whats tbe best practical 450 hp and up

Cat and Cummins have the power. Detroit makes the money. Better fuel mileage and Much cheaper parts when they do break, as all engines will eventually.

 

Flip a coin, they all reach into your pocket at some point, more often than not nowadays.

 

just hearsay and none of it was ever good.....


we have all ISX in our 660's and they aren't real reliable lots of codes and emission problems..


I get low 6's for mileage running heavy and fast, no APU so idle time is up pretty good..

I'm a Cat man but not even I would touch an ACERT..


Last Detroit I owned was a oil leaking no pulling POS, and the mileage that everyone just loves to rave about didn't impress me either....never own another

 

My opinion on them is the same as the navistar. I won't own an engine designed by a truck manufacturer. Every parts store and truck dealer carries parts for a cat, Detroit, or cummins. For those volvos you are going to Volvo, no matter what. And not only does the lack of competition drive prices up, you might be three hundred miles away from the closest dealer.

 

isx if you want power, detroit if you want mpg.

only motor i seen in the low 6's so far. was the d60.

the isx and dd15 have both been mid 5's. although i had one isx485 get close to 6. the extra power was nice.

detroit and cummins are the 2 most popular motors, per se. the only cats i drove were home locally. so i couldn't say about parts availablity on the road. but they're also expensive to maintain.

i like the d60. that thing just ran. now that the dd15 is getting up there in miles. i'm not too impressed with maintanance. good thing truck is going by by soon as my new replacement arrives. starting to cost me downtime like the isx's have.

it's a crap shoot with any engine. but you'll be better off the with big 3. then the other brands.

 

If you're running all 48 and or fairly heavy loads, start your search at 500 hp.

If you were looking for a pickup truck, you would notice that some came with 4 bangers, 6 bangers small V8s, big V8s and diesels...the 4s would get better economy, right? But what if you were pulling a travel trailer? The bigger the job, the bigger you want that motor.
If you pull extremely light loads, the smaller engines (430-450) will do better. But if you're normally near grossed out or pulling grades, 500 hp will perform better, and make it easier on the driver.

Mr Spyder made a good point. You have kenworth, Freightliner, and Pete PLUS Cat, Detroit, and Cummins to choose from. With a Volvo, you just have The Volvo dealer. That will hurt you big. If they are booked up, you will wait longer since you have less options. What does that mean? Take your repair bill and multiply it times two. The shops charge you a certain rate. Every day you're down, you're losing money.

 

If you guys are buying new and getting a 500K warranty,does this change the equation?

 

I'd get the old 450 hp 1693 "Clatterpillar" motor. It was the engine to have in the '70's. Or maybe the old 450 hp V-12 Detroit, "The buzzin dozen". Another runnin' motor, if it stayed together, that is.:smt023