Super Truck

[zorry]

The April 1-14 edition of The Trucker contains a full page interview,on page 62, of a Mesilla Valley driver.
He says his 2012 Prostar gets from 8.5 to 11 mpg.

 

[purgoose10]

Snow 20" deep is not meant to be driven through with or without chains! The chains work best on ice or not to many inches of snow. Deep snow is the pits.

Obviously you never drove for a line haul outfit. If you can get out of the yard you can go.

 

[zorry]

That's funny and sad.
At Roadway if you cleared the gate and had to be wreckered away from the first light the dispatching terminal accomplished their goal of shipping the freight in a timely manner.
The receiving terminal got stuck with the bill as you were in transit.
Nowhere did anyone care what was good for the company.
Part of why they are in the shape they are in.

 

[paullud]

The April 1-14 edition of The Trucker contains a full page interview,on page 62, of a Mesilla Valley driver.
He says his 2012 Prostar gets from 8.5 to 11 mpg.

The driver seems to be watching an instant read mpg gauge, 8.5 normally but 11 when coasting down hill. If the driver is giving an answer with a 35% margin of error it means he has no idea of what the real average is and as a company driver likely doesn't care.

 

[zorry]

He probably does care. I think they are heavy in the bonus money.
He said he was at 7.5 before I think the skirts and trl tail.
I read it as usually 8.5 now and as high as 11. The 11 probably lite loads/long deadheads/ high tailwind situations.

 

[zorry]

The instant gauge will go 35, 59,95, then blank out coasting downhill. Or any other numbers.

 

[xiggi]

The driver seems to be watching an instant read mpg gauge, 8.5 normally but 11 when coasting down hill. If the driver is giving an answer with a 35% margin of error it means he has no idea of what the real average is and as a company driver likely doesn't care.

Missila is know for really tweaking trucks and trailors for better MPG.

 

[paullud]

He probably does care. I think they are heavy in the bonus money.
He said he was at 7.5 before I think the skirts and trl tail.
I read it as usually 8.5 now and as high as 11. The 11 probably lite loads/long deadheads/ high tailwind situations.

The new trucks that have finally overcome the initial loss the older EGR trucks had can achieve much better fuel mileage. MVT's top drivers can hit the 10mpg mark due to the large amount of money invested in the trucks and trailers but it just is not a reality for the industry. The money has been spent by MVT to set their trucks up like the ones in the article so the reality is that 8mpg is well above the industry average. The emissions systems basically set us back 15-20 years as far as fuel economy goes.

 

[Oatmeal]

Cummins has a history of not being completely honest with MPG numbers. I have no doubt they achieved 10 mph, but that doesn't tell the whole story.

In 2002, shortly after one could no longer order a Series 60 in an International, they had a brochure called "The Package" where a 9300 with an ISX was compared to an identical 9300 with a Series 60. The ISX came out on top in fuel efficiency tests. Obviously. But what they failed to mention was that the selected gearing was 100 RPM slower than what Detroit recommended for the Series 60. Anybody that knew anything about Series 60's of that era, knew that they should run at 1450, not 1350.

Cummins used to publish the 10 hard rules of MPG where one of the rules was that MPG in trucks over 65,000 # suffered significantly. Well guess what this Super Truck weighs?

In sorry, but a 65,000# gross weight is a truck only carrying 2/3 if a load in the "real world".