A note to the anti-auto crowd

Hmmm you dont even get hot and bothered over a gutless wonder man do i wish i had some patience like that any how tried the 13 and like yes they were gutless wonders, but to take em over a million miles i would have shot em first.....

 

Well I had a 2006 D16 I think the first year they were put out, and WOW I have NEVER had such a POS engine. It was unbelievable, it got so bad that I actually bought a small 500$ car and left it at the dealership to drive home with! I was average 6-10 days a month in the hospital with it.
To this day the dealership still talks about how ###### it was, it was a legend. Swore I would never own another.

But I remember when the ISX came out in late 01, lots were sitting on the side of the road and you could look inside the engine due to the hole in the block! LOL and the Detroits in 04 with EGR. I decided to go old school and got a couple W9s with N14s, great engines, spent thousands fixing oil leaks, but an injector a year on average. The one truck I had for 4years and never did put a turbo on it. The other has been a nickle/diming me a bit.

The thing I've figured out is that they all break down on a Sunday of a long weekend.. LOL at the most in-opportune time. Usually loaded trailers in a rainstorm.

 

Where I am from the Volvo FH16 is probably the biggest selling truck for heavy haulage in the 200 000 to 300 000lbs range.
Over heating heads are tho only real complaints.
An aftermarket free flow exhaust system and a double standard size air filter refit seems to sort that problem out.
Nearly all have I-Shift automated transmissions.

 

Ahh no they were fine for the work I was doing with them, I would have been only averaging 60,000lbs or sometimes 75,000lbs so I was always light with them, I kept the Scanias for heavy work. Bottom line is they were reliable and good on fuel , they were an excellent fleet truck and because they were Alot cheaper than scania , if I found myself in a position I had to buy a large number of trucks I'd be buying Volvo with d13's and ishift.

 

I believe it's the same here, overheating was an issue but I don't think there are many problems like that now, I've heard of d16's in the states having many issues though, I wonder if they are in fact a different engine?

We are using freeflow exhausts on our Scanias used on heavy haulage because they are haulin over 300,000lbs the extra heat and pressure was bending the manifold gaskets. Up to lately most heavy haul trucks were manual except for Volvo mainly because nobody's gearchange was as fast and volvos system is excellent for heavy haul, they shift fast and limit the potential for driveline abuse.

Once you go over 330,000lbs Volvo will only sell you a d13 540hp at the most,

 

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What's a scania cost over there? Kw or pete heavy hauler goes for 140k to 160k depends on specs.

 

Ohh that's a toughie, a 4 wheel v8 scania would cost more than that, a 4 wheel r620 would cost somewhere in the region of $170,000, the r620 I drive is rated for 330,000 lbs and I dont suppose you would have much change from $220,000, again it depends on the spec, some are far more expensive , no two Scanias are exactly the same, they are built to order to your exact specifications but I would say a 250 tonne unit with 2 drive axles and three steers and a long cab would cost over $300,000 but that's very specialised stuff. A normal freight 500hp-730hp v8 would cost $135,000 -$180,000 , expensive but they do hold their value like nothing else so the extra is usually gotten back on the resale and over the life of the truck and you could easily expect 10-15 years service from them, everything else is knackered after 8-10 years so they are built with an o/o or small fleet owners in mind, they do have cheaper fleet spec trucks but they are nothing too exciting.

 

#### you SM, i have to wait 15 years to even think about that.....

 

Haha good man bob

 

I got to try two autoshift trucks in my time with PAM. '06 Century and '08 Prostar. The Century suffered quite a few breakdowns.
Worst one was at the New York end of a dedicated. The computer would not get a signal the trans was in neutral so no engine start.

I really liked the Prostar! Much better ride etc. Quieter too.

I bet them Volvos make the other trucks feel archaic!