Only me and the Terminator have this: test drive Freightliner FLB Daycab

Oh, is this based on the game in general?

There is more third-party text in this article than on the game.

The classic series of Freightliner tractors combines strict design and modern technology. For many years, the Freightliner Classic XL has been one of the winners at The Truck Show. The original and strict design of the cars in this series still evokes the admiration of not only professional drivers, but also ordinary visitors to the exhibition. The Classic XL is a unique vehicle, the longest of its classic brethren, measuring 132 inches (3,330 mm) from bumper to rear wall on a standard cab.

The cabin is made of aluminum alloy, which provides greater load capacity and fuel economy. The basic concepts of such tractors were developed by the company during difficult times for the American automotive industry, when oil prices rose sharply, as a result of which many market participants lost ground, unable to meet new customer requirements.

The interior decoration of the cabin also earned the most flattering reviews from many drivers. It's easy to explain. Freightliner Classic is available in two versions - day-cab (day cab, without sleeping bag) and sleeper box (sleeping compartment with a height of 48 to 84 inches *). Thus, everyone can choose the version of the tractor that suits them, taking into account the desired amount of available space. "Truckers 3" introduces a "slipper" option, since trucking takes place all over the state and can take several days. Of course, in the game you will have to spend the night in motels, because this is what truck drivers in the USA do now, but still the trucks must meet the requirements of transport companies.

Among other things, the sleeping compartment has an air conditioning system and even a TV stand. The interior walls are lined with vinyl panels. The Freightliner Classic XL has a very spacious and ergonomic driver's seat. Especially for convenience, the right side of the dashboard is slightly curved towards the driver, which creates the feeling of a more compact workplace, where everything is at hand. The factory version of the panel is made to look like wood and resembles expensive furniture.

Despite its large dimensions and slightly angular shape, the Classic XL creates a feeling of luxury and comfort, which is sometimes so lacking in the trucks of competitors who have forgotten how important the car is for its owner.

In the game, Classic can easily be called one of the best cars - its low cost (available for purchase at the very beginning of the game) is combined with the good characteristics of this car and classic American design - angular shapes, plenty of chrome.

Exploitation

The tractor can be called inexpensive to maintain - routine repairs, as a rule, do not break the budget. However, if you completely wreck the Classic, expect to shell out more than $20,000. During collisions, the car does not behave in the best way - the hood opens, doors open, headlights break. However, despite its outstanding dynamic and speed performance, the tractor handles well - it’s quite easy to avoid getting into an accident in it and to minimize maintenance costs.

Only me and the Terminator have this: test drive Freightliner FLB Daycab

War of the Worlds

Yuri, the owner of this truck, turned out to be a very interesting conversationalist.
Before going directly to the car, he and I talked for more than an hour (or maybe two: happy hours don’t watch) about trucks, transportation, drivers and everything else that could at least somehow be tied to the occasion of our meeting. I just forgot to ask about prostitutes on Russian highways - well, God bless them, I’ll sort them out myself. He told a lot of interesting things, and I will try to retell a lot of it to you. But here’s what interested me almost immediately. Yuri said that Freightliner divided drivers into two camps: those who liked cabover trucks, and those who were “sick of driving on wheels” (this is a quote, I wrote it down verbatim). This applies to a greater extent to American drivers, but even among our lords of the steering wheel and lords of the pedals there is some division.

I have acquaintances with bonneted “Americans”, there are even a couple of them who are adequate. I made a note: “Ask about “zapadlo.” But there was no need to ask. The driver with whom we went to shoot the Freightliner, and whom I later replaced during the test drive, “split” immediately.

— I actually don’t drive this car. Mine is standing over there,” he said, nodding at the standing Fedya with the hood. And love lit up in his eyes.

- Clear. It's clear. Well, how do you like this one? – I asked.

- The car is normal. But sitting on a wheel... It’s a shame,” my interlocutor answered with conviction.

So Yuri is right. Not everyone likes to sit on wheels. Well, it’s everyone’s right, and I partly agree: sitting in a cabover is not as comfortable as in an FLD/FLC. Although the first one also has advantages. And in order to learn about them better, we’ll tell you where the current owner got this Freightliner from and why it’s good.

He who works eats

Probably, many have already noticed that this truck is not a tractor, but a chassis with a van. And this, let me tell you, is as rare as an understated white Priora without tinting. In total, four of these were imported into Russia at one time, and the history of almost each of them is known.

Its time is 2002. At that time, the import of American trucks flourished: there was good demand for them, there were no bans on the operation of used trucks even in nightmares, the wild cargo transportation market flourished. Four Freightliners with a “day” cabin (without a sleeping bag) were imported by St. Petersburg. They say that this company enjoyed a good reputation: it did not sell “firewood” that had died in America and did good pre-sale preparation. One of the imported cars was lost, but the fate of the other three is known. One car went to work hard on the high-pressure fuel pump in Nizhny Novgorod, another - to Moscow, the third - to the Stavropol Territory.

