Tractor test: Yes, the Arion may still use a DPS motor, Carraro front axle and GIMA back-end, but today’s Claas tractor has moved away from the mould created by Renault Agriculture, the French company that Claas bought into in 2003. Here we take a close look at the daddy of the range, the 129kW/175hp Arion 650
The Arion 600 range is the most popular branch on the Claas tractor tree as far as the UK and Ireland are concerned. And whereas the old Stage IIIA engine Arion 640 was the best seller in the 600 range, owners of the newer Stage IIIB tractors are currently split between the 640 and more powerful 650 model. There’s also an ever increasing trend towards the 50km/hr Cebis spec tractors, especially as it is not such a big jump in cost once front axle suspension has been added to a 40km/hr CIS model.
Introduced last year, the all six-cylinder 150-175hp (ECE R120) Arion 600 line-up stickswith a Deere Power Systems PowerTech PVX motor, which has been kitted out with exhaust gas recirculation and a diesel particulate filter to overcome the Stage IIIB hurdle. This engine can be coupled to the familiar Hexashift semi-powershift box, which first made an appearance in 2007, or the firm’s own CVT that will be available later this year.
Key difference to its predecessor is the new cab, which is pretty much the same accommodation as found on the Axion 800 (profi 11/2013) and 900 (profi 12/2013) models and not forgetting the smaller four-cylinder Arion 500 tractors. Main point of separation is that the Arion has five posts rather than the four on the Axion.
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