Heavy Duty Trucking, November 2018

HDT NOVEMBER 2018 44 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM hange isnt always easy Kenworths W900L has been around in its current trim since before the turn of the century so its had plenty of time to establish itself as iconic Early reactions to the new W990 on social media indicate some resistance to changing such an icon But everything on wheels evolves The W990 is a product of its time and its styling is more contemporary than that of the W900L Just compare any of todays half ton pickup trucks with those that were around during the Y2K scare Kenworth General Manager Mike Dozier said during his opening remarks at the W990 launch that the evening was about celebrating the legacy of the W900 and the introduction of the next generation of the W900 the W990 The W900 has been in our product portfolio for 57 years he said That raised the bar and made it incredibly important for us to get right what will be the next generation of the W900 A bit later in his presentation he added The W900L is not going anywhere but were planning for the future The W990 is another product that allows us to address your business needs as well as addressing what drivers expect The truck The W990 uses the same cab and sleeper package currently offered on the T680 and T880 on highway models Its the much touted 21 meter cab that Kenworth debuted in 2012 The dash layout is the same as are the available instrument and navigation packages Out back three sleeper options are available the 76 inch mid roof a 52 inch mid roof and a 40 inch flat top model Obviously a new hood was needed to mate with the wider cab The hood is 15 inches longer than the W900L hood giving the truck a bumper to back of cab dimension of 1315 inches The grille looks enormous and is designed entirely of polished stainless steel with the traditional cast aluminum hood pull Behind the grille is the largest cooling module Kenworth puts in an on highway truck The headlights have the same optics as the T880 The fenders are replaceable and can be ordered with the flares to accommodate larger steer tires on heavy haul units And perhaps most conspicuously the air cleaners are gone They have been replaced by a single under hood air filter and a pair of stainless steel intake ports on the sides of the hood Kenworth W990 The next generation The in your face frontal profile of the W990 is impossible to mistake for anything but a Kenworth And there are two bonus features with the W990 On some models the steering cut can be up to six degrees tighter than the W900L and the whole truck is said to be 6 7 more aerodynamic than its near namesake Kenworth provided a choice of four trucks for editors to drive on the morning following the launch They were essentially the same except for the powertrain Two came with a Paccar MX 13 engine and the Paccar Automated Transmission while the others featured a Cummins X15 with an Eaton 18 speed manual gear box I drove one of each so this review is a mashup of two trucks By Jim Park Equipment Editor jpark@ truckinginfo com QUICK SPIN This truck makes no apologies for what it is Its a proud truck for proud drivers C PHOTOS JIM PARK