ISX or DD15, which should I buy?

Western star...........?

http://www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=3254695

 

i would go with DD15

 

This man knows what he is talking about.
Western stars, IMO are one of the best trucks on the road. I still can't believe they arn't very popular over there. In aus they are one of the most popular trucks after KW and Mack/Volvo. Just like a KW for 50k less. Our western stars used to be built in aus but now come out of of the US plant and apparently aus was the only reason that western star survived the gfc.

 

I was truck shopping a while ago and it seemed that at the time the Detroit warranty was far superior the what Cummins offered. Besides I really like Double Ds.

 

Wow. That is a hard call. Both the ISX and the DD15 have issues that are not fun to deal with. Seems from everything I have heard from engine techs is that both are a real pain to work on when things go south. As for the DD15 being a 1.5 mil engine, sure, under the right circumstances. But there just isn't enough real world examples of that happening yet to confirm anything. Remember, those OEM's may take their engines out to extremes, but they do so under very controlled conditions.

If I was turning the wrench, my gut would tell me to go with the ISX. I owned an '06 ISX and learned quite a bit about how to get past some issues. And I have heard some rather nasty comments from mechanics over the DD15... just in doing a simple, or rather, not so simple routine service.

I couldn't bear the thought of going with anymore of this nonsense, so my 2013 FL glider has a pre-egr series 60 in it. No EGR, no DPF, no SCR. Just pure engine that I can do things to in making it better and do not have to bypass anything. I know the comment was made that the Columbia is not as good as the Cascadia, but it is all in how you spec a truck. I went way outside the normal fleet type of mindset in spec'ing my Columbia and it is as good or better than most any other aero truck out there because of it. And I have no ego to bruise, so those with other brands can make all the jests they want. This is a money maker and a nice ride.

 

The company I sub contract to bought a heap of dd15 and dd13 stars and are having lots of problems with the dd's. most of them have a mystery miss in them that they can't figure out. They have thrown countless ecu's, and different tunes in them and they are still doing it. Not having many dpf issues at the moment but we are one generation of emissions behind you guys.
In actual fact KW have now introduced a new cummins engine the isxe5. It's the common rail isx15 but with only scr, no egr and dpf and no vgt just a normal waste gated turbo. We have had them testing for about a year and are going really good. We can also get the old dohc isx and signature with egr and dpf which is good for the guys out west where ad blue is pretty had to get. Most of the egr and turbo issues over here are sorted now.

If it was me I would be going cummins

 

Just a note on the ISXe5. It is not available in the US. But, I am awaiting the next generation of engines that will reduce or get rid of the EGR and DPF for the north american market. As I believe that will be where we see an return to the more reliable engine of old.