MAN horseboxes??

[ellie_e]

We will be hopefully selling our little faithful 3.5ton box on the weekend, and Ive spoken to a nice chap about an Iveco he had faor sale which has now sold, however he mentioned he had a MAN for sale, with the spec we need slightly out of our budget, but thought it may be worth a look, hes about 2hrs drive from us. Anyone have any experiences of them? We currently have a VW box, I've read somewhere that MAN are VW??
Anything we should look for when we go, as the 7.5ton's we've been to see have been not what were after

 

[Irishcobs]

MAN are made by VW. I love my MAN lorry. It is old (G reg) but is still going strong. It happily takes my 17hh and a friends 15hh up big hills and I don't even notice the weight.
In fact I was being followed by a friend with in her Iveco lorry (V reg), same weight as mine (7.5tons) up a big long hill, her horse is lighter than mine and I pulled away from her and made it up in 3rd gear, she had to stay in 2nd.

Tilt cabs are always a bonus, they are so so much easier to deal with.

 

[ellie_e]

Great thank you, the one in question is 01 plate which is alot newer than our current Mreg so very excited, hope we can haggle him down on the price now....

 

[becca1305]

I was told MANs are excellent chassis but can be heavy? But regardless of the chassis I would always check the payload anyway so worth a look. Since he's quite a way from you might it be worth ringing in case he has taken it to a weigh bridge and knows the payload so you know whether its potentially suitable or not before travel .

 

[star]

the ones I looked at with the living spec I wanted were all too heavy. I was told they are good mechanically but no good when they've only got a 1tonne payload!

 

[Escada2004]

I was told MANs are heavy to but good lorries - check the payload (i would on any lorry)

 

[cptrayes]

I love mine. It's an 02 and drives beautifully. I don't know about them being heavy, I have an aluminium container, but I get brilliant mileage out of it compared to my old Cargo.

 

[ellie_e]

thank you all.

 

[dressage_diva]

I was told MANs are heavy to but good lorries - check the payload (i would on any lorry)

Same. I was always told great lorries, but can be heavy. I think MANs are therefore more common on HGVs, rather than 7.5tonne horseboxes?

 

[SpottedCat]

I love mine - 7.5T, full living with shower, hob, fridge, oven etc, payload of 2.1T unladen. So not sure the newer ones are really that much heavier?

 

[Super_Kat]

Mine is fab! So easy to drive, 7.5t but only has a 1.5t payload

 

[Stroppy Mare]

Love mine. It laughs at steep hills with 2 horses, plus tack and 3/4 people in. Normally only travel one horse mind, and usually travel a max of 1.5/2hrs one way.

He's actually pretty economical on fuel, and has a smaller turning circle than our old LR discovery! He's quite an old chassis (L reg) but only a 4yr conversion, and low mileage.