Freightliners

Google the fridge. Don't go to dealer.also requires an install kit that generally doesn't come w/fridge.

 

Every test out there shows the cascadia is hands down the most efficient truck on the market. For a guy like me that only owns 1 truck, I'll give up a little efficiency for better quality and better standard of living out on the road. Die a big carrier that owns thousands and implement a trade in cycle at 500k miles, that little bit of extra efficiency adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

 

http://truckfridge.com/

Also Google Dometic. Truckfridge is Chinese made, mine is cheaply built, but it still works. Dometic is European, better quality.

I'm on my second Cascadia, I love them. The DD15 is so much better than my ISX was & the Cascadia is a very comfortable truck to work out of. Way better built than my Columbia. The first time I looked at one I climbed up in it & started pounding on the dashboard & wiggling the parking brake knob and the salesman just started laughing. "Everything has changed" was what he told me.

The one thing that hasn't changed is they still look dorky, but I'd rather be dorky with cash in the bank than cool and broke.

 

VERY SIMPLE People can say what they want. Freightliners make more money from every standpoint from Construction to parts availability and reliability these days. People give them a hard time but if you buy a new truck from a business standpoint its really the only truck that makes sense

 

For the owner, not the driver.

Build quality is abysmal, compared to PACCAR....

When new (when most fleet drivers drive them) their OK, after 500K or so the interiors start to fall apart...

You go down the road and everything inside is squeaking, or jiggling.....Mechanically their quite good, it's just a build quality thing.....the materials used inside are '70's and '80s automotive quality....

Other than that, their great trucks!!!

 

I prefer Pete's

 

Seems to me many big fleets are buying up all the T680's these days and they're having lots of issues with them

 

PACAAR are basicly European Renault engines They are far from perfect and have their share of issues. In my opinion is it comes down engines. The Detroit is simply a better engine. Does the Pete give a better ride? Yes. After 5-6 years which will I have made more money with? Freightliner. Simple as that

 

I was pretty happy with my old Columbia. I hear the cascadias called crapcadias and any other redneck degrading name people can think of. But I also hear, sometimes from the same people, that they're much better than a Columbia...soooo, leads me to believe they must be a decent truck.

I sold my Columbia at around 850,000 miles. It had very few rattles and squeaks...because I hunted em down like an escaped convict when I heard one. I may have had a piece of paper towel wedged in a seam, or had tighten/replaced a few screws in the cabinets or whatever it took, but that cab was pretty quiet.

If the cab isn't insulated enough, you can pull the interior pieces out fairly easy and add insulation behind it. I've never added insulation, but have removed and reinstalled the interiors before. I would guess its a weekend job to upgrade the insulation...full weekend, but could be done I think.

I drove Petes and KWs in the oil patch and yes the cabs are superior in build quality. But I don't think its needed in otr trucks. A Fliner will do just fine otr in my opinion. If you're going to do rough duty work like the oil patch or construction, I would recommend a Paccar product.

In the end, for otr use. I believe the Freightliner will put more money in your pocket than the others. Mostly because of the apparent success and fuel efficiency of the dd15 engine. Partly due to less expensive parts.

A Fliner may require a little more tlc in the cab, but its a pretty small investment of time and very, very little money to tighten the cab up. Much cheaper than trying to keep some of these other emission system engines running.