What I like about the CAT in my International is that I can go to the TOROMONT (exclusive CAT's dealer in Canada), and they can do all kinds of performance upgrades on the engine, like the Dyno-Tuning I had last year. I didn't have to look for a special diesel performance shop. It's not cheap, but it was worth every penny.

 

QuickX, a large carrier in Ontario, Canada, sold off all their Macks a few years ago and switched to Internationals. The same happened at the company I work for - MacKinnon Transport. At one time all their trucks were Macks. Nowadays it's almost all Internationals (9400 and 9900) with a few Volvos here and there. The way I understand it Macks' dealers were not able to provide good service. It took forever to get a Mack back on the road. There's a reason they practically went out of business and were taken over by ...Volvo.

 

Actually, Mack was a much better truck prior to their takeover by Volvo.

The post Volvo years have not been good for Mack, due to the fact that too many Volvo parts have been integrated into the Mack line, resulting in Mack being just another bunch of components thrown together from vendor sources, instead of having the traditional "pedigreed" powertrain which was all Mack from engine thru rear ends.

Volvo has commandeered all the Mack dealerships, and it seems they now focus more on Volvo, while the Mack customers are marginalized.

 

I was never fond of the Volvo takeover of Mack. The Vision engines in Macks were really great engines until they emissions stuff started being put on them. Then they started having too many problems and were not cost effective. But, everything seems to be consolidated nowadays.

 

Mack has been spiralling downhill for a generation or more IMO. Their biggest flaw has been refusal to use the common components package like the other manufacturers do. If you own an IH, they will work on it at the local KW dealer. If you own a Pete, the local Freightliner store doesn't mind fixing it. If you own a Mack, even the Mack Dealer might not want to work on it.

On the other hand, if you're getting good local service... Great! But, not much good if you run longhaul.