It’s almost two years since we tested the 4.5-litre, 145hp New Holland T6.175 with the then new DynamicCommand double-clutch transmission. Now it’s the turn of the six-cyl Case IH Maxxum 150 ActiveDrive 8 … to find out if you can indeed ‘replace displacement’.
Today’s Case IH Maxxum family comprises five models (85kW/116hp to 107kW/145hp), just one of which is a six-cylinder — the featured Maxxum 150. Regardless of engine, all family members share the same wheelbase and come with a choice of either four- or eight-speed semi-powershifts or a stepless box.
As far as the UK and Ireland are concerned, the 115 and 125 are more common with the ActiveDrive 4 box, while the 135, 145 and 150 tend to be coupled with the double-clutch ActiveDrive 8 … and there’s just a smattering of CVXs. There are now just over 200 ActiveDrive 8 tractors operating in the UK and Ireland, with the first four-pot tractors arriving in April 2018; Maxxum 125 and 145 were initially the more popular until the six-cylinder 150 showed up in November of the same year. Since then, customers have shifted their preference from the Maxxum 145 to the 150, in short because the premium for the two extra cylinders is a relatively modest £3,000.
So, we were naturally curious to see how the Maxxum 150 would perform compared with the 145, this being the Case IH equivalent to the New Holland T6.175 DynamicCommand that we tested in our May 2018 issue — hence our comparison of ‘four’ versus ‘six’ results. As far as practical operation goes, we can give top marks to the 6.7-litre 150: quiet running, eager and, above all, enduring in front of a cultivator, plough or drill combination. It possesses exemplary properties for a field work tractor, a statement that’s backed by the DLG test centre results. Without boost, the Maxxum 150 reaches 92.3kW/123.7hp at its rated speed and a maximum of 107.4kW/144.0hp.
The results get even better when the boost kicks in during pto work (from 0.5km/hr) or during transport (from 14km/hr). Here the dyno needle finished up at 106.1kW/142.3hp and 120.2kW/161.2hp, respectively.
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