What truck brand to buy

I agree with you on Detroits getting good fuel mileage and that fuel economy is subjective. I have to disagree with cat not being able to meet epa regs, I think it's more that cat will not play this game with the epa and carb. Look at what has happened when once again the government gets involved, there has been nothing but trouble with the new commie motors,the cost of the truck has went up and the cost of operation has went up and it all comes back to the consumers paying higher prices for everything out here. It's to bad that detroit and cummins did not stick together with cat. In numbers there is strengh. All these motors were clean with out haveing to use DEF and so on. just my .02

 

From what I am hearing the new 2011 engines being put into service are doing very well. 8+ mpg's and in some cases over 9 mpg. Of course the drivers have a lot to do with these numbers and I believe going forward the economy will get better.

I know if I had to buy a truck today I would buy a new Volvo 670 with the 13 liter I shift direct drive. The Volvo rides better than any other truck i have driven and they are almost as maneuverable as a cabover.

 

I run CAT and have gotten better fuel mileage with them than the Detroit's that I used to own. The way trucks are geared, type of freight, where you run and how the drivers runs will be the determining factor more than the engine.

 

You are a new driver. You have at least a year or two before making that decision. Be sure to drive company for awhile or this could end up being a very costly mistake.

 

When you are driving on ice or snow you need to slow down and not make sudden moves. My guess is that the driver was going too fast for conditions and may have panicked. I may have started sliding and over corrected. For him to bust through two barriers and still go as far as he did he must have been going pretty fast. I have driven in every type of weather that you can imagine. I always slow down and make sure to NOT make any sudden moves. If you jerk the wheel when you are on ice then you very well could lose control.

 

Which part? The losing control of the truck part? The ending up on the evening news part? Or the losing control of the truck, ending up on the evening news then ending up on youtube so future generations of noobs will be able to laugh at your misfortune part?

Here's the thing. He didn't just end up in a pond. He ended up several hundred feet into the pond after going through two sets of retention cables (according to the news reporter). That absolutely positively cannot happen unless you have lots of speed built up first. Go slow when the road conditions suck and you significantly reduce your chances of ending up on the evening news and/or youtube.

 

You don't travel that far in the water unless you have some inertia.