The medium-duty market is getting crowded, but Peterbilt’s little Class 6 cousin, the Model 330, is going to be noticed no matter where it goes. It’s as easy on the eye as it is on the backside. It’s a comfortable truck to drive, and it’s easy to drive. Given that many of its future drivers will be non-CDL holders, that’s a real plus.

The Class 6 market is ripe with customer-specific configurations, from freight boxes to tilt-n’-load auto haulers, and the Model 330 will fit right in to any of them. The clean back-of-cab gives the body builder an easy chassis to work with, and an under-frame DPF placement offers the fewest restrictions with regard to PTO installation or frame-mounted accessory placement.

When spec’d with 19.5-in low-profile tires, the rear deck height is scarcely more than 36 in. off the road, making it much easier to climb into and out of than a full-height chassis. Curb-side deliveries and locations where no loading docks exist mean the driver will be making many trips a day into the cargo area. Low is good in this world.

But low doesn’t mean compromised visibility from the cab. From the driver’s seat looking forward, the steeply raked hood is barely visible, and very unobtrusive. At 108 in. from the bumper to the back of the cab, the hood is short, and it certainly won’t get in the way of your ­driver’s better judgment. And the view out the side windows is excellent too.

Peterbilt offers 7 x 16-in mirrors, and they’re cab-mounted on swing-away brackets for an extra measure of maintenance cost reduction. The peep-hole in the passenger door is a must, in my mind — even more so when you’re staffing the trucks with less experienced, non-CDL drivers. Every visibility advantage you can think of has been built into the Model 330.

And speaking of inexpert drivers, Peterbilt makes the Model 330 hood and fenders out of something called Metton, a highly durable and impact resistant composite material. It’s not bullet proof, but it’ll take its share of abuse. The front bumper is available in Metton too, or you can order a chrome job if you want to spruce the buggy up a little.

Makin’ It Go:

Tip the hood forward and what you see under there is the new Paccar branded engine, the PX6, an EPA-’07-compliant in-line six-cylinder design with four valves per cylinder, a high-pressure common rail fuel system, and a variable geometry turbocharger. Made by Cummins, the engine evolved from the proven ISB platform — in fact it is an ISB, just rebranded.

The model 330 has the same cab as its
class 8 cousins, with few distractions

One of Cummins’ more successful medium-duty engines, it boasts the highest power-to-weight ratio in its class. It’s the only engine available in the Model 330, but it won’t leave customers wondering if they made the right choice.

The 260-hp version I drove around Denton last fall had all the snort you’d expect from a 26,000-lb truck. If heavier loads are in the cards, the PX6 offers ratings up to 325 hp — but one can scarcely imagine needing that kind of power in a Class 6 chassis.

The engine is mated to a wide-ratio 6-speed Allison 2500 Series automatic transmission. That’s automatic — with the torque converter. It couldn’t be simpler to use for a novice driver — just bang it into “D” and away you go.

The Allison transmissions use torque converters, which acts as a fluid link between the engine and the rest of the driveline; and produces a cushion effect, so there’s none of the driveline shock often seen with less proficient drivers. This produces smoother shifts, and protects the entire drivetrain, including the clutch, drive shaft, U-joints, and rear axle. And of course, there’s no clutch maintenance either.

Allison’s fourth-generation electronic controls optimize every shift for power or performance, and the transmission “remembers” how the last shift was made, so it can maintain powertrain efficiency. It continually adjusts shift schedules to suit engine load, operating conditions, and driver demand.

The Denton Drive:

Denton, Texas is much like Calgary in that it’s flat and spread out. There are newer sections and older sections, and the roadways vary accordingly. Traffic is busy and fast moving, mostly, and the drivers aren’t terribly forgiving of another driver’s hesitation. So, the last thing I wanted was to be fumbling around with the truck while I was making my way downtown.

I took to this one rather quickly and found it much like bobtailing around in a short wheelbase tractor. At 220 in., the wheelbase isn’t excessive, and the wheel cut was little different from my Ford Taurus.

Drivers in this environment climb in and out of the truck dozens of times a day, so egress and exit ease is really important. I notice the handles on the inside of the door were a tad small, but it was no major climb to get into the seat.

The daily inspection was easy enough, starting with flipping open the super-light hood. It opens nearly 90 degrees, giving the driver or mechanic lots of room to work. All the daily maintenance points were easy to get at, so good marks here too.

Given that the Model 330 is an easy and comfortable truck to drive, with excellent visibility and a powertrain suited to a possibly less skilled non-CDL driver, this truck ought to find wide acceptance in the light-to-medium-size delivery market. It has a few bigger brothers for the heavier jobs, like the Model 335 and Model 340.

They’re essentially the same truck, but with beefier suspensions and powertrains. With that in mind, you can build commonality into a fleet without sacrificing efficiency and lower cost of ownership. This little Class 6 lives up to its billing.