Fuel for Thought
How It's Going So Far...
It has been just a couple weeks over two years since I bought this truck. Some of you may remember the blogs from the various stages of this truck being built. I will include links at the bottom for anyone who wants to see them. I was a little hesitant to buy this truck, just a little, as I have been a Freightliner guy for many, many years. This truck was to be my 1st Western Star. After exhaustive research, I decided to pull the trigger and buy it. More than anything, I was hoping to spec it properly to outperform my previous Cascadia.
Here we are two years later and I can say that this truck has exceeded my expectations. Not only is it comfortable with the custom upfitted OEM 82” sleeper, but it also rides quite well and is stylish to boot.
In this time, I have put 215,000 miles on it. Other than regular maintenance, this truck has been trouble free. The only time it has seen the inside of a shop, aside from three PM services, was to have a software upgrade.
I did change the headlamps quite a few times (I always drive with my headlamps on, day and night). After a few sets of bulbs, I decided to get LED bulbs and have not had to change them again.
The custom sleeper from Premier Custom Sleepers in Ft. Worth, TX was a great addition to the truck. They did a great job putting it all together and everything has held up well over the last 2 years.
I don’t drive to gain hyper mileage status, but I also do not speed. I can generally be found cruising near the speed limit of any given interstate or highway, so no, I am not the guy driving 55 or 60 on an interstate to increase my MPGs. With that said, I currently have a very respectable lifetime average on this truck of 11.5 MPG. My previous truck, a 2015 Freightliner Cascadia, was sitting at 10.8 MPG when I sold it and bought this truck.
This Western Star 5700xe has proven itself, and when the time comes, I will most likely replace this one with another one.
The blogs from when the truck was built:
See you down the road,
Greg