Freightliner Cascadia test drive: The star continues to shine brightly (2024)

Cascadia has been a star product for Freightliner since itsintroduction. After all, it is the top selling truck in America and now it iswinning fans in tough, extreme export markets like Australia and South Africa,and nearer home in equally tough Mexico. In the United States, it is thecornerstone of Freightliner’s 36-plus percent share of the heavy truck market.

But drive one today and compare it with the model thatdebuted 13 years ago and the trucks are like night and day. For one, there wasa significant refresh for the Cascadia with the Evolution in 2013 and thenagain, a high-tech upgrade with the New Cascadia in 2017. Now we have the New,New Cascadia – an awkward model designation – with totally new features andconnectivity that went into production shortly after mid-year 2019.

The big news is that it is optionally Level Two automated.That means it has a steering and braking system that makes the driving chore somuch easier for the driver. The Cascadia can be configured many ways, but withthe full complement of safety systems it has adaptive cruise control (ACC) thatmaintains a safe cruise following distance, but this is overlaid by fullemergency active brake assist (ABA 5.0) that can stop the truck if the driverdoes nothing to restrain the vehicle before an impending accident. Add to thisrecognition of stationary vehicles such as in a traffic lane where all vehiclesare stopped. It will also spot a walking person in a crosswalk or a bicyclistwobbling along the curb and apply the brakes as necessary.

In addition to the straight ahead safety, there’s lanekeeping assistance (LKA) that adds steering control to keep the Cascadia inlane by reading the trucks position between the lane markings to prevent itfrom drifting away from the set position.

Freightliner Cascadia test drive: The star continues to shine brightly (1)

Detroit Assurance 5.0

But if this seems impressive, and by gosh it is, the realrevolution is depth of Detroit Assurance 5.0 that does a whole lot more thanrun the safety systems. It is also a complete telematics and business solutionthat effectively makes the Cascadia a node on a trucking company’s businessnetwork. It tracks how the truck is being driven, it tracks any fault codes andalerts fleet and dealer that an ailing truck needs repair, makes the booking atthe preferred dealership, and even picks the parts for repairs.

But more than that, Detroit 5.0 tracks the performance andeconomy of every truck, or groups of trucks, and the whole fleet at large. Itmeasures driver performance, truck performance and efficiency by massagingmassive amounts of data and integrates an individual or a fleet of Cascadiasinto the trucking company’s back office system.

So, the New, New Cascadia is a technology tour de force andwhile you hear claims from other OEMs that they do similar things, Cascadiaseems to offer, with 5.0, the most comprehensive and completely integratedpackage available.

Freightliner Cascadia test drive: The star continues to shine brightly (2)

Fuel Economy

But, as the TV ads say, there’s more. We were fortunate tohave Al Haggai, channel marketing manager for Freightliner Trucks along for thedrive and also have spent time previously with Clint LePreze, Freightliner’s on-highway marketing manager, at the initialdebut of the latest Cascadia back in the early summer last year.

There are many refinements that improve the fuel efficiencyof the latest Cascadia. Some of them you can see in a glance, such as theclosures between the fenders and the wheels that prevent — as far as possible —air getting under the truck from the sides. Less obvious is the deep, deep airdam under the front bumper and even less obvious is the fact that thesuspension “kneels” at freeway speeds to put this aero device an inch closer tothe road surface.

Up behind the cab, the side and roof extenders keep the airmore closely attached to the cab/trailer so it doesn’t bleed into the trailergap. And that air is already tight to the cab sides from the new A-pillar deflectorsthat turn the air coming off the windshield to keep it from billowing out aseddies to the side. This has the added benefit of keeping road dirt off theside glass and mirrors in wet weather. Complementing this are remodeledsideskirts that add to the overall aesthetics of the latest Cascadia model.

  • Freightliner Cascadia test drive: The star continues to shine brightly (3)
  • Freightliner Cascadia test drive: The star continues to shine brightly (4)
  • Freightliner Cascadia test drive: The star continues to shine brightly (5)
  • Freightliner Cascadia test drive: The star continues to shine brightly (6)

And Freightliner was an early adopter of the Flow Belowtandem air control panels and wheel cavity covers. These provide incrementalimprovements but as Haggai parked the truck ready for the drive out of the VelocityTruck Center’s impressive dealership in Fontana, Calif., the all-electronic“glass” dash was showing 9.0 mpg. This is especially impressive as it was oneof those blustery Southern California days that can actually turn over tractor-trailersat the base of the Cajon pass.

