Drivers - Bus Reviews & Opinions

[don]

753: oh dear what crap to drive seriously annoying piece of shite, so disappointing
        Engine/ gearbox nice and smooth but got no guts not too different to volvo b7tl/voith combo
        Thinking the voith box saps power.
        Rear suspension seems ok, front oh dear feels exactly like a dart bouncing about, feels detached
        making the steering feel all weird on rough roads, on even roads steering is sharp so need to go
        easy with it. I wonder if zf axles are used I doubt it.
        Brakes requires effort to be put in stop smoothly so constantly thinking about how much
        pressure to apply so not good.
        Cab some rattling from behind driver seat, very good heaters, it's a comfortable place shame it's
        all let down by the way it drives.
        IMO this bus will be utter crap in every dept in a few short years, oh what joy for us drivers.
        3/10 think I,m being generous

Should be 0/10. They're the worst incarnation of a Dart yet.

I'm surprised about this - I sometimes travel on single door didi E200s in the London suburbs and from a passenger's viewpoint they zip around at some pace and have the feeling of being solid and reasonably rattle free (that said they carry very little cash as nearly all journeys made are pre-paid so no rattles from that source). Similar for 06 registered Arriva didi Darts.

[2900]

4958 first drive of an ADL ENVIRO 400 E40D
Body : I do like the enviro 400 vast improvement on the ALX400 feels more robust, one thing I did notice it rattles far less than enviro 200, I do like all the grey fitted to the interior it,ll still look good in years to come, you only have have to look at the t and v reg mercs they still look modern, plus dirt won't show up as much, the buses  with blue interiors haven't aged well at all IMO, the gemni,s with blue floors always look manky. Nice cab,spacious, good seat, excellent heaters, foot control for doors not in good location, not to keen on the touch switch gear.
Chassis: I don't rate it at all volvo b7tl vastly better IMO
Suspension: ok on smooth roads, not good at all on speed bumps, damping poor on uneven roads.
Brakes: requires effort to stop smoothly so not good
Engine/ gearbox: both units are smooth and quiet, the problem I found with this bus while on level road surface the gearbox races through the gears to keep rpm down and not in the power band it's feels like the engine is labouring in high gears which is not good, on inclines it changes it wakes up it,ll hold a lower gear for longer the engine gets going, feels like it's got power.
On the whole disappointing.
Body 9/10 chassis 2/10

[Ronnoc]

4958 first drive of an ADL ENVIRO 400 E40D
Body : I do like the enviro 400 vast improvement on the ALX400 feels more robust, one thing I did notice it rattles far less than enviro 200, I do like all the grey fitted to the interior it,ll still look good in years to come, you only have have to look at the t and v reg mercs they still look modern, plus dirt won't show up as much, the buses  with blue interiors haven't aged well at all IMO, the gemni,s with blue floors always look manky. Nice cab,spacious, good seat, excellent heaters, foot control for doors not in good location, not to keen on the touch switch gear.
Chassis: I don't rate it at all volvo b7tl vastly better IMO
Suspension: ok on smooth roads, not good at all on speed bumps, damping poor on uneven roads.
Brakes: requires effort to stop smoothly so not good
Engine/ gearbox: both units are smooth and quiet, the problem I found with this bus while on level road surface the gearbox races through the gears to keep rpm down and not in the power band it's feels like the engine is labouring in high gears which is not good, on inclines it changes it wakes up it,ll hold a lower gear for longer the engine gets going, feels like it's got power.
On the whole disappointing.
Body 9/10 chassis 2/10

I feel the ALX400 is 1 billion times better then the Enviro body.

[2900]

Does any one know the chassis specs on these NX spec ADL E40D engine, gearbox, axles, steering etc
One big difference  I,ve noticed the engine sits on the left now as opposed to the right on trident2 I wonder what was gained by this move.

[2900]

Oh dear more gemini,s have left west brom how deflating, it seems all the ones that have gone require  refurb ing, as some of lower 4500,s were refurbed here I guess these will stay.
On the whole the drivers based in Oldbury aren't fans of the enviro 400 cheap rubbish most will say but good heating though. I get the feeling when next years new orders arrive west brom will lose the remaining 4500,s to cascaded enviro 400s,  who knows may be the 4700,s as well cut out a whole vehicle type.

[Liverpool Street]

4958 first drive of an ADL ENVIRO 400 E40D
Body : I do like the enviro 400 vast improvement on the ALX400 feels more robust, one thing I did notice it rattles far less than enviro 200, I do like all the grey fitted to the interior it,ll still look good in years to come, you only have have to look at the t and v reg mercs they still look modern, plus dirt won't show up as much, the buses  with blue interiors haven't aged well at all IMO, the gemni,s with blue floors always look manky. Nice cab,spacious, good seat, excellent heaters, foot control for doors not in good location, not to keen on the touch switch gear.
Chassis: I don't rate it at all volvo b7tl vastly better IMO
Suspension: ok on smooth roads, not good at all on speed bumps, damping poor on uneven roads.
Brakes: requires effort to stop smoothly so not good
Engine/ gearbox: both units are smooth and quiet, the problem I found with this bus while on level road surface the gearbox races through the gears to keep rpm down and not in the power band it's feels like the engine is labouring in high gears which is not good, on inclines it changes it wakes up it,ll hold a lower gear for longer the engine gets going, feels like it's got power.
On the whole disappointing.
Body 9/10 chassis 2/10

The engine/gearbox setup like you described is the definition of the problem of these, yet its deliberately done for fuel consumption!!!!

