Are The New Petes better than Cascadias?

The 2019 Cascadia I'm in doesn't have any of that but I think the lane departure & adaptive cruise control bull ship becomes regulatory standard on all 24 and newer models.

 

Drove a 2014 freightliner with that crap. It would slam on the brakes when approaching a bridge. Full hard braking on the highway.

That tech doesn't have well at all. New semi trucks are disposable. Not going to find any with 2 million miles.

 

I hear not much has changed with it. Only thing I really dislike about this Cascadia is the jake. I mean it works great it's without a doubt the most powerful jake ever. Don't even have to touch the service brakes going down Monteagle, Black Mountain or Fancy Gap grossing 80k it'll hold around 47 mph. But in my older manual trucks I always used my jakes to save and extend the life of service brakes using it to slow down for all stops. I could get 6 or more years out of a set of shoes and drums. With this autoshift the jake automatically causes it to slam into a lower gear and wind the tach up to nearly 2500 rpms, when that isn't really needed to slow down for a red-light or stop sign. Kind of aggravating. I use the service brakes a LOT more in this truck and the jake only gets used on mountain grades. I guess there's trade offs for everything.

 

I’d be happy if my truck seen 6mpg, 5.5 best it do empty. But as a O/O with full reins I don’t haul for chicken sh!!t rates so it works out for me. Be nice if others didn’t haul cheap but that’s not gonna happen, industry to muddy….

 

What if you hauled for the same rates you get now but you could get 8mpg?

 

Good set of Jakes are a plus far as I’m concerned…

 

That would be a plus I agree, one reason I’ve entertained dropping a little newer engine in my truck….

 

That's good but keep in mind no niche is immune to competition. Volvo advertised that their 2023 VNL860 spec'd right can get 8.5 mpg running 85 mph. That's actually on their website. I couldn't get 8.5 mpg in my FLD120 or T600 running 85 mph bobtailing! One day $5 fuel will be the new normal. I can imagine probably in 10 years time that $8-$10 a gallon fuel will be a thing and we'll all be talking about how we wish we could get some of that cheap $5 a gallon stuff again!

 

While the o/o market is something they don't need with the Cascadia, they shouldn't have completely ignored it. The dinette option is a nice touch.

 

Totally agree on the fuel. I can remember now cashing a $75 check for fuel to run Huntington WV to Middletown Ohio & return hauling coils in the 80’s. Turn the receipts in and square up on the $$ that was left over.

A newer truck would be nice for multiple reasons, but….. I have 2 direct customers that need the truck & lowboy to go places that would destroy a truck with fairings, and some areas are not exhaust friendly so mine are short. I don’t want to hurt my truck, and definitely wouldn’t want to scratch a nice newer truck.

A look on a load board shows just how tough some of the competition is…..