Our test route was a run out east on I-10 about 80 miles tothe Dinosaur truck stop at Cabazon. But on the way we quartered the streets ofRedlands in a futile attempt to get into the old Santa Fe railroad station to graba few pictures at this splendid location. But that was not happening. In theend, we got back on the freeway and continued. That meant a long crawl throughthe Banning Scales on the return run, but still, returning to Velocity, thefuel readout gave us 8.8 mpg at a gross combination weight of 70,000 pounds.

On The Road

The total mileage at around 160 was by no stretch a day’swork, but this was the second drive of the New, New Cascadia. However, it thefirst time on a road that is in such bad condition as I-10. Great chunks ofconcrete have been blasted out of the pavement and the lane markings in manycases were almost invisible.

We were running 60 to 65 mph where possible but in busytraffic that was down to 55. And on Redlands city streets we dawdled around at20 to 25 mph, taking our time and avoiding curbing – or worse – all the tightright-angle corners in the heart of this university town. Once on the freewayagain, the cruise control proved its merit, keeping a comfortable distance fromthe vehicle in front until it was time to take a lane and pass slower trucks.The driving is so easy with the DT12 transmission that a driver has the luxuryof keeping the correct position in lane or even in town, where the transmissionhandles all the decisions about the correct gear selection.

Keeping in lane wouldn’t have been an issue because of the steeringassist automation. In a short drive last year I found it faultless. It can beset to occupy the center of the lane, or biased to the left or right. Mypreference is to run the right-hand lane marking and, in that drive, it didjust that. But with the poor condition of the lane markings on I-10, I actuallydisabled the feature – easy to do with a dashboard switch – as the combinationof high winds and hunting in the lane meant we could get along more smoothlywithout the assistance. That’s not to say I didn’t just get buzzed by the lanedeparture warning more than a few times.

Performance was assured from the 400-horsepower DD15, 15-literthat has 1,650 lb.-ft. of torque. The Detroit engines are also enhanced inAssurance 5.0 with engine load balancing where the engine holds constant torqueover small, subtle grades that a driver may think are flat to reduceunnecessary fuel use from varying engine load. There’s also updated mapcoverage with the on-board map database increased by 35% for added coverage ofexisting major highways and interstates. This feature increases the utility ofthe engine controls to better use kinetic energy and minimize brake usage.Neither features are obvious and especially so with the smooth and intelligentshifting of the DT12 transmission, but the new features make for a reallycomfortable drive.

And there were added sophistications detected during thedrive. For one, the cruise control just does not follow a vehicle at a fixeddistance, it will operate right down to zero road speed. Then, providing thevehicle ahead moves off again within two seconds, the Cascadia will pick up thepace again. This makes for extra comfortable and easy driving in slow crawlingtraffic in and around Los Angeles.

A super nice feature is the hill-hold, especially aroundFontana where freeway bridges mean quite steep hill starts.

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As far as diver comfort is concerned, revised seating iseven more comfortable than before, allowing for great forward visibility. Theview to the rear is also good with rigidly mounted mirrors. On this Cascadia,there were no hood mirrors, an addition I used to think unnecessary butexperience has shown is actually quite useful. However, the Side Guard Assistfeatured on this Cascadia more than made up for the lack of hood mirrorsbecause it detects vehicles in the otherwise blind spots around the truck. Ifthe truck drifts into an already populated lane or the driver attempts a rightturn in city traffic with objects in its blind spot, audible and visualwarnings alert the driver. If the turn signal is used with a vehicle alongside,the warning light turns from amber to red.

Also addressing comfort are the triple door seals that makethe cab really quiet, allowing for easy conversation between Haggai and myself andPR manager Fred Ligouri back in the dinette style sleeper. A neat feature ofthis configuration is that the left side seat is angled away a little from thetable so that two team members sitting at a meal don’t have to avoid treadingon each other’s toes.

Conclusion

There are so many new features on the New, New Cascadia thatit would take a book to explore them all. Suffice to say this verydriver-centric truck is also a maintenance manager’s delight and a businessowner’s best investment. It is so far from the original Cascadia, anothermanufacturer might consider a different model name. But the Cascadia has been a star product forFreightliner and this new model continues that tradition.

Freightliner Cascadia test drive: The star continues to shine brightly (2024)
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