The car we are talking about today is from the Stavropol Territory. The previous owner sold it for a long time and painfully: the truck was not very popular in Russia, few people knew it, so potential buyers shied away from it in horror, making the sign of the cross, and, of course, no one was in a hurry to buy it. A connoisseur was needed here, and he was found in the form of Yuri, who by that time already owned a Moscow car.

Well, okay, Russian history is clear to us. But the car was released in 1995, so I wonder what it was doing in America before it was exiled to the Russian Federation? And there is an answer to this question too. This Freightliner worked for the popular Sysco company and delivered frozen foods. At that glorious time, it had a thermal body with ThermoKing refrigeration units.

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Now this machine is working in a different direction: it serves one of the corporate clients - a network of gas stations well known in Russia. There is always work, but most of it is in the winter: Freightliner delivers “anti-freeze” to gas stations, the demand for which is especially high at this time of year, and in other months it delivers technical packaged liquids and everything else that is necessary for the operation of the gas station. The body, of course, is different: it’s an ordinary plastic van with a hydraulic lift at the back.

By the way, the urban operating mode explains the low mileage - just a little more than a million kilometers. For this “American,” a million is more like a break-in than a serious run. If it were a mainline tractor, the number of kilometers traveled would be much greater.

Of course, the crisis has affected all businesses, and freight carriers are no exception. From Yuri's story, I understood that it was difficult, sometimes even very difficult. But it’s okay, we’ve survived the peak, everything seems to be returning to normal (ugh three times). The main thing is to continue working, and Freightliner has one of the first roles in this matter.

Now let's walk around the truck and see what's interesting about it.

Airplane on three bridges

The thing about this Freightliner is that it's as simple as a nickel. And its exterior perfectly matches its technical content. Someone will say: “Come on, what’s so beautiful about it! The brick is kind of shabby.” To which we will boldly answer: “Boy, go do your homework!”, and we will consider this car further.

Indeed, there are no high technologies here. But this, as they say, is only one side of the coin. And there is another thing: the simpler the car, the less often it breaks down (yes, here you are, driving the 41st Moskvich ), don’t be so surprised). And the easier it is to repair it if necessary.

Let's start with the cockpit.

The first thing that catches your eye is that it is aluminum. And the thickness of the aluminum sheet near the cabin is decent. The sheets are fastened with rivets, that is, everything is very similar to how airplanes were assembled before. Such a cabin has advantages: it is light and practically does not rot. There is, however, one drawback: this cabin cannot be used to hit trees, poles and other trucks: aluminum sheets easily lose their shape and are stretched, after which it is very, very difficult to bring them back to their original form. You will have to rivet everything, disassemble it, return the sheets to geometry and reassemble them. In a word, it is better not to get into an accident with this car.

The cabin does not have a “sleeper”, hence its name – Daycab. It is short, but, as we will later see, there is enough space inside.

What “Americans” always please me with (and somewhere else since the mid-early thirties of the twentieth century) is their ability to pay attention to little things. For example, a hatch above the headlight is needed for convenient and quick access to the oil dipstick (you won’t tilt the cabin every time to check the level!)

Now look at the passenger door. Why is there a window under the mirror? No, not to look at the bald heads of men sitting in the Audi R8 Spyder in traffic jams. It is needed to facilitate maneuvering in narrow spaces. This is, with your permission, a parking sensor. There is no such window on the driver's door, but it is easier for the driver to feel the dimensions of his half.

And there are also interesting mirrors on the cabin. It’s hard to believe, but these “burdocks” are heated and have one more feature: they are very difficult to disassemble and assemble, so it’s better not to break the glass in them either.

The windshield wiper blades boast separate motors, and they, of course, also turn on separately. I think nothing else can interest us here. Therefore, further inspection is compatible with a short technical reference.

The entire suspension here is the simplest, spring. Even the cabin does not stand on pneumatic elements, like many of its relatives, but is attached to the frame through silent blocks.

The transmission (box and axles) is from the well-known company Eaton Fuller. The gearbox is mechanical and, of course, not synchronized. There are ten gears (more precisely, five with a range multiplier). I’ll tell you how to drive with such a box below.

The engine is truly a legend of American engine building. Under the cab of this truck, the famous Cummins N14, an in-line turbocharged “six” with a volume of 14 liters, has been cracking diesel fuel for twenty-two years. On this car it produces 420 hp, although it can be more. The engine is very durable, of all the electronic components there is only an injector control unit, everything else is pure mechanics.

The question inevitably arises: how sad was the owner of this rare 22-year-old car with more than a million miles, trying to maintain its working condition? No, he seems, on the contrary, to be happy about owning this Freightliner. The selection of spare parts is good, consumables are inexpensive, and the resource of the main components and assemblies is simply abnormally huge. In addition, everything on this track is interchangeable with the tractor, from the cardan crosspieces, clutch and brake pads to the gearbox and axles.

Let's now climb into the cabin and see what's inside the Freightliner.

