When International debuted the MV Series earlier this year, it completed the company’s Project Horizon product refresh and brought driver comfort and fit and finish to Navistar‘s medium duty segment.
The Class 6/7 truck – the replacement to DuraStar as of the end of this year – missed out on many of the aerodynamic refinements found on its Project Horizon-inspired siblings like the LT and RH series, respectfully. Tooling around urban areas at low speeds doesn’t yield the same same benefit and as such, the basic exterior design of International’s small vocational entry hasn’t changed measurably in nearly 20 years.
The refinements attached to the MV may not be striking as you approach the vehicle but they are certainly evident from the moment you climb up into the seat.
I took what would be widely considered a beverage truck spec – a two-seater daycab with a 9-liter engine – for a roughly 100 mile drive through north-central Indiana, and was struck at just how large the cockpit feels.
MV’s 82-inch wide cab gives it nearly 40 inches of headroom and 30 inches of legroom for the driver and passengers. Crew cab versions get a 44-inch extension and rear doors that open 85 degrees to allow crews easy ingress and egress.
Used to deliver everything from drinks the grocery store to mulch and landscaping crews to a job site, the DuraStar has long been the Swiss Army knife of the International line. That utility won’t change when the MV takes its place in the order book.
Among the features new to the MV Series are doors with a lower bottom glass edge. The removal of the vent window gives the driver a single and larger piece of glass to look through, improving side visibility and reducing blind spots. Overall, the MV features a 4 percent line-of-sight improvement over the DuraStar.
