhere in the region of 5 million rubles (for the tractor itself).

The company offers to conclude service contracts, insure the car, provide driver training, and makes a number of other service offers. This is presented under the slogan “to optimize the company’s overall expenses,” but not all buyers are ready to spend money right away for an additional service. At the presentation, the expressions on the faces of potential clients who heard about this instantly changed.

The cabin is like a creative workshop

The exterior of the cabin, or rather its emotional perception, is easy to describe! Since the appearance of the famous Magnum, Renault Trucks has not created anything so brutal and standing out from the crowd! Functionally, the bumper consists of three parts. From the outside, the silhouette of the cabin is generously spiced up with an original body kit. Polycarbonate headlight sockets illuminate the road, combining the functions of side fairings. On the roof there are symmetrical chrome flutes of sound signals, and the lights of the road train sign on both sides are guarded by strict antennas - a radio receiver and a CB radio station.

Inside, the highest sleeping cabin in the line of Renault Trucks trucks, the Goleador, is adequately equipped: elegant leather seats with air suspension, the ability to transform the upper sleeping shelf into a storage compartment, spacious pull-out drawers; numerous lighting modes, depending on the time of day, remote control of comfort functions in the sleeping area. The already familiar wealth of modern electronics is complemented by the following individual options: Emergency Braking Assist (AFU) with special light signals (EBL) and the OPTIBRAKE + system.

Inside, I can’t miss the original solution for the driver. Part of the right sector of the dashboard is dedicated to keys, which are divided into four groups according to function sets. So, these blocks are easily removable and are designed in such a way that the driver himself can choose their location in one of the slots in a way that is convenient for him. Moreover, the keys are installed in only two blocks, the rest are reserved for additional equipment or other whims of the owner or driver, but not just reserved, and the plugs are profiled for plastic cards and an organizer for small items.

The architecture of the front panel, with the exception of the instrument cluster, is clearly related to the new Volvo FH and FM family, but it is designed a little simpler, and the plastic is not as soft as that of its Swedish relatives. The combination itself is more traditional in relation to Volvo, with round dials and a color monitor in the center. Among traditional instruments, the driver can constantly monitor engine speed, fuel and AdBlue levels, coolant temperature, on-board network voltage (by the way, our “football striker” has a generator with an increased capacity of 150 A), everything else is left to control lamps or displayed on the display. A digital speedometer is a controversial solution, primarily due to the discreteness of the readings, especially during intense acceleration or deceleration.

About first impressions

The design of the huge tractor inevitably evokes respect. One glance is enough to understand how powerful and durable this machine is. The 2.5 m wide trapezoidal cab with a 12° sloping windshield, deflectors on the roof and headlights, fairings on the “skirt” and on the doors - the truck’s appearance shows that it is ready to rush forward.

Next to this 3.5-meter-high colossus, you can’t help but feel like a dwarf. The cabin floor is almost level with your head. But when, grabbing the handrail, you climb the steps to the door, which opens, by the way, at 85°, allowing you to sit comfortably in the driver’s seat, the situation changes. The road is somewhere far below.

And the cabin itself is so spacious that you inevitably think about the dimensions of the car and how to cope with it on the narrow streets of cities.

Inside you can stand up to your full height - the height allows. The instructor first reminds you to buckle up. The red seat belt reminds you that you are driving a source of increased danger.

For convenience, the driver can adjust not only the position of the seat, but also completely adjust the steering column to suit himself. Back and forth, up and down, whatever.

I glance at the torpedo, and my eyes widen from the abundance of buttons. This is out of habit; after all, the interior of my minivan is less functional, although both it and the tractor are designed for long-distance travel.

But the Renault Trucks T460 has an undeniable advantage - all the buttons can be reconfigured. That is, the control of functions that are often required specifically for you can be placed at a distance convenient for your hand.

Reveal all habits

The 480-horsepower engine of the test car is combined with an Optidriver ATO 2612 F automated gearbox. That day I drove the Goleador solo, then with a tilt semi-trailer, which had 10 tons of ballast. Later, he rode a road train with a dump semi-trailer, headed by a Renault Trucks C440 6x4 tractor. And for a snack, I navigated a mud bath on dump trucks with a mechanical Volvo 12-speed gearbox with a divider and a range-shifter (the old legendary gearbox, operating on 3 lever strokes).

No problems, as you'd expect. I will praise all the cars for their excellent maneuverability and small turning radius, but I will slightly criticize the automated transmission algorithm for some fussiness on climbs. I liked the feedback from the retarder and the reactive steering wheel, but the rules for selecting automatic transmission operating modes look a little vague on the steering column lever, and I already talked about jumps in large speedometer numbers.

Seating in modern European tractors has long been no longer uncomfortable, at least for riders of average height. I also liked the comfortable four-point air suspension of the cabin: there is no “jelly” effect, as was the case in early Renault Magnums, as well as harsh kickback in case of uneven road surfaces.

