Volvo FH

The current Volvo FH arrived in February 2020 and sits in the same competitive slot as the Actros L and the TGX. What separates it is less the cab than the transmission and one unusual engine.

Three ways to move 40 tonnes

The standard D13 at 12.8 litres covers 309–397 kW and 2,100–2,600 Nm. It is the default and the volume seller.

The D13 with I-Save is the interesting one. It is a turbocompound engine: a second turbine recovers energy from the exhaust stream and feeds it back to the crankshaft. The result is a narrower power band — 309–368 kW — but more torque, 2,400–2,800 Nm, and it arrives lower. On steady motorway work at high annual mileage that trade is usually worth taking; on variable regional work it is often not, because the engine never settles into the operating window where the recovery pays.

The G13 runs on LNG or bio-LNG at 309–368 kW. Whether it makes sense is a fuelling question rather than a truck question: it is a good engine tied to a refuelling network that is thin outside a handful of corridors.

I-Shift is doing more work than the spec sheet suggests

The 12-speed I-Shift is rated well beyond the vehicle. Depending on the variant fitted, approved combination weight runs from 44 tonnes to 100, and the crawler version to 325 for heavy haulage. That means the gearbox, not the chassis, is frequently the component that decides what a given FH is allowed to pull — worth checking on a used purchase, where two visually identical trucks can be rated very differently.

A note on what is not here

Volvo announced a new-generation D13 and G13 platform for sale from the third quarter of 2026. Horsepower figures have been published; kilowatt figures have not. Those engines are therefore absent from the table rather than converted, because a converted figure would look like a manufacturer figure and is not one.

Buying used

Establish which D13 is fitted. I-Save and standard share a displacement and look similar on paper, and they do not cost the same to run or to repair. Ask for fuel data rather than a description.

The air brake system components are the usual high-mileage replacements, and their condition is a reasonable proxy for how the whole vehicle was maintained.