June 2010, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
Last week's ride 'n drive at the Mount Vernon, Wash., Paccar Tech Center was set up to experience over a day both the new Kenworth T700 and the Paccar MX along with other Kenworth models and optional Cummins engines. Several hours with Kenworth's redo of the T2000 show the new T700's way better
Tags: Test Drive
June 2010, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Primitive batteries and limited range caused electric cars and trucks to lose a technology battle with the internal combustion engine in the early 20th century. But electrics have come a long way, buddy
Tags: Test Drive
May 2010, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Well-attended educational sessions and an ever-larger trade display marked the National Truck Equipment Association's annual meeting and Work Truck Show, held in March at the St. Louis Convention Center
Tags: Test Drive
May 2010, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor
There apparently was never any question whether Ford Motor Co.'s new Power Stroke diesel would be another V-8 because, as an engineer explained when it was announced last year, "V-8s are in Ford's DNA.
Tags: Test Drive
April 2010, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Paccar, the corporate parent of Kenworth Truck and Peterbilt Motors, should print up some new stickers that say, "Low Revs 'R' Us," then smack 'em on the dashboards of all trucks equipped with its new MX-13 diese
Tags: Test Drive
March 2010, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor
One of the things we expect from 3/4- and 1-ton pickup trucks is a stiff ride. Strong springs are needed to haul heavy loads, so when the truck's empty it's got to ride a little rough
Tags: Test Drive
February 2010, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Premium is as premium does, and at least for the driver, Freightliner's Coronado does things very well
Tags: Test Drive
February 2010, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Eaton's electric-drive system is the one usually used by truck manufacturers who offer a medium-duty hybrid, including Freightliner, Freightliner Custom Chassis, Kenworth, Peterbilt and Navistar International. One builder that doesn't make hybrids is Ford Motor - but it does suppl
Tags: Test Drive
December 2009, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
If it hadn't been for the development of copper zeolite as a catalyst to use in reducing nitrogen oxides (NOx), Cummins might have been right alongside Navistar in using increased levels of exhaust gas circulatio
Tags: Test Drive
December 2009, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Municipal trucks have to work all year round, and they work especially hard when heavy snow falls. "Plow trucks" keep motorized civilization moving, and for this task and others that demand strong specifications, Kenworth has the T470
Tags: Test Drive
November 2009, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
Eaton's UltraShift has been updated and upgraded with a new, two-plate, electronically activated clutch and revised logic for the electronic controller that makes it a much sweeter transmission that will learn - or coach - according to driver deman
Tags: Test Drive
October 2009, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Jim Park, Equipment Editor
Call it pre-need planning. When Detroit Diesel rolled out its DD15 engine in October 2007, the company said it was a clean-sheet design, birthed EPA-'07-compliant and 100 percent ready for EPA-201
Tags: Test Drive
September 2009, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
Opportunities to evaluate natural heavy-truck gas alternative power have been few to this point
Tags: Test Drive
August 2009, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor
Testimonials are fine, but repeat business is the best endorsement for a product. Wayne Klink, founder and president of a fleet with his name, likes his 90 Volvo trucks and the latest component in three of them, the I-Shif
Tags: Test Drive
August 2009, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor
One look at this truck tells what it is - a big hauler of large and dense loads - and what it's not - a posh over-the-road freighter
Tags: Test Drive
June 2009, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Equipment Editor
Almost since pickup trucks began outselling automobiles in the 1980s, the domestic Big Three auto makers - who still dominate light-truck sales with their full-size models - have been leapfrogging over each other with redesigned and refined products
Tags: Test Drive
June 2009, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Equipment Editor
T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire investor and big-time oilman, is hawking his "Pickens Plan" in TV commercials, personal appearances and a web site (www.pickensplan.com)
Tags: Test Drive
June 2009, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
A much-anticipated first drive of International's new LoneStar confirms it's more than just a pretty face
Tags: Test Drive
June 2009, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
Big changes to Peterbilt's aero 386 make it more wind-cheating and enhance overall fuel economy
Tags: Test Drive
May 2009, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Equipment Editor
Until recently, hybrid-drive commercial trucks have been, almost by definition, straight trucks. These are often the ones used in urban stop-and-go operations, where hybrids offer the greatest fuel savings achieve
Tags: Test Drive
May 2009, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Equipment Editor
Severe Duty version of Freightliner's FLD proves a joy to drive, but get one while you can, because production stops in late 2009.
Tags: Test Drive
November 2008, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg
Midrange in transition
Tags: Hino, Isuzu, Kenworth, Nissan, Class 6, Class 7, Freightliner, Peterbilt, Ford, General Motors, Fuso, Test Drive
September 2008, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
Truck maker Daimer has unveiled the DD13 from Detroit Diesel
Tags: Detroit Diesel, Engine, Test Drive
September 2008, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
Sterling has added the 60-inch NightShift model to its range of Class 3 through 8 work trucks.
