Flow Below Added

Programming with the transmission is different and it's much better in the newer truck. Haven't even looked at the other specs yet. Pulling multi-temp reefer now, and have no clue what the unit weighs (lots of drop and hooks so that will vary a lot anyways, versus pulling the same trailer all the time with the 19) but I'm positive these multi-temps ones are much heavier than the single temp reefer I had with the older Cascadia. Run more backroads and stoplights now and only hit max speed about 50% of my miles.

Not sure why the newer one isn't much better. I drive like eggshells on takeoffs and very conservative normally 5 mph below speedlimits everywhere except the interstate. It is what it is. I remember when 6.5 mpg was considered good. These trucks get 8 but yeah the one should easily be doing 9 or possibly 10. That the faster truck gets the same 8 mpg as the slower one proves many a company driver's out there who always felt that was the case, anecdotally of course, and it shouldn't be the case. Freightliner tells the company it should be 12 from what I heard, which sounds like BS one way or another lol.

 

My IFTA for Quarter 2 came to 7.05 mpg,
.48 cpm. And they owe me over $100.

 

What fuel card do you use? With NASTC is pretty easy to get the exact number. You'll have to add the DEF cost too.

 

Fleet one generates you an online report for the quarter with total gallons, total amount you paid, and how many gallons you've purchased in each state. You need it anyway for filing IFTA. The only thing you need is to divide the total amount paid over the total miles driven.

 

Yeah that doesn't sound like something from Freightliner it sounds like something from a truck driver telling stories. I've never seen any manufacturer claim 12 mpg and i don't think any of the drivers on social media pushing the mpg bounds are better than 11mpg, most are doing about 10.

Agreed on the starts and stops killing fuel mileage, we also run over some mountains (or at least what we call "mountains") here around TN, KY, AL. We go back empty for almost half the miles unless the occasional backhaul pops up. I was a lot of empty miles in the older truck but less stopping, starting at red-lights etc. I'll find out specs when I get the new one.

 

Where is the 5th wheel?

Running those hills generally costs me .5 mpg on the same load compared to running oh to ia.

A final thought, after LOH, weight distribution is the biggest factor for my fuel economy. Anything trailer heavy will kill it. I ran 9 mpg from Indianapolis to Atlatan with 44k balanced, 9.2 Atlanta to davenport with 5k (Atlanta killed me), but only 8.7 deadheading to cedar rapids and then up to GB. Load was 35k, but I had 23k on the drives and 29k on the trailer with the tandems at the 43 foot mark. Between the stoplights, the little hills in SW WI, and the unbalanced load my fuel economy was crud. To be fair I was also driving rather aggressive- I made Columbus with 5 minutes to spare. If I didn't make Columbus then I would be in the UP instead of my lazy boy.