2020 Freightliner Cascadia

I got a 2020 last month.DT12 DD15/505 HP. So far I m averaging 8.5 to 9 running 67-68 on cruise, That s with loads weighing from 1400 to 44,000 and with windy conditions. At that speed, its turning 1300 rpm

 

"Windy conditions"...I guess wind pushes you in the back?

 

When I say windy conditions, meaning 25-35 mph cross winds, headwinds, and tailwinds

 

I also have that Flow Below junk on my truck as well

 

I'm getting 9.1 with a 2018 straight 10. Keep it at 63 to 65 and never ever use cruise. Tach never sniffs above 1550 when shifting. Half worn tires at 220,000. East coast to Midwest and back. Weight doesn't seem to matter more than 3/10 between heavy and light. Cruise by foot is 1350.

 

A friend of mine has a 2016 with a DD15/DT12/direct drive ratio (2.3ish I think). He hauls light loads of no more than 15,000 around the midwest. He runs at 60mph all day and regularly gets 10+ average mpg. He also knows what he's doing.

The other guys who run faster (65mph) and heavier get high 7's and 8's. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

 

There are cruise controls that won’t apply full acceleration. My truck doesn’t have it, but I drive at 62 MPH. I would go crazy if my cruise control didn’t work. Hahaha.

The trick with cruise controls that do apply full acceleration is to “cancel” the cruise control before cresting a hill/mountain, and once you have gradually accelerated by foot, then you “resume” the cruise control. My truck has four buttons:

• On/off
• Cancel
• Accelerate/resume
• Decelerate/set

On another note, there is a study that mentioned that cruise control helps most people improve their MPGs. One can beat the cruise control, but typically not in the long run. One of the advantages of the cruise control is that it won’t accelerate past the selected speed. Not using the cruise control means you will likely hit a higher speed just because it can be hard to keep an eye on the speedometer every 5-10 seconds. The other problem is that a fluctuating speed does consume more fuel than a stable acceleration. No human can beat the cruise control in this regard.

 

I agree. I get no less than 8.3. If you run heavy. If you run light 8.5 and up depending on your terrain and the other factors.

 

Id put my skills up against cruise everyday of the week , also the auto trans.. I could beat both of them in a mpg battle on the same day , i think alot of us could..