Leo Barros: Hi, I’m Leo Barros from TruckNews.com. Have you ever wondered what it feels like driving the all-new Volvo VNL? Hop in and find out. All right, let’s go!

Ryan Akers, operations manager, Volvo Trucks Customer Center, Volvo Trucks North America: So, excellent job! We are in the all-new VNL 840, this is in the Edge Black trim, and this particular truck has a 500-horse engine with a 1,950-foot pound torque. And if you want to, go ahead and set that cruise control Leo, it’s already in pilot assist mode and you can set that at 45 [mph].

Leo Barros: Go up?

Ryan Akers: You can go up a bit as you’re comfortable.

Leo Barros: I’m good here.

Ryan Akers: If you’re good there, I’m good. Now once you see some green lines on the horizon there on the display, you’ll know that the pilot assist is active.

Leo Barros: Okay.

Ryan Akers: And what that’s going to do is it’s going to help you keep that lane, if you veer a little bit to the left or right it’s going to help you keep center.

Leo Barros: Yeah, I can feel the resistance on the wheel.

Ryan Akers: It’s nice because you feel some input on the wheel, but it doesn’t feel like it’s going to jerk the wheel out of your hands. Now Leo, as we come into this turn, you can tap the brake there to disengage the cruise.

Leo Barros: Okay.

Ryan Akers: And with that 500 horse 1,950 food pounds we’re going to go up a 6% grade. And you can actually slow down a bit ahead of the grade and will be able to gain some speed as we as we travel up the grade. And this particular unit has 70,500 pounds as our gross combination weight.

Leo Barros: Yeah, we are pulling it on a flatbed trailer behind us.

Ryan Akers: We are towing concrete block today.

Leo Barros: Alright.

Ryan Akers: So, you and give her some fuel there.

Leo Barros: Yeah, I’ll give it some gas.

Ryan Akers: Now this is a 6% grade up.

Leo Barros: Right. What about downhill from here?

Ryan Akers: Downhill is also 6% and it is an S-turn going downhill. You heard that beep there. That’s the road sign recognition for the speed limit.

Leo Barros: Yes, I saw it.

Ryan Akers: Now we’re not speeding, which is a great thing, but if we were speeding, it would be a bit more aggressive.

Leo Barros: With some more beeping.

Ryan Akers: You’d have a bit more beeping there also it will also recognize this left-hand right-hand turn sign.

Leo Barros: So, I’m going to drop my speed to 25.

Ryan Akers: Let’s drop to 25 and then as we go into that turn, I want you just to press that downhill cruise button that we showed you.

Leo Barros: Did.

Ryan Akers: And what that’s going to do, where downhill cruise is set at 25, you don’t have to use the brake now.

Leo Barros: Really?

Ryan Akers: It’s going to hold us at 25 miles per hour. It’s going to modulate the engine brake; it’s going to downshift as needed. If you find that 25 is a bit fast …

Leo Barros: Yes, it’s a bit fast for me.

Ryan Akers: You can apply the brake, or you can in the steering wheel toggle the set lower.

Leo Barros: Yeah, makes sense.

Ryan Akers: Excellent job, but it will actually hold that grade and once you get a little bit more comfortable with that downhill cruise you can modulate the speed in the steering wheel.

Leo Barros: Especially if you’re in the mountains and stuff it’s really helpful.

Ryan Akers: Yes, it is amazing in the mountain terrain. Now as we go across this transition, if you look in the mirror Leo, you’ll see that trailer moving backwards and forwards a bit.

Leo Barros: Yeah.

Ryan Akers: But we don’t see that translated to the driver’s seat so much.

Leo Barros: No.

Ryan Akers: And that’s due to this truck having longer spring, longer front spring. And this also has the GRAS [global rear air suspension] rear suspension. The way the suspension is designed. The older suspension had two airbags per axle. This actually has four airbags per axle. So, it allows you to stabilize the load over a smaller airbag.

Leo Barros: And what I also see there is no yaw.

Ryan Akers: It helps stabilize that yaw; the front stabilizer helps with that. But as well that rear suspension helps with that greatly.

Ryan Akers: Now this also has the feature that if you release your seatbelt or open the door, your park brakes will automatically set. So, your foot on the brake, release the seatbelt and we’ll see the park brake is going to automatically set. You see the red lights there, and now it sets. So, if you have a bit of a forgetful driver. Everyone can forget now and then.

Leo Barros: That’s true.

Ryan Akers: When you take that seatbelt off or open that door it’s going to set the brake for you.

Leo Barros: Thanks for watching. We’d love to hear from you in the comments down below.