Heavy Duty Trucking, July 2015

Theres no view quite like that from the left seat of a Kenworth W900L All the exterior lighting is LED with the taillights and fendermounted turn signals emitting a cool looking glow around the edges when they are on The design concept comes from a partnership with Jonathan Ward of Icon 4X4 who helped craft the exterior trim and interior color schemes Inside the Icon 900 is everything youd expect from Kenworth plus a little bit more The unbelievably comfortable leather driver and passenger seats feature an embroidered Icon 900 logo on the headrest The sofa bed in the 86 inch sleeper I drove was leather and color keyed to match the seats Theres a little more chrome trim than usual on the inside including the dash surrounds and door pads Owners also get a stainless steel plaque on the dash denoting the trucks limited edition exclusivity Power for the Icon 900 is provided exclusively by the Cummins ISX15 in ratings up to 1850 lb ft of torque and 600 hp Transmission options include 10 13 and 18 speed Eaton Fuller models in manual or automated The truck I drove at the editor ride and drive event held at Kenworths Chillicothe Ohio plant in May had an ISX15 rated at 550 hp with 1850 lb ft and Eaton 18 speed manual transmission 13200 pound Dana front axle 40000 pound Meritor The KW bug on the hood is not the usual red but chrome representing the silver themed 25th anniversary of the W900 model The special edition Icon 900 will be sold in limited numbers Production begins in the fall Dont wait and true I got not even a hint of protest through the steering wheel If theres a downside to the W900 its the big exterior air cleaners They make the truck look great but they get in the way of crossing the 10 mpg barrier and they are noisy too Some would like the sound of the whistling turbo I do too but it would get in my nerves after a few hours of stop and go driving with the window rolled down Kenworth Director of Marketing Kurt Swihart expects the biggest customer base for the Icon 900 to be owner operators and fleets looking to reward over achieving drivers I think they will wind up in the hands of a few 50 to 60 year old successful veteran drivers who are approaching retirement thinking to heck with all this automation and electronic wizardry I want one last real truck before I hang it up The bold and unapologetic Icon 900 is that truck rear axles with 355 1 gears on Kenworths AG400 40000 pound suspension and 245 inch Michelin tires It also had air disc brakes at each wheel position The short test drive course in Chillicothe was about 45 minutes round trip I liked the truck so much I went around twice Theres just something about looking out over that square acre of hood slipping the transmission into gear and feeling the power roll on as the clutch engages The 280 inch wheelbase adds to the ocean liner feel of the truck which isnt bad unless youre peddling freight in New Yorks Upper East Side but hey if you can afford a truck like this you can probably afford to turn those loads down I cant think of a truck that comes close this one in terms of ride and handling A little S turn on the course that ran under a railroad bridge had quite a dip and the pavement was pretty badly broken up but the truck held the road sure www truckinginfo com JULY 2015 HDT 37