Fuel Mileage Bonus Round

[Rawze]

It is all in the aerodynamics, how it is driven, and the gearing vs. the application. Aside from one being allowed to make more HP than another one, as it takes more fuel to actually produce more horsepower, It is not engine programming differences from one brand of truck to another.

-- THE BIGGEST fuel efficient trucks on the roads today, hands down, are a tie between a Prostar and a Cascaia. But those trucks are not a rough and tumble type of off-road truck. They are highway vehicles. Your application sounds more like it would require something like a T680.. it is a compromise of the "tougher" and the "aero" .. and is in the middle of the ball-park on that. It is also vastly more efficient than a square-nose. I know of people getting low 8's with them without too many issues when hauling dry-box/reefer 80k loads when driven and geared right.

As far as a Prostar or cascadia ... If you care for them, the profits far outweigh the fact that they are not made for off-road applications. They are not "tough" trucks.. I tell people that they are a "cavileer" not a "commaro".. but they will also make you the biggest long term profits, far above any kind of resale value that you can even begin to consider after owning one for a few years. It is day and night differences if driven and cared for properly.. but you neglect them and wait till the check engine lights go flashing ... and don't bother to keep after a modern truck, then it will eat your arsse fasst!. This is where the biggest complaints come from. Those people who do not properly maintain their equipment and ignore all its systems, and then blame it all on the equipment when it eats their arsse up in costs.

As a Prostar owner, now with 1.4 million miles on it (owned since new).. i can very easily say that I have saved in FUEL ALONE vs. a square "tougher truck" in that same time frame. It is at least $150,000 DOLLARS ALONE in ONLY fuel saving!.. and I have not had any real "higher than usual" maintenance costs on it vs. say, a newer style Pete or KW, as I have taken really good care of it. - It can be done, it can be VERY VERY profitable.. but is must be done correctly, and a person CANNOT BE LAZY about it, not even a little bit.. because it will bite you real fast if something is neglected!. - Such is modern trucking. Long gone are the days of drive it and forget about it .. those days are long over. that was trucks of the 80's and 90's.. and they were also all horrible fuel pigs w very inefficient engines compared to now. This dictates that most freight rates will not even pay for the fuel in one half of the time... and it rightfully should be this way.. Someone can try to live in that past all they want to but they are just getting left behind, as time moves forward and so does technology, engine efficiency, and aerodynamics, so that a truck owner can stay competitive in today's markets.

To be really successful in today's industry you need to be willing to turn a wrench on it and keep after all the minor to medium maintenance items .. you need the engine software so that you can keep it away from the greedy repair shops and especially the horrible OEM stealer#shits.. and the warranty is not worth the paper it is written on because every "free" repair costs you weeks of down time and you have to go behind them and do the job over again because it was done so poorly.. this is the state of trucking and repairs these days.. it is the reality we live in.. So to be really successful, you need to learn to keep after it yourself .. properly.. and all of it, not just changing the damned oil... all of what is required.. when it is supposed to be done, and not after things fall apart.

You also need a good understanding on how to properly drive it too.. These ISX engine HATE anything below 1500 rpm when your heavy on the fuel pedal.. and the industry is he$ll bent on selling trucks that lug these engines to an agonizing early death by making them run below 1500 rpm all the time, and gearing them way too tall for the application any more. That is another problem all in itself here lately.

There is a maintenance schedule for these trucks and their engine.. and if it is not followed to the letter.. it will cost you big-time and that is where everyone seems to fail (or at least throw all their profits out the window) these days in trucking with regards to trucking and repairs, and complaint of it "eating them up" and "always breaking down".. it is the truck owners lack of education that is mostly to blame and the industry as a whole/ the manufacturers themselves is the underlying culprit for not providing this education about them at all any more.