I have a friend in the auto industry who says that JD Powers is a scam. I don't remember all the details he told me, but JD Powers basically gets their money from the manufacturers. It's sort of a "buy your rating" program.

Detroit and Mercedes engines are proprietary to Freightliner.

All a Mercedes is, is just a Detroit

I've had great service out of my 97 Freightliner Classic and my 500 Detroit. No complaints here. I'll buy another Classic over a Pete or KW any day of the week. I do like KW's Studio Sleeper though. We have 2 T-600's and a W-900 in our fleet and the Freightliner is by FAR the cheapest to buy proprietary parts for.

I don't know where you get your figures larry, but it must be that bias you have. I get 5.5 out of my BRIDGE motor cat in my 379, and there is a LOT of idling on my part. my e-model 550 in my w900 used to get 5.7 pulling my household trailer, and if I drove like an old lady I could get 6 plus easily. mpg has more to do with the right foot than the design of the truck. Besides, if you are pulling cheap enough freight that the extra .3 of a mpg makes that big of a diff where it can hurt you you need to re-evaluate what you are doing. id rather have a quality piece of equipment that holds resale value than a rattle trap century class with a detroit.

I was talking to a 18 year old diesel mechanic/driver who use to run a 06 Pete and he told me all the new trucks get 4.5 and that he hates them and blah blah blah. So that was where I got that from

no matterf how good a friend he my be, don't take a mans word as the gospel...a friend of mine has an 07 pete and is getting 5.75 out of his acert pulling 44k lbs in a van trailer....that's lifetime mileage on his ecm

Yeah after he told me all that I got to talking to a few people with the new engines and they told me about 5.0-6.0 depending whether it's a large car or areo truck. I don't think the new emission engines will get any higher than 6.5 unless you run 55 all the time but who knows.

I get 5.75-6 pulling tanks with my acert.

That is a criticism, it's true. Though it's one that I don't think has ever been substantiated by anything other than results that differ from other rankings. They get their results from consumer surveys, so it's possible people's perceptions are skewed. Nevertheless, nobody else provides any kind of statistical ranking.

when you buy a new truck it's important to know how long the truck has been sitting on the dealer's lot. Example: my 2004 International 9400 was built in December 2003, and its first day of service (with Owner #1) was January 2005. So, the truck sat outside in the parking lot for a year. I don't think it's good for the truck ... I just had a clamp blow on the air-to-air hose coming out of the turbo ... This clamp was put there in December 2003! It's February 2008 now ... What I'm trying to say is if you want to buy a new truck - have one custom built for you; don't buy from the dealer's lot.