The roof height inside the Mercedes Benz Actros GigaSpace cabin does create a sensation of space, even though the length and breadth measurements on the cabin are the same as all Actros cabs.

There’s plenty of room above the windscreen and it’s got cupboards directly above windscreen height and the one in the middle has got a microwave fitted in it. That’s two big cabinets and then one with the microwave.

This particular model has a double bunk. The fold down upper bunk is smaller than the lower one, but looks big enough for an average driver. On the passenger side, there’s a small fold down desk/table directly in front of the passenger seat. On first sight, it looks a bit flimsy, but in fact, it holds up quite firmly and there’s no ‘bounce’ when typing on my laptop.

Underneath, the main bunk has room for two fridges or a fridge or freezer. This one’s got a fridge on one side and a big drawer next to it. You can lift the bed and get access into the side lockers.

Image: Prime Creative Media

The side lockers are the standard European size single locker, but I’m 176cm tall and when I was looking to see if there was a bar for the jack, to test the trailer tyres I couldn’t reach into the back of the cabinet, because the cab height means the locker is mounted that much higher.

The dash is the familiar Benz design, which has remained pretty much the same, with the odd tweaks here and there added over the years. The main difference in these more modern trucks is the growing size of the screen facing the driver on the central binnacle.The screen is even larger, directly in front of the driver with a typical array of digital instruments.

This is a 2020s truck, the keys just have to be inside the cabin for the engine starter to work. There’s a digital dash and a touchscreen to the driver’s left to interface with the entertainment and information system.

The full panoply of safety systems are available and using them does make life a little easier. The adaptive cruise control keeps a safe distance to the vehicles ahead.

The only thing the driver really needs to do is keep an eye on the actual speed. If the vehicles in front slow down, the truck slows with them. Then it’s time to intervene, take over control and move up to overtake the slowing vehicles, then back again to a comfortable cruise.

The truck also has an active steering control with an indication on the screen of where the system will try and hold the truck, in relation to the white lines on the road. The default position is centrally in the lane. However, most truck drivers will prefer to be closer to the fog line than to the central white line.

It is possible to adjust the system to place the truck in your preferred position. For myself, I aim to have the rear trailer wheels about 300mm from the fog line. A bit of adjustment on the screen got the truck in the right place.

Making this adjustment stops a lot of the little adjustments happening, which the system will try to make if the driver is steering away from that central line subconsciously.

If the truck wants to be on a different line to that preferred by the driver, the constant minor adjustments can be intrusive and, often, the reaction is simply to turn the active steering off. Adjusting it to suit driver preference leads to a much less irritating driving experience, but the controller needs some careful ‘stroking’ to get the positioning just right.

Image: Prime Creative Media

Overall Impression

This is clearly a very modern truck with all of the gizmos, which are becoming ubiquitous. It’s also roomy spatially, but some would be disappointed with the bunk width. For such a high cabin, the visibility is good. The bottom of the windows in the doors are around knee level and a well placed real mirror covers that blindspot directly in front of the truck.

The MirrorCam, on this trip, was effective and enhances visibility rather than detracting from it, with the caveat that reversing onto a dock at night was not part of the journey.

Pulling a loaded B-double over the Melbourne to Adelaide run with a 630 hp engine and smart AMT is one of those runs which this truck was designed for. The cab suspension is effective in damping down sway without compromising comfort and there are plenty of electronic toys to play with as the journey plays out.