[2900]

822 62 reg example of these cattle sheds, just a pile of crap to be honest, simply appaling to drive.
Bodywork still in good shape as is the interior I suppose this is what matters to Mr and Mrs joe public.
Engine,smooth but gutless no torque at all.
Gearbox smooth no issues does what it suppose to.
Suspension, simply hopeless front feels like it's wandering about, can't deal with speed bumps or rough roads, speed bumps best taken at 15 mph or less imo.
Brakes not bad at all to be honest.
Steering feels sharp nice and tight no slack.
Cab its a rattle fest in here seriously infuriating, I put this down to serious lack of build quality from ADL , man they must be proud up there.
I drove leyland Lynx,es back in the day they suffered from poor build quality but the engine/box more than made up for its short comings.
822 0/10

[Liverpool Street]

822 62 reg example of these cattle sheds, just a pile of crap to be honest, simply appaling to drive.
Bodywork still in good shape as is the interior I suppose this is what matters to Mr and Mrs joe public.
Engine,smooth but gutless no torque at all.
Gearbox smooth no issues does what it suppose to.
Suspension, simply hopeless front feels like it's wandering about, can't deal with speed bumps or rough roads, speed bumps best taken at 15 mph or less imo.
Brakes not bad at all to be honest.
Steering feels sharp nice and tight no slack.
Cab its a rattle fest in here seriously infuriating, I put this down to serious lack of build quality from ADL , man they must be proud up there.
I drove leyland Lynx,es back in the day they suffered from poor build quality but the engine/box more than made up for its short comings.
822 0/10

You don't mind the headaches from a Lynx as your guaranteed not to come off late if you had one of those rockets. E200's on the other hand...

[2900]

Liverpool St, so true I had special deal with my pharmacist for pain killers, 1313 at Hockley was fitted with experimental rattle free cab windows just brilliant they were very similar to the merc item shame more didn't get the same treatment it made a vast difference.

[Ronnoc]

Oh dear more gemini,s have left west brom how deflating, it seems all the ones that have gone require  refurb ing, as some of lower 4500,s were refurbed here I guess these will stay.
On the whole the drivers based in Oldbury aren't fans of the enviro 400 cheap rubbish most will say but good heating though. I get the feeling when next years new orders arrive west brom will lose the remaining 4500,s to cascaded enviro 400s,  who knows may be the 4700,s as well cut out a whole vehicle type.

I agree with those drivers, they have a brain!

[2900]

756 had ride on this the other sat in middle from a passenger point of view it was a nice warm comfortable ride very little in terms of rattling really surprised me. May be the journey had some thing to do with it as it was mostly on dual carriage ways, as opposed to housing estates being the norm for one of these.  I bet it's the complete opposite from the drivers seat. 7/10

[2900]

Not sure if any one has mentioned this before the 64 plate enviro 400s at west brom have there radio pedal switch located on the right side of the cab under the driver seat, basically you have to stop the bus to communicate over the radio system. Apparently a safety measure, so now you have situation with a general call going out to the soho rd drivers for example, the radio announcer constantly repeating a message waiting for a response. Ah the nanny state medaling again I think.

[Liverpool Street]

Not sure if any one has mentioned this before the 64 plate enviro 400s at west brom have there radio pedal switch located on the right side of the cab under the driver seat, basically you have to stop the bus to communicate over the radio system. Apparently a safety measure, so now you have situation with a general call going out to the soho rd drivers for example, the radio announcer constantly repeating a message waiting for a response. Ah the nanny state medaling again I think.

Right so if they radio you and you don't answer straight away and cut off you gotta press the button again and stay stationary.

I bet some driver will have an accident cause of this, taking his right foot off the brake to talk. Safety? Seems like accident causing.

[2900]

You know some one is gona try it, accident waiting to happen, while stationery I tried using the speech pedal I found it awkward and unnatural to do. If it's a non urgent message won't bother responding. I guess it,ll stop the larking about on the radio. From my experience when this female with a thick polish accent comes on the radio system goes nuts, there's a lot of asian drivers at west brom who simply don't under stand a thing she is saying not good , cause of her accent. Man I do chuckle when she comes on it makes my day.

[Liverpool Street]

You know some one is gona try it, accident waiting to happen, while stationery I tried using the speech pedal I found it awkward and unnatural to do. If it's a non urgent message won't bother responding. I guess it,ll stop the larking about on the radio. From my experience when this female with a thick polish accent comes on the radio system goes nuts, there's a lot of asian drivers at west brom who simply don't under stand a thing she is saying not good , cause of her accent. Man I do chuckle when she comes on it makes my day.

I think that's Lizzy. So funny. She's great.