Where is (Western Star) located on the "Truck Brand Totem Pole?"

I tow gliders out of the plant to the distribution points, and from what I have seen you get what you order. They are all built to order. Some are Cadillac's and others utilitarian fleet equipped. And some of these trucks are huge! The units shipping to the northern regions of Canada for logging and mining operations are massive. A lot of gliders going to Australia for road train service as well.

 

Since I've owned a couple KWs, and driven some Freightliners, ridden in lots of stuff and looked at almost anything, I see it like this...

KW's T600/660/800 and W900 series trucks
Petes standard styled trucks (379/389/377/etc)
Westernstar
KW/Pete plastic cabs
Freightliner
Volvo
Mack
International

My ranking also takes into account what I've herd and/or experienced about dealers, durability, parts availability, knowledge of service personel, aftermarket parts availability/diversity, and overall quality.

Mack only beat International because Mack used to flock the cardboard they made their interior out of, whereas with IHC, you had to take the truck out of the box and then punch the interior out of the box. At least they perforated it for you...

 

Kenworth does have excellent dealerships and parts availability.

 

I always liked the old Heritage cabbed Stars that were built into the late 90's.... the new one's never caught my attention.

I don't like the styling but I never buy based on styling anyway. The current WS trucks are just too big and heavy for my operation...

 

hah! freightliner was purchased by Mercedes... but they do not build Actros for the USA, they use some european parts and that's all!

 

The only ones I have not driven are Macks, everything else I have driven. If I can't get a Pete or KW I would want to get a Western Star. They are a little simplistict on the inside but I think that it is still alot better than a Freightliner or International. Then again the last two Western Stars I have driven were built around 1999-2000 model year.

 

I have alway been a W900 guy...However, I bought a brand new 1989 Western Star when my Kenworth dealer got a little to arrogant one year!
The '89 Western Star was a good, Solid, Somewhat heavy truck.
The thing was built to last and is still running today for the guy that I sold it to.
When it came time to replace it in early 2000 I actually considered another Western Star until I looked at them and drove one or two of them.

I also looked at a few that were a few years old to get an idea of how they held up after a few years of use...The result was, I bought another KW.

Western Star went from being one of the top class trucks in the industry to being just a big heavy Freightliner. The interiors are not put together well and tend to start sagging and falling apart.
The sleepers are kind'a ugly to look at and they just don't seem to be as good a truck as they once were.

My ballot is as follows:

1. KW W900,T660, T800 are at the top of the heap!
2. Peterbilt although with the cheap plastic Toyota dash that they have now they're not that great.
3. Western Star.
4. Volvo...Not because they are a very good truck but because they are comfortable.
5. Freightliner...Maybe.
6. Mack...Maybe. (Freightliner and Mack are equally horrible trucks these days so they both get to fight for position near the bottom.)

BOTTOM OF THE LIST...INTERNATIONAL (By far) They've alway built clunky, gooney lookin' trucks but they have finally graduated to building not only clunky, gooney looking trucks but incredibly poorly built, plastic, cheesey gooney looking trucks!

Good job International, You went from bad to worst!

 

Always liked the looks of 4300 and 9300 models. My father's first truck was a 9300 with a 60" stand-up, double-bunk Bentz sleeper. Made him lots of money. I think the cabinet in the sleeper had to be reattached at least once.

 

I cant say much... I have a 06 international. First and only truck!!!