Who are the best truck manufacturers?

As a new driver I have only driven the Kenworth T 680 and the Freightliner Cascadia. The Kenworth seems to have a smoother ride and not as noisy. Those were really the only benefits I saw from the Kenworth. IMO the Cascadia is much easier to back with. I was always worried about the nose of the Kenworth hitting something in some of the tighter areas. I also feel I can see better with the Cascadia in terms of mirrors and my front windshield and side windows. My Cascadia has better takeoff performance than the Kenworth and is much quicker in the bottom end. When backing with the Kenworth the truck had a very slow response time. The issue I have with the Cascadia is I have to regen the truck at least two or three times a week. The Cascadia seems to be in the shop more than the Kenworth though. I guess that's why there is a Freightliner dealer in every town on every interstate. I have never driven a Peterbilt or a Mack or a Western Star so I cannot really speak to those trucks. Overall I prefer the Cascadia over than the Kenworth. For me its just more driver friendly.

 

In my personal preference, I like KW and Western Star. I know I'm gonna take some heat for this but I can't stand that stupid floor mounted clutch pedal in the Peterbilts. Just feels so wrong.

 

You can have the best made truck, it is how you treat your tool that makes it the best, do all the services on time, carry a grease gun and shoot some in all zerts after cleaning them at least weekly, some just take a great truck and destroy within a few months because they do not take care of it.

 

There isn't one now.

Sorry but there isn't one.

There used to be but now there isn't one.

 

Newest Chicago 1099 trucks

 

There is no best brands any more. Pick a good dealer that isn't going to nickle and dime you to death, because they are ALL going to break. Between the emissions systems and the cheap components they are using now, you really need a dealer you can work with and that will adjust some of their billing for you.

 

People don't understand, the reason trucks got "plasticky" is to try to keep weight down and performance, if you want to call it that, up.

Back in 1970 gas was 33 cents a gallon, diesel even less. So having a truck that got 3mpg was no big deal. There were no emissions regulations, nothing. A trail of black smoke followed every big rig on the road.

Nowadays, diesel is at 3 dollars a gallon, and has been recently as much as 5 dollars or more. I talked to an old trucker at a receiver on the CB who was with my company. He told me he hates these new Cascadias because they "just don't pull like the old trucks did." He said he never had to down shift in the old trucks. (which is funny, because the 1970 Pete 359 made a mind boggling 250hp, the new Cascadia has almost 500) I asked him what mileage the old truck got, he said "Oh, well maybe 3mpg on a good day."

Ok well lets compare the truck of yesteryear to today.

Today: Easily 450hp and 1800ft lbs of torque
Yesterday: 250hp and unknown torque. Probably around 1000ft lbs

Today: Trucks at cruise get sometimes 9-10mpg
Yesterday: Trucks got 3mpg-5mpg

So we have doubled the horsepower and cut the fuel burn less than half. How do they do that? With computers and lighter trucks. But to say that trucks today aren't as good is nonsense. Trucks today would run circles around those old diesel guzzling dinosaurs. Hell I see a substantial fuel savings in the old 2014 Cascadia I drove up until a couple of weeks ago and this 2016 model with the 12 speed auto. Trucks are identically equipped except one had a standard, the other an auto. My old truck would never do better than 7mpg. That was empty, at 80K gross it was about 5.9. This truck ticks over 10mpg at cruise lightly loaded and heavy is about 7.8 or so. So the efficiency realized by these trucks just in the last few years has been incredible.

O/O today are #####ing about plastic parts breaking off but surely not complaining about going 1400 miles on 200 gallons vs being able to go about 800 miles just 30 years go.

 

I’ve got a new International LT with their A26 and I have been very pleased with it. It is a huge improvement over the Prostar and the N13. I drove a Prostar as a loaner when I was with Knight and hated it. I’m loving the new LT. It doesn’t have the fancy features that the other truck makers have but it has been a great truck so far for almost 39k Miles.

 

Oh yea, and in doubling the power and halfing the fuel burn, we also reduced emissions by something like 95%.

 

I have had this type of conversation with drivers for years. The proof is in the pudding. Today's tractors cost more then those of old even adjusted for inflation. Another problem with them is they are wore out after 5 or 6 years. OOs take better care of their trucks, but carriers today are lucky if they can keep a truck on the road for much longer then 5 years.This was more like 8 to 10 years back then. I have to agree your right with what you brought up, but this quick wear out is not just something I am imagining. It is sad that fuel is much higher. My father told me of buying fuel in NJ back in the 60s for .05 a gallon. It is also sad those old trucks polluted the atmosphere. However I can tell you this one thing. There has been times during my last few years that I would have loved to have had one of those old trucks just to get me out of a bad situation.

Edited:
I failed to bring up what Freightliner did to trucks in the early 90s. Yes it is possible to get a (cheap) tractor and for many years this is what Freightliner was. I don't want to get into a font war over this because somebody feels like they have to defend Freightliner. I can prove my point very easy. I challenge anybody to take a walk around most any large truck stop and keep a running count of the trucks parked there. You will see old pete's and you will see old KWs and even some old Western Stars and a few old Volvo's. How many old freightliners do you see? If you do see them how much duct tape do you see holding them together?