Driving a Freightliner

To be honest, I’m as far from sports as Anapa is from Ibiza, so I really don’t like climbing into cabover cabs of trucks. This is not a very easy task, although, of course, if you jump into this cabin twenty times a day, you can get used to it. You can somehow get into the driver's seat by grabbing the steering wheel, but getting into the passenger seat is very, very difficult. Although, I must admit, it doesn’t hurt me to go there. Therefore, we immediately sit in the driver’s seat and look around.

I admit, there is no such luxury interior as, for example, in the Peterbilt 359 . There is a lot more ordinary plastic here, there is not so much chrome. And, to be honest, I was even a little disappointed. But then I thought: “Aren’t you too greedy, my friend? Why would a work car shine with chrome? She needs to work." And indeed: there is wood, there is leather. Just think, the rims of the devices are made of plastic! Nonsense, it doesn't affect speed. But there is an engine start button, which you won’t find in all passenger cars these days. That's what we're going to press now.

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As many people know, inline sixes are the most balanced engines in nature. But for some reason, the Americans manage to make them a little differently than in the rest of the world: there is more resource, but there are also unexpectedly many vibrations. However, considering that the engine is located directly under the cabin, and the cabin itself is mounted on the frame through silent blocks, some discomfort can be understood and forgiven.

This American motor, by the way, is supposed to work somehow not very quietly and stably, producing something similar to clicks. This is his design feature, and this may be one of the indicators of his “health”. Some unscrupulous “salesmen” tighten the valves, and it works quietly, although it may already be in the trash. Those who don’t know this fall for such a trick. If you decide to buy a Freightliner, I warned you.

And there’s also an unusual seating position: it’s upright, and the driver’s seat itself is strongly shifted to the left. Almost like a Defender . On the one hand, this is convenient: the driver can easily control his angle. On the other hand, you understand that without that very window in the passenger door it would be difficult to maneuver, because the devil knows where the opposite corner of this cabin is. Although, perhaps you just need to get used to it. But for me personally, assessing the dimensions of the new KAMAZ cab (the one from Mercedes) was a little easier.

I have already said that the box here does not have synchronizers in the usual sense of the word. But at the same time, the driver does not have to stomp on the pedals when changing gears, suffering from double depressing the clutch and shifting the throttle. This is illogical, but when shifting, you don’t need to touch the clutch pedal at all.

It sounds simple. On the other hand, if you want to feel like an octopus, welcome to the “American” cabin. I quickly realized what it’s like when legs, arms, and a head grow from a soft place (which is the most offensive thing, by the way). The foot is reaching for the clutch, although there is no need to touch it. Still, reflex is a great thing! It is very difficult to overcome yourself and not press the pedal - almost the same as knocking over a steamy glass and not reaching for a pickled cucumber or pickled mushroom. It's complicated and illogical. Well, this is how a person is designed that he often has to fight his instincts.

When starting off, we still press the clutch, but only to engage first gear. Then - gas, acceleration and shifting the lever to second gear. The lever travel is decent, so while I was looking for this gear, the speed had already dropped. But it doesn’t matter, once again overclocking and switching. Once again. Now on the third one you can somehow ride. In general, of course, a diesel engine is not at all the kind of engine that needs to be revved. But if an octopus is driving, then you have to.

Of course, you need to get used to the brakes. Pneumatic brakes on trucks are not your fancy hydraulics at all, but here they also operate very sharply, although the delay typical for pneumatics is minimal. It would probably be easier with a loaded car.

And I was once again convinced that maneuvering a 6x4 vehicle is not the easiest thing. If for a tractor the ability to spin on the spot is a secondary matter (there’s a truck behind you anyway, it won’t hurt to spin), then for a single vehicle that delivers cargo, it would be preferable to have one axle at the back rather than a cart with two axles. Although, of course, the carrying capacity would not be the same.

But the absence of a hood in the city makes life much easier. Of course, seeing an extra “one and a half meters of life” in front of you on the highway is a pleasant thing, but bumping these meters into all the obstacles in the city is somehow unpleasant. Here the cabover clearly wins.

It’s a shame, of course, to say, but Freightliner really tormented me. While a stream of sweat was running down my back, and my leg was trembling with the desire to press the clutch, I was thinking about how to get out of here without losing face. What's the use of chasing John Connor... Not crashing onto the asphalt while getting out of the cab is already an achievement. But then, while taking photographs and climbing in and out of the cabin, I suddenly realized that it wasn’t that difficult. And if you drive this car for at least a day, you can get used to the gearbox, and even earlier – to the brakes. Maybe all is not lost yet?

Still, it’s not for nothing that Freightliner is a favorite. And not because there are very few such cars in the world, and in Russia there are practically none at all, but solely because of its reliability and, if you like, indescribable charisma. Therefore, I will still say: the car is good, and if I had the opportunity and the need, then it is quite likely that I would want to work behind the wheel of this particular car, and not some modern plastic truck with electronic filling, the IQ of which is one and a half times taller than mine. Still, such cars lack soul, but Freightliner has character, soul, and a rich inner world. Even though he is a typical American.

We thank Yuri Svirchev (Yura-Sv) for providing the car for a test drive