Best first truck

Freightliner seems to have the edge with matched components for fuel economy, More Dealer Locations. They’re usually a bit cheaper, and have a worse resale than others. Due to the market being flooded by them. They will most likely have a Detroit Diesel engine. They’re the most common Truck nowadays. The Cascadia. They suffer a lot from Drivers criticism. Since so many have or are currently driving them. It was the same with the older FLDs, when they were common. The others are more money upfront, and hold their value better. Mainly Pete’s and KWs. Volvo’s are nice, a bit pricey. They have a Loyal following. Probably the smoothest riding. Somewhat heavy. Pretty dependable, somewhat Limited on Service and have some unique expensive parts. International also has some unique parts, and terrible resale. Many were plagued about 10 yrs back with major engine problems. They’re not very popular these days. Used to be known for being an affordable good Work Truck. Probably the only one I wouldn’t buy. Peterbilt and KWs aero Trucks are very nice. Good fuel economy, and a decent resale. The big fancy Pete’s and KWs will get less mpg. and cost a premium. They will however hold their value. They’re always in demand. Look around. Talk to Dealers, Talk to Owners of prospective Trucks. Pay attention especially to the Drivelines. Most important part, more important than brand of Truck. Pete’s and KWs mostly have Paccar or Cummins engines. Freightliners have Detroit’s, Volvo’s have Volvo or Cummins engines. Volvo’s also have Volvo transmissions usually. Others have Eaton/Fuller trans. They all can have automatics. They’re becoming more common. Supposed to help fuel economy. That’s controversial and Driver dependent. I’d look at the KW 680, and the Pete 386. I think they’re a good all around compromise of all the different factors. While still offering choices of engines and transmissions. Hope that helps. New Trucks are changing so fast, I can only give general ideas. Best to look around, see what YOU like. Do some research on the Truck and the Driveline, before deciding. Good Luck.

 

Your funeral, my friend, HOWEVER, I didn't listen, why should you. Just a stat, 50% of new O/O's fail within the 1st year, and half of THOSE remaining fail in the next year, so the odds are clearly against you, ducks or not. If you simply must, until you are fully established, I'd steer away from new,,there's no better truck to buy used today, than a Kenworth. There are a jillion out there, you get a decent truck, good dealers, nice ride, and a shred of resale. Buy from a private party, they can tell you all about the truck. My 1st truck was a '82 Western Star, was a good old horse, when it was mostly White components, not sure how the new "Freightliner" ones are. Go with Kenworth, the "Dubja 900" has been around longer than them all, you shan't go wrong with a KWhopper.

 

If you had your “ducks in a row” then you would already know which truck to buy.

 

That was a low blow,,,but you're right. I thought I had mine in a row too, was I grossly amiss, but I didn't have the luxury of this site either. The type of truck depends greatly on what your "ducks" plan to do. I wouldn't take a Pete off road, nor a Mack down the highway. KW is the best of both worlds..

 

THIS ^^^^^^^^ ... Mr. Duck wrangler
1st off the only information you provided is that you have your ducks in a row
You lacked giving everyone more info in what you plan on doing with the truck etc. etc. etc.
I'am not ask gona ask you all the questions to get the info needed to help you.make a choice because your not gona like my answer anyway and your still gona go buy a truck
So I'd suggest you do your do diligence and find the truck that has the best resale value on the market.. so you can try to recover part of your investment when you realize you did not have ALL your ducks in a row and your 1 meal away from dumpster dinning
Good luck Mr.Duck wrangler

 

Peterbilt 389, 280”wb, 18spd..

 

It really depends on what your looking for honestly and if you go new or old.

Weeny trucks are generally the cheapest but easiest to maintain. However their interior quality tends to be the lowest by a large margin and ive never driven or used one that didnt squeek and leak right from the factory. They also have basically zero resell value.

Kennys and petes are owned by the same company and are pretty compareable in all other aspects then name. Just avoid the paccar engines. Their great when they work and last forever.....but all the emissions crap attached to them is garbage and service on them comes at a premium regardless of isx or paccar engine. They do retain their resell value better especially the non "plastic" models like the w990 or 389 for example. They also tend to have the widest use case array of all the brands imo due to being fairly easy to modify and having a good selection of options from the factory.

Macks are better offroad then most other trucks but have a limited selection of shops to service them. So if you go OTR expect a large tow when things break. They also dont ride as well onroad as other models and their engine is basically a volo engine with a few proprietary parts slapped on.

Western stars are generally just an upgraded freightliner. They are nice and the quality is good but they are overpriced and heavy as all hell.

International tend to have a very snazzy interior and are pretty easy to get worked on because ISX and are middle of the road in terms of cost and quality. However some models like the lonestar can be expebsive to get worked on due to how tight they are and any body work is going to be annoying to get done as only a selection of shops can do it. They still carry a bad reputation after the maxxforce feasco though.

Volvos are the most average of trucks. They do everything alright but excell at nothing. Service dealers are everywhere but also expect long waits for service because of how common they are. Their engines are also hit and miss. They are either great or bankrupt you even moreso then a paccar engine. They also have near zero resellability due to how much they are conflated with the sterotype of being driven by.....less skilled drivers.....

Really though most trucks are more or less the same with slight tweeks to looks and badges and use mostly the same parts as every other brand unless your going into specialized in which case some options offered by X brand are going to be a lot more desireable.

Course that is just my opinion on things and i am sure most will disagree with me.

 

If you really want to become an OO then I recommend a freightliner, they are cheaper to buy and repair, however usually their resale is poor. But right now used trucks are extremely expensive.

 

I can still call KW parts for my uncles 1976 W9, while most freightliners are thrown away after ~10 years

even if you don’t want a hood a t600/377 still get the quality of those trucks with the wanna be cab over hood, but I like my “old junk”, 2000 and down only