The Econic was always intended to lead a hard life from the day it was first released, and is therefore both designed and built pretty robustly. Inevitably, however, the more clever any manufacturer tries to be, the more things can potentially go wrong. So it’s mainly the more unusual features of these trucks that cause the problems, along with the nature of the work with for which they are being used, rather than the basic vehicle itself. Here are the things existing operators told us to look out for in this Mercedes-Benz truck.
1. Transmission
As mentioned in the main text, the Allison transmission is ideal for stop/ start work but does not perform well over any kind of distance. PowerShift 3 is far better for these applications, but be aware it was only available as an option on Econic from 2016 onwards.
