Best Diamond Bus

[PM]

Does anyone have any thoughts about which bus out of the current/former red/black and blue diamond fleets is/was the best?
I would like to nominate volvo b7rle/plaxton centro royale one, plaxton centro bodied MANs 801 and 806 the longer ones and the super 16/black country connection MCVs.

[Ash]

The plaxton centro's are best by far, the mcv's were very powerful but lacked with interior quality, rattles and lack of leg room were poor for new buses. The red diamond volvo b7rle are very similar inside compared to the centro's and on an equal par to the centro's. But with the '02' wright cadets becoming more frequent on the 404E im beginning to like these buses powerful , nice refurbed interior  and good amount of leg room. The versa's looks internally and externally very good but are quite noisy in my opinion when the engine kicks in. Any other diamond buses are quite poor either with worn out interiors, engines that sound like there going to cut out or buses that shake you like mad.

[PM]

Forgot about the wright cadets tho i remember them being good because in around november 09 an ex ludlows one was on the 64. Im sure i saw a picture somewhere... I agree tho I dis like the mcvs and lets not forget the wright bodied darts. anyone know what 30801 and 30806 are like to travel on because Ive never been lucky enough...

[Ash]

Yes i have been on the 30801 and 30806 a few times the interior has the horrible urban 90 seats that is like sitting on concrete, as for the bus itself it was like riding on a MCV but the 30611-30623 batch as it's man engined, very powerful quick buses even quicker to me than the royale centro's.

[PM]

Do they stick to the routes theyre branded for 002 and 50? Because Ive been on both routes a few times and never got these buses. Yes, the seats arent comfy and from memory the other MAN/centros also have these. Really? Are they really powerful? I would like to see an interior shot and compare it with http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdominator14/3978141666/  as this looks really smart. Dya reckon it would be much work/possible to make the interior of 801 and 806 like this? Yes,B7rles arent really known for their speed-try NXWM's latest ones on the X62-slow compared to the scanias!!

[Tony]

Yes i have been on the 30801 and 30806 a few times the interior has the horrible urban 90 seats that is like sitting on concrete, as for the bus itself it was like riding on a MCV but the 30611-30623 batch as it's man engined, very powerful quick buses even quicker to me than the royale centro's.

The 43 seat MAN/MCVs were vile buses, there was only about 5 seats I could actually fit in becasue of lack of legroom. The 39 seat were not too bad

[PM]

They could easily rectify that-tho 43 is still less than the centros royales for a bus the same length why is the pitch so bad on the mcvs?

[winston]

They are not the same length. The MAN/MCVs are midibuses with 43 seats shoehorned in, while the Royale Volvo B7RLE/Plaxton Centros are full size single deckers

They could easily rectify that-tho 43 is still less than the centros royales for a bus the same length why is the pitch so bad on the mcvs?

[Tony]

Do they stick to the routes theyre branded for 002 and 50? Because Ive been on both routes a few times and never got these buses. Yes, the seats arent comfy and from memory the other MAN/centros also have these. Really? Are they really powerful? I would like to see an interior shot and compare it with http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdominator14/3978141666/  as this looks really smart. Dya reckon it would be much work/possible to make the interior of 801 and 806 like this? Yes,B7rles arent really known for their speed-try NXWM's latest ones on the X62-slow compared to the scanias!!

That is nothing to do with the bus itself, just how the engine management has been set up to reduce fuel consumption and give a smoother ride. A B7 with the engine management set up for speed would match any other bus

[Ash]

Every time ive caught the 002 its been a branded centro and the 50 route is normally centro's too, but diamond do seem to keep certain buses on certain services, i noticed 30214 on the 404E once last week, first time in ages even though the 02 cadets are regular on the route 30214 is often seen on the 007. When the mcv's were here they were more common to stray off route especially as too many were ordered for the 404E. Im glad the mcv's are gone yes they were new buses but in terms of quality there were poor especially when compared to the centro's

[PM]

Do they stick to the routes theyre branded for 002 and 50? Because Ive been on both routes a few times and never got these buses. Yes, the seats arent comfy and from memory the other MAN/centros also have these. Really? Are they really powerful? I would like to see an interior shot and compare it with http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisdominator14/3978141666/  as this looks really smart. Dya reckon it would be much work/possible to make the interior of 801 and 806 like this? Yes,B7rles arent really known for their speed-try NXWM's latest ones on the X62-slow compared to the scanias!!

That is nothing to do with the bus itself, just how the engine management has been set up to reduce fuel consumption and give a smoother ride. A B7 with the engine management set up for speed would match any other bus

Oh right. I didn't know that so thanks for telling me :)

[PM]

Im confused about the lengths of the buses then cos I know there are evolutions with 39 and 43 seats-are these to different lengths cos the BCountryConnection and super16 ones look longer than the red diamond ones. And arent these super 16/bcc ones the same length as 801 and 806 or 30801 and 30806 if u prefer it like that-the longer MAN/centros.

[Ash]

30801/6 are B45F whereas the BCC/Super 16 were B43F also the nifty 50 buses are mostly different lengths with 30802 being B35F and 30804/5 being B38F

[Ash]

Whats happened to all the black diamond wright cadets there were none on the 404E today 3 solo's and the rest mostly the shorter darts which seem to get very full at certain times, noticed 30211 on the 410 and 30201 on the 402. Im sure the solo's would routes better than they do on the 404E