.4 The clutch pedal is fairly light and although the
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gearbox's synchro' baulking devices had strong resistance, the short stick movement felt friendly.
Under normal road-going conditions, gearchanging is easy enough but it doesn't take kindly to hurried down-changes, as we found to our cost up the severe Wantage hill.
As the P93's speed plummeted on the sharpest incline, a speedy two-step skip down to the low range left the driver with a handful of neutrality and a tricky restart on the smooth, slippery surface.
Its nicely balanced park brake release came in handy but the lesson was not to go for fast changes over the Alpines, as a driver practised in art of constant mesh can, but to take more revs with every gear.
Damp tracks at MIRA left us unable to quantify brake effectiveness using our Motormeter test equipment. However, driven quite hard between towns left little doubt in our minds as to the service brakes' stopability, especially when tested beneath junction 24 on the M4.
Here, a doomsday racer, joining traffic held up on the roundabout by an overturned container artic, entered gaps that did not exist inviting the Scania P93 to play a deadly game of leapfrog.
On fast downhill runs there's little to be gained from using the exhaust brake apart from boosting the decibel levels. With slower, more controlled descents, it becomes more effective the closer the revs get to the red line.
Optional air suspension over the rear axle costs another .£2,560. With it, the ride feels very smooth over uneven A-roads and there's very little roll from the front either. For those carrying sensitive goods the extra cost must be good value.
Jump into any day cab after driving a larger sleeper-cabbed attic and it feels restrictive. However, Scania' s short P-cab is well laid out, is fairly roomy despite the bulky engine cover between the seats but, like most day cabins, is a bit short on storage space.
Drop a batch of invoices over to the passen. gees footwell and there's another drawback to this cab. You have to get out and go around to retrieve them. Its three evenly-spaced steps up to the comfortable driving seat which, apart from the large sun visor that occasionally restricts upward views, provides quite good forward visibility. The nearside mirror set helps the driver see the kerb and down the sides. Like most other makes, they're no help in seeing around the front lower corner.
You don't have to wait long for the heater to do its work and the temperature controls are easily balanced to suit It feels well insulated but registered fairly high decibels at the driver's ear with most of the noise rising from beneath the cab. Attractive back lighting ensures the instruments show up well in the dark and switches are well laid out according to priority use.
As usual,the Scania cab's interior trim is very practical if uninspiring to the eye and can be readily washed and swept out.
The P93ML delivers a comfortable albeit noisy drive. Its big 8.5-litre engine is a flexible, low-revving unit that delivers good journey times and above average economy. It has a well-established driveline with a wide choice
of final drives and some interesting options where the air suspension is concerned.
The 17-tonne market should be worth close to 6,000 units at close of play this year so the stakes in this sector are high. Scania has ground to make up on the 'big three' of Iveco Ford, Leyland Daf and Volvo which together look like taking equal shares in almost half of the spoils.
Nevertheless, the P93 has much to commend it. If, as our political leaders insist, the recession is finally over then operators presently doing their lastminute Christmas shopping or looking for New Year sales bargains should not overlook Scania's 17 tormer, 7 by Bryan Jarvis