Tags: Sterling, sleepers, Sleepercab, Test Drive
July 2008, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Equipment Editor
Kenworth T170's just right if 19,500 pounds is enough
Tags: Kenworth, Trucks, Test Drive
February 2008, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg
The nomenclature suggests a circle, and this truck will turn them with alacrity. Also Ford redesigns its ever-popular F-150 for 2009.
Tags: Ford F-150, Sterling, Ford, Test Drive
February 2008, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
The star of this show was the MaxxForce 13-liter, 1,700 pounds-foot engine destined for a high mileage fleet.
Tags: Test Drive, International TranStar
February 2008, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg
If you can't pass the higher costs on in surcharges, it's time to reduce fuel usage. And hybrid-drive trucks are capable of some serious savings.
Tags: Green, Kenworth, Gasoline-Electric Hybrids, Test Drive
February 2008, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg
Ford's F-150, America's perennial best-selling vehicle and part of a truck line that has claimed sales leadership for 31 years, may well keep that distinction, thanks to an extensive redesign for the 2009 model year.
Tags: Ford F-150, Test Drive
February 2008, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg
There's a funny story about the Sterling 360's name. In a short bull session following a press conference last year, a couple of Sterling executives related that they considered calling the truck "AC 360," as in a circular 360 degrees, because the truck is "better all around," which became its marketing slogan.
Tags: Test Drive
February 2008, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Sean Lyden
The test truck was the International TranStar in the new nomenclature - 8600 in the past. But the other new badges, high on the side of the hood, told the story: MaxxForce. This tractor was one of the International validation units for the new big-bore engines, destined for a high-mileage fleet to get fast results before the engine becomes commercially available around mid-year.
Tags: MaxxForce, Test Drive, International TranStar
January 2008, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Jim Park
We're witnessing a huge change in the way trucks and engines come together. We saw it first with Volvo's D-platform engines (shared with Mack and Renault). We'll soon see International take a similar approach, sharing an engine platform between International trucks in North America and MAN chassis in Europe.
Tags: Mitsubishi Fuso, Diesel Engines, Detroit Diesel, Freightliner, Daimler, Test Drive
January 2008, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg
The point of Volvo Trucks' latest model, the VHD 430, is its sleeper compartment. While previous VHDs have daycabs and work as dumpers, concrete mixer chassis and equipment haulers, the 42-inch-cab addition, with its 36-inch-wide by 79-inch-long bunk, provides a comfortable place for a driver to rest and to legally overnight no matter where he and his rig are.
Tags: Volvo, Test Drive, sleepers
January 2008, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Sean Lyden
The C15 was very responsive, showed great throttle modulation and made gearshifting a joy. And at the event, the 387 it powered also gave pause. I hadn't driven one in several years and the new dash appealed enormously.
Tags: Peterbilt, Test Drive
November 2007, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg
The Pinnacle Axle Forward lacks a really long hood, but this madeover CH has traditional looks and terrific driveability, thanks partly to a new, bigger engine.
Tags: Test Drive
November 2007, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg
Ignore the "viper green" paint and the "hybrid" labels, and this Model 386 looks like a lot of road tractors out there.
Tags: Test Drive
November 2007, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
New truck gets larger, more spacious cab with increased side-to-side and front-to-back room.
Tags: Test Drive, Isuzu N-Series
October 2007, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
This heavy truck is a complex and integrated vehicle that has so many more features the deeper you delve into it.
Tags: Volvo, Test Drive
September 2007, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
The Pinnacle is Mack's latest- generation premium tractor for over-the-road fleets and owner-operators
Tags: Mack, Pinnacle, Test Drive
July 2007, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg
This extended daycab continues an aerodynamic revolution started by KW a quarter-century ago.
Tags: Kenworth, Extended Day Cab, Test Drive
July 2007, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
It's a driver's truck for its quietness and handling. And it's an owner's truck for its low maintenance and repairability.
Tags: ProStar, Test Drive
March 2007, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
Kenworth W900L wears the Western look with the new Pendleton interior option
Tags: Test Drive
March 2007, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Equipment Editor
Ice storm disrupts Ford's SuperDuty event, but the redesigned '08 pickups came out looking good.
Tags: Ford, Ford F-Series Super Duty, Test Drive
March 2007, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor
Kenworth W900L wears the Western look with the new Pendleton interior option
Tags: Kenworth, Test Drive
March 2007, TruckingInfo.com - Test Drives
By Tom Berg, Senior Equipment Editor
Diesel-electric trucks for the Air Force save big on fuel, and they're also easy to drive.
Tags: Volvo, Gasoline-Electric Hybrids, Test Drive