Not Your Father’s Freightliner
After driving the Cascadia for over sixty thousand miles I find myself still impressed . Normally rattles and squeaks start to reveal themselves by now . Believe me if it was going to rattle the roads in West Virgina and Michigan would have found any weakness in this area . The truck is still tracking strait as an arrow . Comparing this truck to the rest of the Freightliner line is much the same as comparing the Corvette to the rest of the Chevrolet line . The Cascadia takes comfort to a level that has never been reached in a semi truck before . The one thing that I really enjoy when driving or resting is how well the insulation package performs . If I needed to use a truck for a sound studio the Cascadia would be my first choice . I am looking forward to meeting many of you in the Freightliner display at the Mid America truck show . Be safe and see you there.
February 26, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Love that analogy about the Cascadia being like the Corvette is to the rest of the Chevrolet line! That’s brilliant. You mention the tough roads of West Virginia and Michigan. That makes me wonder…what state has the best highways in your opinion…which ones have the worst?
February 26, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Thats is a good question . I do not think that I am the most qualified person to answer your query because I do not operate in all 48 states . However Michigan and West Virginia would not be at the top of my list for quality highways . I just started running in Texas a few weeks ago and their roads seem to be fairly nice . Most of my career has been on the east coast , so I have mostly found where the poorest pavement is located . A few months ago I had the chance to go out to Utah and I found the roads to be in much better condition than than than those on the east coast .
March 6, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I would LOVE to see a comparison of the Columbia and/or Century (which you have experience with this) to the Cascadia. See, my company has me in a ‘06 Columbia, and to say it is excessively noisy would be an understatement. They had me in an International 9400i, which was no library, but with the Cummins, is MUCH better than the Columbia with a Detroit Series 60 from a noise/vibration perspective. I honestly plan on celebrating the day they take the Columbia off the assembly line forever!:) I mean, it has it’s good points (roomy, halfway decent ergonomics, great steering) but I find the interior to be too noisy when driving it, and it does not block enough outside noise when shut off. I really think it has some innovative features and storage, but Freightliner really dropped the ball on drivers when they “gave” us the Columbia. I can only hope and pray that the Cascadia (or it’s newer competitors for that matter) are quiet enough for a driver to get restful sleep at night in noisy enviornments and be able to peacefully drive the truck without using earplugs!