Which of these two new trucks would you choose

880 if it has the bright red motor.
Places that fix diesels are familiar with them and more places work on them.
And when it comes to deleting and tuning the Cummins has options on options. The Volvo....... you delete it. It’ll blow up and if you don’t delete it you’re gonna sit at dealer with emissions issues. Can’t win

 

Kenworth.
One of our guys bought two new Volvo’s. The can’t handle rough roads, gravel roads. The front inner fenders are made of a cheap plastic that gravel punctures in the cold winter. Radiator can’t handle the twisting motion when off road.

 

After owning paccar and Volvo products I would pick Volvo. They SEEM to have the emissions stuff figured out better. I had less issues and I have friends with Volvo that had less issues (over the road) than ANY of our friends with Detroit Cummins or paccar engines.
That said. One friend with a Volvo in upper Canada hates his only because his dealer sucks. AC issues that started before warranty ended were never resolved until recently and he has a 7k bill. Even tho it was initially a warranty issue.
Research both dealers. If you hear good things about them as far as going to bat for warranty stuff and Making sure the truck is on the road not sitting, ....they do their best as far as keeping down time to a minimum, If one dealer is head and shoulders above the other, reputation wise, that's your answer.
My Volvo wasn't without issues. I had a traction control light would not go out. They ALWAYS waited until it was convenient for me, it went WAY Past warranty before they got it finally, and it never cost me a cent . They kept Volvo and bendix feet to the fire and stuck up for me the whole way. The service Mgr is a great guy and if I EVER wanted to buy a new truck it would be there.
I had a new freightliner in 2010 that was exactly opposite. Dealer and freightliner could have cared less.
My .02c

 

Yeah...., just me being a clown.

I've driven a Volvo 780 OTR and it wasn't my favourite truck, but that doesn't mean I think Volvos are bad trucks, just my opinion.
Besides, I wouldn't just pick a truck based on what other people would chose because many people are biased, some legitimately, some just because they heard from a guy who heard from a guy, but they never actually drove one themselves, or that's the only kind of truck they've driven, or it's the best truck there ever was based on the two or three trucks they drove.
Read a few threads about "which truck I should choose" or "which truck is better" and you're going to get a lot of opinions, even a fight here and there.

I'm a KW guy first, mainly because I've driven so many of them and they've all been good trucks, to the owners and drivers, part of which has to do with the local dealer and Paccar's network.
If a truck dealer is deeply entrenched in a region there are reasons for that, usually the dealer provides great service to all customers, not just the locals and influential big fleets, or they're opportunists and there's an industry near by that supports them and they do their best keep others out of their honey pot.

Best way to choose a truck is go see for yourself.
Look at them carefully, crawl under them, over them, inside them, take a lot of time looking at them, the hose and wire routing, quality of clamps, connectors and components, simplicity and ease of access, the engineering, how things are mounted, fit and finish, detailing, etc etc etc......., then go for a ride and drive them.
Have the Volvo dealer set up a test drive in a customer's truck with a load on, run double for a day, then do the same with the KW.
If you're going to drop a pile of cash on a truck you should be willing to invest a couple days of your time and make an educated decision.

Again, I'm a KW guy, but I have driven other brands that I liked as well, just not as much, or the dealer sucked.
But......., having said that, it doesn't matter what I choose, I'm not buying a truck, and if I did, I would look at all of them and learn as much as I could before I laid down any cash.
In the end, it's highly likely I would choose a KW, Peterbilt maybe, Western Star maybe, Volvo perhaps, maybe even IH, Freighliner never again.

 

I hope your buddy is not going to pay the 7 g's. And if they give him the mechanics lien b/s There are ways to combat that.

 

(more rambling)
Aside from which truck is the best constructed, it pretty much comes down to the engine and dealerships in your region where you live, as well as the territory you travel that dictates the best bang for the buck.

In either case, VNX or T880, you have proprietary 13 litre engines to choose from, or a Cummins X15 if you desire more than 500 hp.
With a Volvo engine, (a good engine, good as they get in this day and age I suppose), and using all Volvo driveline components you are pretty much limited to Volvo's dealer network for all repairs or warranty work.
With a KW using proprietary components, you're practically in the same pickle, but maybe with a greater variety of repair shops for you to access as you could probably go to a Pete dealer for repairs and warranty.

I know a man who lives in a small city in Ontario with an IH and a WS dealer, the nearest KW dealership is 400 miles in either direction.
His work is much like yours and he's thought about buying a KW for the last 20 years, but he's scared to try one because of the distance to a dealership and hostilities from the local dealers if he did buy one.
His last truck was a WS 4900FA with an ISX he bought new from a local dealership and he hated that truck, a real lemon.

Then one day.........., he broke down and bought a Volvo with a D13 and he's never been so happy, can't stop talking about it.

I'm sure you're doing your research and are pondering this already and a whole bunch of other things that might influence your decision.
I have no intent to influence your choice, you know better than I the state of the industry and the available dealer networks where you live and travel.

If it were me, in a situation where I was doing mostly local work, I wouldn't worry so much about which truck as I would which dealer goes the furthest to satisfy.
If the truck turned out to be a lemon I would get rid of it quick to cut losses and sell/trade it for something else.

Dealers being equal, I would choose based on which truck is most appealing to me based on the build quality, the known reliability/durability/longevity of the engine and driveline components chosen, research and reputable opinions of owners, drivers and mechanics, and last but not least, driver comfort.

Hope you make the right choice and get the best bang for your buck in the end, best of luck.

 

Just going off what I see when I visit BC it seems every new tridrive logger is either a T880 or a Western Star. Don't see many Volvos off road but the VNX is supposed to be a heavier spec rig.

Oh and happy late Canada Day, Martin. Got your text but was out of the country and had no cell service.

 

I always heard Volvos are only good for taking the kids to soccer!!