Seattle is a gorgeous city with a laid-back reputation. But as any truck driver who’s ever wound his way through the city’s rain and fog will tell you, traffic there can be as bad as anything in Atlanta or Chicago.
And so it was on a gray northwestern morning that I found myself inching along Interstate 405 at rush hour, the eight-lane bypass basically a parking lot. I was behind the wheel of a new Kenworth T660 Studio AeroCab tractor with an 86-inch sleeper and Diamond VIT interior and a fully-loaded 53-foot van trailer in tow.
The T660’s full suite of driver enhancement aids included a Paccar-branded Eaton UltraShift Plus automated manual transmission, Kenworth NavPlus with true-truck GPS navigation and hands-free phone capability, and Takata’s Lane Departure Warning system. So my situation, in spite of the traffic, was good indeed.
Scan the T660’s cab and sleeper, and you’ll find features that even a finicky owner-operator could love: Ultra-luxurious leather, highly effective sound dampening and refinements such as full power options, faux-wooden trim, fully tilting/telescopic steering wheel and skylights. About the only giveaway that this wasn’t an owner-operator truck was the foldable bunk beds, but those easily can be swapped out for a single mattress set-up.
The goal on this brisk fall day was to take this 78,000-pound rig over the Cascade Mountains. I was taking U.S. 2 out of Seattle with the goal of lunch in the Bavarian-style village of Leavenworth before heading back for one more round with Seattle traffic. U.S. 2 is a narrow, twisting two-lane road cut through the heart of the mountains, offering stunningly beautiful vistas awash in brilliant fall colors. It climbs steadily from near-sea level to elevations in excess of 4,000 feet near Stevens Pass. It’s tough driving with lots of turnouts.
Luckily, my T660 had a brand-new 500-hp Cummins ISX15 under its severely-sloped front hood, which is part of Kenworth’s deluxe aerodynamic enhancement package. Combined with the UltraShift plus AMT, I would have plenty of on-demand power to lug up those long grades. The steering wheel-mounted Cummins engine brake controls, operated by a simple thumb tap, also were handy on the downhill run.
The truck handled great, a definite plus on these twisting roads. I also liked the cab layout; the narrow design gives an impression of being behind the wheel of a much smaller vehicle. While some drivers clearly prefer a wider cab – and Kenworth has models to fill that desire – the T660’s comfy confines give outstanding views to the front, rear and sides, especially considering the truck’s sloped nose that is designed so elegantly, it’s virtually invisible from behind the steering wheel.
