buying a truck

Who are you talking about? If your talking about 550, he is not getting 7+ for a long term average. Not unless he is driving his truck empty all of the time or driving at 55 mph all of the time. If he were to say he was, I would say "I will never believe it until you prove it."

 

I am seeing between 6.6-7.4mpg running local, and no i dont run light, with this short produce i am HEAVY 99% of the time, I doubt ill average that running west but i am around here. If i stay around 60-62mph ill see over 7 easily, if im hammerd down lowest ive seen was 6.6, the engine hardly works....... Remember the old hot rod saying STOCK SUCKS? Well it does, atleast it did for me.

Now off to chicago I go.

 

Even as a newbie, I have to agree with the big motors = less work theory. Not from truck experience, but four wheeler. I recently sold a Corvette of mine that everyone assumed would be a gas hog. I averaged 23 in town and 26 on highway in the thing. Now I hope my truck motor will do similar and get decent mpg relative to others I could get.

 

My husband is driving a 2008 Freightliner Century Class S/T with a Detroit Diesel Series 60 engine. I can tell you that he has had so many problems it is just sickening! The new regeneration thing that is on them just sucks. He has been in the shop repeatedly for various components of this regen system breaking down. He is currently getting it fixed again. Although it is all covered by warranty he is still down and no miles means no money. I would steer clear of this truck until the kinks can be worked out of this system. Apparently the Cascadia was supposed to be the improved version but I have yet to hear anything about it. I am also sure that it is not just that my husband that got a crappy one since 2 of his friends also have one and have had the same problems. 3 weeks ago him and one of these guys actually broke down within days of each other for the exact same problem! AGAIN I would not advise anyone to buy these things. The interior is nice and roomy but it just won't stay running!!

 

I know what you mean, I am leased to a company that bought several '07' columbias w/detriots for company trucks last year that are on dedicated runs from Tx to North Carolina and have had alot of problems with the trucks mainly the motor. They have been down soo much that I dought they are getting their money's worth out of them.

 

I am currently driving an '06 International 9900i, with a 400 ISX (way detuned 475)and a straight 10-speed. I haul 53 foot dry vans from New Brunswick, Canada to Texas, then back up to Ontario, then home. The truck is governed at 62mph on the cruise, 65 on the pedal. The average fuel mileage so far is 7.4, with 28% idle. We have some Prostars with ISXs set at 450 that are getting in the 8s, but have numerous warranty issues. We have Cascadias with DD15s set at 455/490 that are struggling to get 6.9, but again, warranty issues.

The other side of the coin? There is an owner operator on with us who drives an '03 Pete 379 with a 430/500 Detroit, 13 over, and 3.55 diffs. His truck is set to 65 on the cruise, 70 on the pedal, although he rarely goes that fast, and his average over the last year is 7.2mpg.

 

Hard to believe a pete getting over 7 but nowadays but certainly possible, O/O's right foot's are getting pretty light these days I'm getting 6.75 on my "Boxy" classic W/CAT but I dont see too much action past 65mph.

 

lyion here../ Ive driven 430/470 Detroit's and they are great on flat lands but, unless you have a tall gear say at lest 370 rears you are going to dog the engine driving in low gears and temperature will go way up and fuel mileage will go way down.now driving a truck threw the mountain that has to use lower gears along with the temperature as i said it will kill the turbo it has to work to hard .Ive driven 3 different trucks with 430/470 Detroit's that blue there turbos with one company a long with a few other driver doing the same thing hauling heavy rolls of paper our main freight out of Plymouth north Carolina . we took one of the truck to Detroit's dealer and asked why this was happening they said turbo was working to hard and they were to hot for the mountains.we had 355 rears with 10 speed .there OK for flat lands but eat a lot of fuel in the mountain because having to drop so many gears. he said when the company purchased the trucks we didn't spect them right for the area we drive and for the amount of loads weighing 79.000 + all ways grossing out just about 80,000. these trucks were under warranty but still coast money every time a turbo went out it was a bout $800.because all the blow by went in to in -takes and had to be cleaned out which is not covered under warranty .I've read up on specking trucks from guys that set up trucks for owner operators and every one says unless you are pulling light loads threw the mountain you may have big problems especially trucks that have medium cam or small cam engines they just get to hot and haft to workto hard. they said that trucks with big cam engines that had big turbos and at least 370 gears get better fuel mileage in the mountains because they don't haft to drop as many gears .they said stay in the highest gear as long as possible will give you the best torch .down shifting to soon will run your temp up and temp on the turbo boost and you will find your self coming to a craw .specking the truck with the right gears and hp will save you money and ware and tare on the engines for the type hauling and terrain you will drive in .i hope this helps some of you here. /lyion