what truck have the best mpg

There was the great marketing war between International with their Prostar and Freightliner with their Cascadia. Both said that they had the truck with the most areodynamic design. This went back and forth for a couple of months and then just died away. Haven't heard anything about it for a while. Then 8 months ago while talking to an engineer with the company that I work for we got into this discussion. His answer of who had the most areodynamic truck blew me away. Neither International or Freightliner had the most areodynamic truck. Kenworth has and has had for a long time. The old T600 line was the best one out there. It got redesigned and then became the T660. Kenworth has the numbers to prove this, but as this engineer said, "they don't want to get involved in the marketing war with the other companies." You can take all this with a grain of salt though as it was hear say to me as I did not see any data from any of the companies mentioned above.

 

the best set up for the best m.p.g. is not that easy to calculate. I have a 95' intl coe, with a 11.1 ser 60 det. 365 h.p. I have always had great m.p.g. after 1.3 mil miles & no major work done until recently. I still got over 6 m.p.g. when the truck had 500,000 miles I was getting 6.5 -6.8 regularly. I pull flat. I dont know why to this day, why I get the high m.p.g. and I'm talking high rpm's like 1800 # 70 m.p.h. & still get better than 6 m.p.g. with a front as aerodynamic as a brick wall. I dont understand it myself.

 

You will have a different answer for every different application. However, aerodynamic designs are always better than none, slower is always better than faster if run in the right gear and low pro tires are always better than tall rubber in any given tire.

There is a new website called Fuel Gauges that allows you to look at the mileage results of all other trucks who are members. The drive train specs, speeds run and loads pulled are usually listed. This can be a good tool to see what is working best for your application.

 

Any truck when spec'd and driven properly will give decent fuel mileage...and even an aerodynamic truck will get poor fuel mileage if spec'd or driven improperly.

You need to know what engine is in the truck, and at what RPM that engine operates at most efficiently.

You have to select a transmission, rear end gears, and tire size that keeps the truck in that "sweet spot" as much as possible....ESPECIALLY at your cruising speed.

You also need a driver that knows how to drive with a light touch and watch the road far enough ahead to anticipate changes in traffic...avoiding fast starts and hard braking...as well as knowing how & when to shift to keep the engine operating at it's highest efficiency.

 

the best mileage is when you are bob tailing, or have an empty trailer and a tail wind! Of course that doesn't pay very well. The important thing to do is get an aerodynamic truck, and then spec the engine, gear ratios and transmission for the kind of work it will be doing, and the conditions it will be doing it in. There are as many variables as there are purchasing options, and that's why they are there.

 

I would never buy a truck but if I did and I wanted good mpg I would get a Cummins ISX.

 

The biggest difference is the driver. I currently drive a 2010 KW T2000 with a cummins and 9 speed tranny.
Lately, my miles are midwest for the most part and I'm averaging a bit over 8.4mpg in March and so far in April.
January and February I saw a lot of mountains and my mpg was in the 7.4 to 7.6.
I don't idle much, have an APU and keep my speed down.
I set my cruise for 57mph, coast down hill as I can (and stay in the right lane). I know I'm slow, but it translates to more than$1200 a month back in my pocket for fuel savings. I run an average of just over 2800 miles per week (since December).
I have friends in the same company, driving the same truck, getting as low as 5mpg. They travel faster, shift a lot more, accelerate faster and have a lot less money in their pockets at the end of the month.
I'm a lease operator, so the fuel savings goes directly into my pocket.

 

Wow that stinks. You can get that mpg with a classic shakeliner with all the wind resistance from the air filters and stacks. The centuries will get 6.8 to 7.6 mpg on average.

 

I'm a firm believer it doesnt matter what kind of aerodynamics a truck has it all comes down to the driver. If you get better fuel mileage on the cruise than you do with your foot you don't know how to drive efficiently and you're probably better off with the cruise control. Every truck i've ever driven i could always do at a minimum .5 mpg better than the cruise. You just have to have a feel for the momentum of the truck and feather the pedal up hills. You have to listen to the engine. I drive by my pyro and boost gauges mostly. Dropping gears doesn't necessarily equal less mpg's I normally drop 1 or 2 more gears than i have to going up long grades and feather that pedal all the way up. You don't hold it to the floor when you climb a grade you get in the right gear and crack the throttle just enough to maintain forward momentum. It's not something you can be taught you have to learn it and it takes patience. Other have mentioned the obvious easy fuel savings like avoiding jackrabbit stops/starts and anticipating redlights well in advance.