My company is in the process, over the next couple years, of replacing our Mack's with KW's. One thing I have said many times is how boring the T680 is, particularly the interior, last week after the new sleeper arrived, I realized what I meant, miles upon miles of boring grey/black plastic. I know it's only a sticker, but at least the fake wood trim in my Mack gives the interior more character, makes it feel nicer. Apparently, KW only offers grey/black plastic as a dash option, unless you but a W9 or W900.
Then there's the build quality, the bolts attaching the fairings to the cab, half the bolts have a stainless washer, half the bolts have a zinc washer. We called the salesman, over the phone you can visualize him shrugging his shoulders. The adaptor KW sent for us to install with our ELD's is the wrong one for the truck. Then comes the worst, the drivers door, when it's closed, at the top it's flush with the body, about 1/4 the way down, either the door or the cab has a problem, the door does not fit flush, nor is it a tight fit. At the top, the gap is roughly 1/8 inch, at the bottom, the gap is more than 1/2 inch, you can see the rubber moulding and trim. They said there is no adjustment, but they are willing to look at it.
As my boss was applying the company stickers, he also noticed a bunch yellow grease pen marks all over the truck, like they were inspecting it. Inspecting it for what?
I thought Kenworth was the world's best???
Discussion in 'Trucks [ Eighteen Wheelers ]' started by striker, Jun 26, 2020.
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Sucks to hear quality is going down. Gotta slap those robots building the new cabs. The old B cab seems to be a superior cab IMO. Even my 40 year old A cab has held up well after 30 years of abuse and no wonky gaps and such.
spsauerland Thanks this. -
if u think the t680 is boring then i hope ya dont look inside a pete
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D.Tibbitt Thanks this.
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I drove a ‘96 w900 for a year and switched between a cascadia and a t680 a few times. It’s actually embarrassing how much worse a t680 is compared to a cascadia in just about every way. I’m not even talking about the newer cascadias. Heck, just the fuel pedal being too far to the left on the t680 was killing me.
bzinger Thanks this. -
I have an 09 t660 and it is at 1.3 ...held up quite well .....but the comfort and amenities in my cascadias surprised me , the Xtra insulation package paired with the newer parksmart not too shabby either. I am still working through the steering/ handling on a few of them compared to my kw, but in all fairness I spent years on the kw getting it there
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PACCAR spent decades building a reputation for quality trucks. And killed that reputation in just a few short years.
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rydr Thanks this. -
When Paccar introduced their european designed cab years ago I knew it was the end of commonsense and quality for them. They jumped on the 3 year service and throw away bandwagon that Diamler invented with Freightliner.
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After reading all this, I guess I'm thankful for my Freightliner with lock washers. (Western Star 4900)
I love the interior, there's a small squeak somewhere under the dash, but I don't really notice it too much.
We had a new 389 day cab up to try out, nobody wanted it. Just too cramped inside for what we do. Running a day cab, I carry rain suits, muck boots, a small tool bag, and other odds and ends. The Star has enough room. The Pete didn't.
It's a shame that Kenworth has been ruined by the one cab fits all mentality.
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