Review of Freightliner Cascadia by a Pro Truck Driver and Wife
Since our
professional truck driving career began, the
Freightliner Cascadia is the classiest truck either of us has ever
driven or lived in.
With that being said, the following is a list of
pros and cons that we compiled when Mike drove the truck during his
most recent regional truck driving job, when Vicki was riding with him
full-time as his home
support team.
Sometimes it is the little features of a truck
that can help make it a little bit more like home.
Conveniences can
help drivers save money.
We are therefore listing the pros, cons and
other considerations of a Freightliner Cascadia.
Pros of a Freightliner Cascadia
- Deep storage under
passenger
side cabinet (where we
stored our water jugs; we also installed a couple of battery-operated
puck lights so that we could see way in the back without having to use
a flashlight)
- No narrow crevice
between
cabinet and bunk in the sleeper (meaning no "loss" of little things in
a hard-to-reach area)
- Cabinets with doors
instead of
netting
- In-truck satellite
communication terminal ("Jill") has setting so that the driver can turn
off the loud "beep" while sleeping
- Much better
insulation to
cut
down on outside noise
- Swivel seats up
front
- Extendable
visors
to
block out
sun
- Engine brake ("Jake
brake")
with 3 different settings
- On/Off switch for
battery
disconnect to preserve power when truck is not in use
- Vent and
heater
unit under bunk is designed to save money
- Movement of some
settings from the dash
to
the steering wheel, at the driver's fingertips
- Steering wheel has
intermittent
windshield wiper setting
- Tractor has a
better
suspension
and gives a better ride
- Air
suspension/spring on
hood
prevents hood from slamming down
- Batteries moved to
a
better,
more accessible location, especially for inverter installation
- Vinyl mat on the
floor
throughout the cab instead of carpet
- Pull-out drawer for
paperwork
under the top cabinet behind the driver's seat
- Bigger front
windshield
- Greatly improved
air flow
vents
in the sleeper
- Improved
aerodynamics
(air
fairings and rounded edge mirrors)
- Enough room between
the
dash
and the passenger seat to hold our portable
ice maker
- Side
truck mirrors fold in
- The truck Mike drove had
a CB antenna already installed.
Photo Gallery of the Pros
The vent and heater control
panel for the unit under the bunk in the
Cascadia from Freightliner.
The top part of the storage
cabinet behind the passenger seat.
Note: at the right of the cabinet, you will see a climate
control unit installed. This did not come with the truck.
The storage cabinet with a
door behind the driver's seat.
Although the Cascadia's side
mirrors are set lower, they are designed
to fold in.
Cons of a Freightliner Cascadia
- Small window on
door does
not
open
- Side windows will
not
roll down
when the engine is off
- Window operation
buttons
are
set in reverse of what is intuitive to control up and down motion
- Deep well on the
dash
- Dome light switch
must be
turned off where it is turned on
- Overhead storage
compartment
area greatly restricted and reduced in size
- Overhead storage
compartment door opens awkwardly for tall drivers
- Area around fuel
tank
opening
does not allow rubber tie-downs to be stretched over fuel pump handles
as easily when fueling
- Idle setting must
be
manipulated to keep idling, otherwise the truck shuts off part of its
function after a short period of time
- Mirrors are smaller
- Mirrors are set
lower,
making
it harder to see things set higher
- Less storage area
on the
dash
for small things
- Light under bunk
set on
the
back wall
- Angle of dash on
top with
no
mounting bracket for CB radio
- Air vents on dash
move
only
half-way
- Loss of cabinet
space due
to
ventilation piping to the sleeper (a better design should have been
used)
- Inability to remove
built-in
closet rod for those who do not want to use hangers to hang up clothes.
- Constant glow of
amber or
blue
lights in the bunk when certain air or heat settings were on
- Poor design of the
air
outlet
from the under-bunk heater unit
- The mattress that came
with this truck does not
reflect the truck's high quality. A better grade of sleeper mattress
really needs to come standard with all Freightliner trucks.
Photo Gallery of the Cons
The ventilation pipe in the
back and the closet rod spanning from side
to side in the storage cabinet behind the driver's seat.
