PRACTICAL TEST: Claas Scorpion 7045 VP+ telehandler Performance and price are generally linked, and so it is with Claas’s flagship 7m lift Scorpion telehandler. Bottom line: Does the powerful 4.4t capability of the Scorpion 7045 VP+ model amount to enough to offset the painful price sting attached? We climb aboard to assess the 7045’s various pros and cons.
If the farm is seeking a low capital cost solution to its materials handling workload, then it would be well advised to cast its options net beyond the subject of this month’s practical test. Claas has never been associated with producing budget equipment, and its Scorpion telehandler is certainly not in any imminent danger of breaking that particular mould.
Our first encounter with the scarily tagged Scorpion came back in profi 11/06, when we reckoned that ‘the all-new Scorpion would seem to have all of the necessary ingredients to advance the company’s reputation in a handler sector currently dominated by the likes of JCB, Manitou and Merlo’. The intention with this test is to determine whether those ‘necessary
ingredients’ are indeed in place and are prepared to put in an appearance when subjected to detailed scrutiny.
Tasked with upholding the Scorpion reputation across these profi pages is the latest 7045 VP+ model rather than the more mainstream 7040 that we drove back in 2006. Key 7045 vs 7040 difference is that the higher capacity – 4.4t as against 4.0t – and higher priced machine is more likely to appeal to those farms that are looking for big shovel-type performance with the extra versatility of a telescoping boom – farms planning on shifting large quantities of, say, beet and grain.
