First Drive: New MAN D15 engine

This article was taken from the second issue of our Product Innovation Daily magazine series. Click here to read the second magazine, completely free.

MAN’s new D15 engine is smaller, lighter and more efficient than the longstanding D20 it replaces. So does it have what it takes out on the road?

In the world of truck manufacturing, a brand new engine is a rare occurrence, and when new engines do appear, it’s often the biggest and most powerful ones that get the attention. MAN, though, is giving the full panoply of publicity to a new middleweight engine designed from a totally clean sheet. First seen at 2018 IAA Show in Hannover, the new D15 engine is now in full-scale production.

The 6-cylinder D15, the arrival of which coincides with the latest Euro-6d emissions standard, replaces the previous D20 unit after a decade and a half of service, and really is all-new from the sump plug upwards. Its 9.0-litre capacity comes from a bore and stroke of 115mm x 145mm, all ­ figures smaller than the D20’s 10.5-litre capacity from 120mm x 155mm. In case you were wondering if the smaller number in the D15’s name possibly suggests a backward step, MAN’s engine nomenclature actually derives from the second and third digits in the bore size. Three ratings, nominally 330hp/1,600Nm, 360hp/1,700Nm, and 400hp/1,800Nm, are available in the TGS and TGX models, the 400 filling the gap between the 360hp D20 and the 430hp D26.