We put a gray rectangular box in the closet so that clothing
could be stacked.
The dash in the Cascadia was
re-designed with very little storage space
and a deep well
down toward the windshield.
The fuel tank access area
has been re-designed so as to prevent easy
hooking of a rubber tie-down over an inserted fuel nozzle.
Tall drivers had better
beware the door of the overhead storage
compartment in the Cascadia. Mike always had to be careful when he
stood up when the
door was open.
Other Considerations
- Overhead
storage:
The reduction
of the overhead
storage area in the
Freightliner Cascadia
-- as compared to the Freightliner Columbia -- is one of the truck's
weakest
points. Perhaps the reduction of storage area was traded
for better insulation.
To make up for this room, a built-in
desk (pull-out drawer) was installed under the top cabinet behind the
driver's seat.
- Inverter
installation:
The
relocation of the
batteries in the Freightliner
Cascadia required a relocation of our 1500 watt inverter (because of
the length of the wiring kit cables) to the small cabinet under the
pull-out drawer.
Although one of the mechanics at Mike's trucking
company "anchored" the inverter to the bottom of the cabinet, that
"bottom" was basically a piece of cardboard or particle board from
which the screws could be pulled out without much difficulty.
In order to use the inverter's
power easily, we ran a 6-foot electrical cord from a surge protector power strip up through
the Freightliner Cascadia's cabinet from the bottom so that it would be
available to power whatever we wanted to use (mostly cooking
appliances).
This worked out better than in the Columbia, where we had
to run the surge protector power strip's cord out from under the lower
bunk (thus "pinching" the cord every time the bunk was lowered or in
the "down" position).
- Constant
glow: The
amber light was on the control panel, right near where the lower bunk's
occupant laid his/her head.
The blue light only glowed when the bunk heater unit's fan was on. If
the heater was on, the other
light was on.
Vicki learned to cover over the
amber and blue lights
in
the lower bunk of the Freightliner Cascadia, so that she could sleep
better.
- Battery
charge protection:
At the time that Mike drove for
the trucking company
that issued him the Freightliner Cascadia, they did him a very big
disservice by not
installing a diesel-powered APU on the truck. Instead,
they installed a battery-operated climate control system only.
That unit had its own problems, but one thing became apparent regarding
its use on the truck: when the charge on the truck's batteries got down
to a certain level, the truck turned off certain supplies of power
(such as to the climate control system), so as to reserve
enough "juice" for cranking power.
We have a feeling that that
is what happened with a certain built-in heater unit that we had, too.
Photo Gallery of Other Considerations
The overhead storage area
was greatly reduced in this model truck.
With the movement of the
battery bank, the inverter had to be moved
from under the bunk to the storage area behind the driver's seat.
Freightliner trucks moved
the battery bank from beneath the catwalk
behind the cab to
behind and below the driver's seat.
The batteries can be accessed by
removing a side fairing. This may help reduce battery theft.
The bunk heater control
panel glows a bright blue when the vent is on.
Freightliner trucks were
redesigned so that the batteries can be
disconnected at the turn of this switch.
This is a positive change.
Summary
There is a great deal of storage room (except for the
area over the
driver's and passenger's heads) in the Freightliner Cascadia.
A driver
who is concerned about saving money on the road can easily outfit
his/her truck with plenty of food,
water, meal
preparation items, clothing and other things from a
customized packing
list.
There is even room to place a well-stocked emergency
kit.
We saved a great deal of money by cooking our own meals
in Mike's
truck.
For climate control and electrification, we had to idle the
truck more than we wanted.
If Mike's company had had an APU installed,
this would have lowered the fuel consumption and toll on the engine
considerably.
It was in this truck that we began hauling two ice
chests for perishable foods, which we kept full of ice that
we made with our portable
ice maker.
All we had to do was supply the power from the inverter
and make sure it had sufficient drinking
water.
We enjoyed organizing
the space in the truck to make it more home-like.
It was hard
to feel homeless
when we lived in this truck.
Were we in the market to become long-haul
owner-operators, we would
seriously entertain the idea of buying a Freightliner Cascadia to
drive.
Although it has its faults, the Freightliner Cascadia is still the best truck we've
ever driven or lived in.
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