The engine power of the test tractors differed by 40 “horses”, and there was a difference in the wheel formulas, not to mention the differences in the layout of the instrument panel and different cabin heights, however, on the dry asphalt of calibrated roads and slopes of the Dmitrov Automotive Test Site, no significant change in the behavior of the cars is felt, even if you crack! Yes, the load is light, the track is dry, and the car is new. Not the most favorable conditions when the task of testing is to reveal all the habits of the character of the next pet. But let's look at the problem from the other side. Maybe this comfortable independence of sensations from the cabin, regardless of the load, wheel arrangement, power density, is a small victory for ergonomics? The driver no longer fights with a heavy, clumsy and slow truck, be it a sullen multi-axle builder with a total weight of five dozen tons, or a relatively lightweight and high-speed international highway...

The cabin is suspended on four pneumatic cylinders, for adequate “jumping” the air pressure is controlled by vibration sensors - the Magnum school of mistakes.
The fasteners used in the frame connections are now unified with similar Volvo parts Technical characteristics of the Renault T480 T-High GOLEADOR Tractor 4x2, 10A35X-type

Verdict

Driving this truck is a pleasure. In fact, the driver can only turn the steering wheel and be prepared for sudden changes on the road. The main tractor will do the rest itself.

A person who gets behind the wheel of a truck for the first time will not have any problems with driving it. Everything is intuitive.

And the absence of the need to manually change gears and constantly use your foot due to the lack of a clutch pedal will allow you to comfortably cross the entire country without unnecessary fatigue.

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Don't be lazy to read the instructions

In conclusion, I want to share some advice that I wanted to give after a funny episode with the Renault T480 T-High GOLEADOR. To inspect and film the power unit, I started lifting the cabin. Opened the hood. I found a corner key there in the left front corner, took the extension cord and started pumping. The cabin gave up on the 148th swing, but noticeable effort had to be made only when the number of tube swings approached the hundred mark. Then the Renova instructor came and silently showed me a small black electric drive button, hidden in the same hatch where the hydraulic jack valve control “spout” is located. But, as they say, the job was done... Therefore, in order to make the most of the potential of a well-equipped truck, do not be lazy to get acquainted with all the possible equipment with which it is equipped. Sometimes there turns out to be a lot of useful and surprising things (see inset)…

Financial preferences

For this limited edition T-High, Tourmaline offers favorable terms for financing the transaction through Renault Finance Service Vostok. When making an advance payment in the amount of 20% to 49%, the interest rate will be 12.9% per annum. The leasing period varies from 18 to 42 months. If you make an advance payment of 25% or more, it is possible to increase the leasing period to 48 months.

In addition, owners of Renault Trucks T-High “Tourmaline” will be able to take advantage of the “Pragmatic” service contract at a price of only 7,500 rubles per month, regardless of the leasing period and annual mileage of the vehicle. Test use of two services of the Optifleet transport information system “Reports” and “Route” is provided for three months.

Equipment of an exclusive collection series

The chassis of the 2022 Renault T480 T-High GOLEADOR Tractor 4x2 mainline truck tractor is equipped with a unique rear double-balloon air spring suspension with a reinforced anti-roll bar. The engine is equipped with a switchable WABCO 2-cylinder short-stroke air compressor with a working volume of 636 cm3, and the cylinder block is heated. The total capacity of the fuel tanks is 1470 liters, allowing you to refuel exactly where the carrier wishes; the volume of the tank for synthetic urea is 64 liters. The transmission uses a reinforced clutch with a disc diameter of 430 mm (standard – 400 mm). Considering our harsh climate, the electrical equipment of the football tractor has a large-capacity battery of 225 Ah, and a high-performance generator of 150 A. External lighting devices and windshield wipers, controlled by rain and light sensors, are generously seasoned with xenon headlights, LED running lights and fog lights. The electronically controlled braking system includes disc wheel mechanisms, anti-lock and traction control systems, stability control, forward collision warning, hill start assist, emergency brake lights, and static trailer brake control. The tires mounted on alloy wheels contain a pressure control system. In the cabin, in addition to all the usual premium richness, leather, elegance of space and the usefulness of refrigerators, a very interesting option is a 120° swivel passenger seat with a folding backrest and armrests.

Power line precision

The power unit of the collection tractor consists of the familiar 13-liter DXi-13 diesel engine of the fifth environmental class with a power of 480 hp. pp., aggregated with a 12-speed automatic transmission Optidriver ATO 2612 F - a kind of harmonious tandem, embodying the balance of the necessary and sufficient power supply of a standard long-haul road train with a gross weight of up to 40, or a little more than tons. Add harmony and notes of potential driver confidence: fuel tanks increased to 1470 liters in total will take care of minimizing the use of “other people’s” gas stations and, as a result, increasing the productivity of transport work.