Is Peterbilt today just hype?

For decades truckers have been touting Peterbilts as better bilt and holding their values. I wonder if that is just an urban legend in today's world? I was comparing prices for Cascadias, Volvos , Petes and Kenworths. Of course I was just doing this online and seeing the trucks can make a difference. It seems that dealers price the units by year, mileage and maybe specs and options. They were all priced within a few thousand dollars of each other. I tried 2010's,2011,s and 2012's. So my question is are they built better? Where? Certainly not the Pacaar engine! Do they hold their value more than others?

 

Well, if Buzz says so.....

 

If you want to sell one, you only need to find one person who believes that and then it's true.

 

Back when they had four and a quarter cats and 18 double overs and you could run them @ 110 across west Texas now Cats in China and Petes are " aerodynamic "

 

Don't ever ever ever ever ever ever buy a Volvo. I don't know if anything is better than anything else when there is a DEF system on everything new, making all of it junk, but volvox are the biggest pile of plastic garbage in the entire universe. They just fall apart.

 

I don't know too much, but here's what my experience has shown me. To me, they (Peterbilts) are way overrated. We have a few in our fleet, along with a few Freightliner Classics, and now a couple Western Star 4900ex's.

Doing mostly local work, climbing in and out of the truck multiple times a day, the Freightliners have held up really well, and are really driver friendly. Same goes for the Western Stars.

The Peterbilts, which are 379's, have been the most troublesome. They all are 2000 or 2001 models. As I've said, doing mostly local work, where climbing in and out of the cab multiple times a day, the doors take a beating, and the Pete's have not fared too well. Every year, the doors need torn apart and rebuilt.

As far as inside the truck, the Pete's are generally well built, and after nearly a million miles, they're still pretty tight with few rattles. But the lack of tilt steering, and the overall small cab,
makes me despise them. I'd take a Star overt them all.

The new models Petes? Just an overpriced Volvo in my opinion. If you want a truly well built truck, a W900 or a Western Star 4900 is the way to go.

 

Look at the prices of the same year trucks of different brands and then ask, why do the others always compare themselves to KW/Pete.

 

It's so they know what scrap metal pays

 

shotyme: I am having trouble understanding your post. Do you mean that when new the Pete's are more expensive than an equivalent FL? I really don't see a big difference in the values of used trucks. Almost like dealers look only at miles, equipment and condition. Make does not seem to matter. Unless it is a MaxForce!

 

Go look at a say, 2005 Pete 379 and a 2005 Freightliner, with the same shape and mileage and see what the prices are.