Saturday, December 13, 2008
No further forward in 25 years.
On Wednesday I went to Bradford in an Iveco EuroRider . It is the only Iveco we have in our depot and it is known as the short straw. Having this coach for 2 days made me think how far forward coaches have come in the last 25 years. All other coach manufacturers have moved forward with better and better models produced year on year. All except Iveco, which brought back to me what driving a coach 25 years ago used to be like.
You can take for granted the power and acceleration of modern coaches. Today's Volvo B12's accelerate briskly and cruise up hills very comfortably. However, driving this Iveco EuroRider brings it all back to another age. An age when coaches were very slow off the mark, plodded along and cried on the hills. Most main road hills are now driven up in top gear but 25 years ago your coach would change down one or two gears to climb the hill. 25 years ago whenever you lost your speed on a main road it took a long time to build it back up again and you would hope that nothing would slow you down as you approached a hill.
The mainstay of the nationwide company 25 years ago was the Leyland Leopard and the performance of the Iveco EuroRider is broadly similar. All other coaches have come on a long way but not the Iveco. The Leyland Leopard generally had a 5 speed semi automatic gearbox which worked well and was smooth. However, this Iveco has a 5 speed fully automatic ZF gearbox and it goes in with a bang, a big bang. Changing from second to third gives the driver a bigger thrust to his hips than during sex.
Put the lack of acceleration, poor hill climbing ability and the rough gearchange all together and I was glad to see the back of this coach on Thursday night. This is one hell of a shed to drive and is a disgrace to have on the network. Oh yes, the toilet blocked up as usual which is no surprise because the drain turns through 90 degrees. Thankfully this coach does not see service every day but occasionally every driver will draw the short straw and will be given this shed of a coach.
On Wednesday I went to Bradford in an Iveco EuroRider . It is the only Iveco we have in our depot and it is known as the short straw. Having this coach for 2 days made me think how far forward coaches have come in the last 25 years. All other coach manufacturers have moved forward with better and better models produced year on year. All except Iveco, which brought back to me what driving a coach 25 years ago used to be like.
You can take for granted the power and acceleration of modern coaches. Today's Volvo B12's accelerate briskly and cruise up hills very comfortably. However, driving this Iveco EuroRider brings it all back to another age. An age when coaches were very slow off the mark, plodded along and cried on the hills. Most main road hills are now driven up in top gear but 25 years ago your coach would change down one or two gears to climb the hill. 25 years ago whenever you lost your speed on a main road it took a long time to build it back up again and you would hope that nothing would slow you down as you approached a hill.
The mainstay of the nationwide company 25 years ago was the Leyland Leopard and the performance of the Iveco EuroRider is broadly similar. All other coaches have come on a long way but not the Iveco. The Leyland Leopard generally had a 5 speed semi automatic gearbox which worked well and was smooth. However, this Iveco has a 5 speed fully automatic ZF gearbox and it goes in with a bang, a big bang. Changing from second to third gives the driver a bigger thrust to his hips than during sex.
Put the lack of acceleration, poor hill climbing ability and the rough gearchange all together and I was glad to see the back of this coach on Thursday night. This is one hell of a shed to drive and is a disgrace to have on the network. Oh yes, the toilet blocked up as usual which is no surprise because the drain turns through 90 degrees. Thankfully this coach does not see service every day but occasionally every driver will draw the short straw and will be given this shed of a coach.
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Stephen sorry about your Eurorider. I took one on an 04 plate to Leeds. Maybe your depot has a poor example. The one i had was in no way a match for any volvo B12b but once the revs got past 1400 it would go pretty well and its turbo could be heard under acceleration. It also had a kickdown facility.
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: 14 January 2009 at 09:14
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