I unfortunately drive a Columbia. Yeah it's got a lot of room, maneuvers pretty good and may be efficient, but if one more thing starts rattling, squeaking and making noise I'm really going to lose my mind!! I just don't see any quality in the Freightliners at all. How many of the same trucks are they going to build until they eliminate things rattling and shaking? I read awhile ago where they got their wind tunnel now and they got this new test track with all these tough obstacles like really aggressive bumps in the road and potholes, stuff like that. They take trucks around the track like a couple hundred times to simulate the real world. So after doing that you mean to tell me that there was nothing rattling or shaking that they could improve? That's weird because my truck has made noise since it was brand new. Of course I complain about this stuff but I'm sure it could be worse. It pulls freight down the road and makes me money. But given the chance I would love to get into a different kind of truck but since I got the Columbia brand new I'm stuck with it for quite awhile.... unless something happened to it....hmmmm.....poorly installed inverter here I come

 

I have a 2003 Volvo with PAM Transport and I will say that it is a smooth ride and has 450hp, but the doors fall off the cabinets, the volvo's have electrical problems and are now being phased out of PAM's fleet because of all the problems with them. I do love the high rise condo double sleeper I have and would be very upset if I had to go back to a midroof single sleeper.

 

He means entire sleeper compartment versus just the sleeper bed. Depending on which model you drive, the sleeper compartment may or may not be smaller than the Freight Shakers. For instance, the model 780 Volvo will actually have a larger sleeper compartment than the Freight Shakers, but the smaller models will have a slightly smaller sleeper compartment. However, the interiors of all the Volvos are configured much nicer with better driver comfort in mind than the Freight Shakers, which makes up for the slightly smaller sleeper compartment if you have a model other than the aforementioned model 780. Volvo has followed quite extensively the same trends that led foreign and domestic automobile manufactures to make the interiors of non-commercial trucks marketed domestically to consumers much nicer, comfortable, and with car like creature comfort features in the recent past.

As for as storage for coolers go, if you have one of the smaller cooler models, you can store it under the lower bunk. If you buy one of the larger coolers as I have, then just leave it up on the lower bunk when you drive and when you stop for the night, simply move it to the passenger seat out of your way. Believe me, it's not that big of a deal. I might spend a sum total of 20 seconds a day on a bad day switching and transferring locations. It's not nearly enough inconvenience to make me wish to go back to a Freight Shaker and I actually prefer the cooler being stationed up higher rather than lower.

With respect to whether at 5'7" you will fit comfortably into the sleeper bed or not, I'm 6'1" and fit quite nicely and comfortably into mine. I assure you that I have no problems getting comfortable rest and restful sleep out of mine and I've been out on the road for as long as six weeks on outings on occasion. By the way, the model I drive is the model 680, probably the most numerous model Volvo you will see out there on the road these days.

 

For what it is worth, I spent three years in the freightliner century class. and last week was given a new volvo. the volvo had 340 miles on it when i got it, ran about as hard as you can for the week, trying to get home for thanksgiving 4950 miles, this is what i have found out.
The ride goes hands down to the volvo. have not spilled a cup of coffee yet!
Handling goes to the volvo, much easier to maneuver around, backing up turnes much tighter.
storage and bunk go to the freightliner I'am 6-2 and in the volvo i fell like iam end to end.
straped the cooler in the passanger seat.
but the biggie for me was at the end of a hard week I noticed that the fatigue factor was not as high in the volvo, the truck felt much more comfortable. I will let you know how I fell about it after some time in it but right now i have to say the volvo has impressed me. and this for a die hard freightliner man, I put off getting one as long as i could.

 

My 2003 Volvo has 338,000+ miles on it and I can't keep my travel mug in the pull out cup holder because a good size bump sends my mug flying through the air into the sleeper.

My whole dash shakes and rattles when on a slightly rough road, I sit my mug on the floor and the coffee inside comes splashing out the top at times. I am going to find a way to put a box of some type beside my drivers seat to put my mugs in.

 

The 2003 model Volvos were before the redesign to the current models that occurred beginning with the 2004 models. Additionally, I have driven and ridden in the 2004 model Volvos, the dashboard too rattled and shook way more on rough roads than the year model I am currently driving, and I drive a 2006 that I have quickly already put over a 100,000 miles on. However, in the 2004 models that I drove, even though there was a problem with the dashboard shaking on rough roads, overall it was still much quieter and smoother than the Freight Shakers I also drove.

 

Professional drivers & good teachers; thanks for all your comments on Volvo vs Freightliner. It seems from all of the great feedback that Volvo is the driver;s choice in trucks these days. The company that I will be driving for has all Volvos in their fleet so that is what i will be driving. It is good to know what I will be getting into.
As far as the coolers, I was in a Century and the driver had his cooler under the cabinet/desk which was behind the driver's seat. Does Volvo have this setup or no? Approximimately what is the GVW difference between a Volvo and a Freightliner?
Professional drivers & good teachers; thanks for participating in this poll. Go s safely; see you on the big road! :rock:

 

I'm a little late in here but I'll take the Volvo I have now over the International and Pete I used to have but haven't taken it through a winter yet. It is quieter - even the wipers are silent (wow), extremely comfortable in comparison, and the sound system sounds right - the others gave me a headache after a while. One thing I don't like about the Volvo is the mirror heat is on a timer and goes off by itself. Another nuisance is the windshield washer fluid sprays on the driver's side mirror. I like that I can flash my hi-beams even when the lights are off, and I get the best night time vision with the Volvo's headlights. There's a huge difference. I've only been in one snow storm so far but was impressed that the snow and slush did not degrade the lighting quality which happened with the other trucks by scum buildup over the lights. I also like that one of the electronic guages tells me how many gallons are in the tanks and the distance I can go on the remaining fuel based on the current fuel efficiency. It idles at 600 and is quiter/vibrates less than the other trucks I had which idle at 1000.

 

Question on the Volvos idle. In the Century I was in there was an idle switch where one needed to increase the idle when parked otherwise the truck would stall out after a time. Does the Volvo have such a switch or is the idle automatically controlled? Go safely; see you on the big road! :rock:

 

Exactly right - Petes are like Harleys - overpriced and overrated.

The last Pete I drove was one of the biggest pieces of junk I can recall outside of a Freightliner. But because it was a 379, idiot drivers went gaga over it.

The thing was always in the shop, it rattled, leaked, was cramped and uncomfortable, and very noisy. Fuel mileage sucked royally too.