2020 Freightliner Cascadia: Pre-launch Review

The Australian Automotive Research Centre is a well-known proving ground owned by transport magnate Lindsey Fox. The ground has various test tracks and facilities for testing all manner of vehicles and it's well suited for testing trucks.

And it was here that we got our first really good look at the Freightliner Cascadia that will go on sale in Australia in 2020.

The Cascadia is reputed to be the biggest-selling heavy truck in America, and if our first look at the new Freightliner is anything to go by, the new bonneted US import will have the locals and other importers a little jittery. But we're getting a little ahead of ourselves, so let's back up a few steps…

The two Freightliner Cascadias we got to take a look at the AARC proving ground comprised a 116 and a 126. The 116 is powered by a 13-litre Detroit diesel with a 505hp/1850lb/ft (2508Nm) rating, while the Cascadia 126 sports a 16-litre Detroit with 600hp/2050lb/ft (2779Nm). Both were running DT12 auto transmissions and 3.42 Eaton diffs.

The trucks were both left-hand drive, having been imported ahead of the right-hand drive versions built for our market. We were told the RHD trucks are now starting to roll off the production line, but these left-hookers are gaining valuable research miles while Daimler Trucks Australia awaits the first shipment of right-hand drive units.

These two development trucks are legally allowed to travel on certain roads in Victoria and they're being driven by Daimler Trucks drivers doing 600km loops five days a week to gain data in our conditions.

That data is being sent in real time via on-board computers to Freightliner HQ in Portland, Oregon, where it's analysed for use in the final specification of our Aussie trucks.

This means the engineers in Portland get instant feeds of data from the trucks as they operate in real-world Australian conditions; it's just another technological wonder in the modern world of telematics.

Unfortunately, VicRoads won't let just anyone drive the LHD trucks on public roads, which is why they were pulled from their important R&D jobs and taken to the proving ground for us to get a feel for them.

Getting into the Freightliner Cascadia is more akin to getting into a European truck than an American one. Freightliner has borrowed heavily and well from its Mercedes-Benz cousin and it shows inside.

The steering wheel has multiple functions and the wrap-around dash sports the hallmarks of a Euro truck with a multi-function screen flanked by the analogue speedo and tacho.

It's certainly a far cry from the last Freightliner we tested; a 114 Coronado back in July. That was very much your traditional American truck with multiple analogue gauges, banks of switches, faux woodgrain and plenty of bling.

Not so the Cascadia. The buttons on the wheel operate the central screen where the driver can scroll through many functions like the radar cruise control, Bluetooth phone, safety features and even tyre pressure monitoring.

The need to take your hands off the wheel is minimised – and even when you do need to flick a switch or push a button, it's never far away thanks to the ergonomic design of the driver-focussed cab.

Technology and safety are up there with the best with anti-sway, lane departure warning and more.

Unfortunately, our test trucks were day cabs which were specified by Daimler Trucks Australia so they could be more versatile with the trailer combinations they hooked on, so we don't know what the sleeper is going to look like. But if other US brands are anything to go by, and from what we've seen of the US-spec Cascadias, the sleeper versions will be brimming with comfort and appointments.

As it stands, the day cabs are modern, comfortable and certainly well insulated.

Noise from the big Detroit diesels is kept to a minimum and we had no problems carrying on a conversation in the cab as we negotiated the proving ground tracks.

Our trucks were loaded to around 60 tonnes and rigged as B-doubles. The 13-litre had covered around 33,000 kilometres and seemed to be pretty loose while the 16-litre had only a little over 10,000km and was still a bit tight.

I tried both on the five per cent incline as well as the decline tracks and although the 16-litre did the section with ease, the 13-litre was certainly not disgraced and pulled strongly up the hill section in seventh gear, even accelerating a bit up the incline.

Over the course of our test at the Anglesea track, the Cascadias impressed. They're powerful, quiet and comfortable, and above all they're driver focussed. Their safety and technology is top-shelf. In this scribe's opinion, they're going to give the existing players a run for their money like no other Freightliner before.

Configuration: In-line six-cylinder
Displacement: 12.8 litres
Compression ratio: 18.4:1
Bore: 132mm
Stroke: 156mm
Weight (dry): 1128kg
Electronics: DDEC
Service fill (oil/filter change): 38 litres
Horsepower range: 350-505hp
Torque range: 1595-2508Nm (1250-1850lb-ft)
Rear-engine PTO: Optional

Configuration: In-line six-cylinder
Displacement: 15.6 litres
Compression Ratio: 17:1
Bore: 139mm
Stroke: 171mm
Weight (dry): 1287kg
Electronics: DDEC
Service fill (oil/filter change) 43 litres
Horsepower range: 500-600hp
Torque range: 2508-2779Nm (1850-2050lb-ft)