Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/65581
. OF PERFORMANCEPINNACLE truck proves during well- rounded workout that it deserves its lofty name photos and story by STEVE STURGESS Mack's on-highway n Europe, manual gearshifts dominate the passenger car fi eld, but nearly all heavy trucks have automated gearshifts. Here in America, virtually every car is an automatic, while trucks are still shifted manually. That looks like it will change — and soon — likely led by the European makers. In North America, Volvo is currently delivering 40 percent of production with its I-Shift automated 12-speed, which is an excellent, intelligent transmission. And part- ner company Mack is now delivering better than 40 percent automatics on Pinnacle 30 | TRUCKERS NEWS | JUNE 2012 highway trucks. Mack's mDrive is like the Volvo I- Shift: an automated 12-speed that is smart and slick and that makes every driver a star performer. That's the conclusion I reached after driving the Mack Pinnacle from the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., to Mack's Customer Center in Allentown, Pa. — a distance of about 700 miles that crosses the rugged West Virginia mountains en route. We pulled a loaded fl atbed test trailer weighing nearly 80,000 pounds across Kentucky, West Virginia, in and out of Maryland and then across Pennsylvania to Al- lentown. I shared the driving with David McKenna, a 32-year Mack veteran. We planned to drop off the Pinnacle at the newly