[binaiks]

Originally Posted by directinjection

B7R did not feature CRDI technology. I don't think B7R is in production now.
The current Volvo buses are designated Volvo 9400 and Volvo 8400.

B7R is very much in production sir! 9400 is the designation for the body and not the chassis. Even earlier, the chassis was called "B7R", while the body did not have any designations on its own other than "Mark-I", "Mark-II" and "Mark-III"

Originally Posted by Glifford

I have posted what I have seen. I guess the B7R is too strong a brand to let go. All new BMTCs (recently bought less than 2 months back) are B7Rs.

The BMTC ones are actually "B7RLE". It is however surprising that Volvo badges them as "B7R". Anyways, the BMTC ones are 'now' officially designated as "8400", though the badges on the bus still claims it is a "B7R". (I saw a brand new bus yesterday - according to the builders plate it was rolled out earlier this month!)

Originally Posted by Glifford

The 9400 is the B9R!

B9R is '9400 6X2', while '9400' is B7R.

Look at the Image I have attached. The bus is a 9400, and it has the "B7R" badging on it. You can even see the LED lamps in them ;-)

[yamracing]

9400 is the B9R ofcourse : check Travelling by Volvo B7R bus in India

[DWind]

The new Volvo B7R are indeed common rail which has increased their engine power from 273 to 290 bhp. You can find confirmation from Volvo's website components - Volvo 9400 intercity bus : Volvo Buses - India

Have seen them in a private operator's fleet (Kesineni) from Bangalore to Hyderabad.

[Ram]

AFAIK,
B7R and B9R are chasses made by Volvo and shipped to a coach-builder like Jay, Sutlej, JCBL, Khira, Ruby, ...

Volvo's B7R only comprises, chassis, engine powertrain and user-interface hardware like instrument panel (not dashboard), steering wheel, gearlever and pedals.

The coach-builder cobbles together a built-up non-monocoque body
with a framework of steel-angles, with aluminium and glassfibre panels epoxied, welded or riveted.

The final assemblage
in the case of Jaico Automobiles (Azad Group) of Bangalore,
still carries the chassis name: B7R.

On the other hand 8400 and 9400 are complete buses, built by Volvo themselves.

[directinjection]

Just found something on the net that answers all the questions:
http://www.volvo.com/NR/rdonlyres/6F...usBrochure.pdf

Glifford was right. The B7R featured in the brochure does feature a CRDI engine. But I remember reading the specs of an earlier B7R from Volvo India that didn't feature CRDI.

Originally Posted by Ram

AFAIK,
B7R and B9R are chasses made by Volvo and shipped to a coach-builder like Jay, Sutlej, JCBL, Khira, Ruby, ...

Volvo's B7R only comprises, chassis, engine powertrain and user-interface hardware like instrument panel (not dashboard), steering wheel, gearlever and pedals.

The coach-builder cobbles together a built-up non-monocoque body
with a framework of steel-angles, with aluminium and glassfibre panels epoxied, welded or riveted.

The final assemblage
in the case of Jaico Automobiles (Azad Group) of Bangalore,
still carries the chassis name: B7R.

On the other hand 8400 and 9400 are complete buses, built by Volvo themselves.

B7R was marketed and sold by Volvo India not as a chassis but as a bus. The bus was called B7R. No B7R customer dealt with Azad. The buses were bought from Volvo India. It wasn't like a typical Tata or AL bus buying experience where the chassis was bought from Tata/AL and body constructed by the customer from somehwere else. Now, even Tata/AL offer fully built buses.

[Glifford]

Originally Posted by directinjection

But how did you conclude they have common rail? Did they carry a badge or something?

The badging on the rear right looks something like this:


B7R
COMMON RAIL DIRECT INJECTION

[Glifford]

Originally Posted by Glifford

The badging on the rear right looks something like this:


B7R
COMMON RAIL DIRECT INJECTION

I wish I could adjust font sizes here to show that the B7R text is significantly larger than the CRDI.

But then again the B7R is in embossed chrome letters as always seen, while the CRDI text is a sticker job. So I am not sure if it is done by Volvo/Bus Builder or the Operator!

[AkMar]

Hello,

About a month ago, I travelled in the BEST's Marcopolo bus which is running on a 6 month trial. Here is my review of the bus. I have attached some pics of the Marcopolo, and BEST's Kinglong buses with which I have compared the marcopolo. The first 3 pics are of the Marcopolo. First two courtesy Hindustan Times, and the third one taken by a friend. 4th and 5th pics are of the Kinglong.

INTERIORS:

The interiors are not too exciting to look at and the colours are dull. But the quality is excellent, much better than the Kinglongs of BEST. Attention has been given to even minute details. There are lots of tubelights inside the bus as opposed to only two 4 feet long ones in the Kinglongs. The tubelights are arranged in two rows alongside the AC vents. Only half of them were kept on. The height of the bus is less than the Kinglong. Hence it is not necessary to stand on the seats to adjust the AC vents for the lowest level of seats. The seats need slightly more cushioning. The other grouse is the layout of seats. Provision of space for wheelchairs has reduced the number of seats. Of course, I beleive this can be customised while buying the buses (this one is a trial bus).

The air curtain on the door starts automatically when the door is opened, and switches off automatically when the door is closed. Along with the air curtain, there is a light to illuminate the door area. The light too is automatically operated. When the driver presses the button to close the door, a sign saying "Door closing" blinks near the door. There is a "request stop" feature in which the passenger has to press a button, and a light indicating "Stop requested" lights up. But this feature will not be used too much in BEST. In the passenger area, a 220 volts electricity outlet too has been provided.

The biggest difference between the interior of Kinglong and this bus is the noise levels. Marcopolo is much more silent than Kinglong. There are no issues with the suspension too. AC cools well. The temperature inside the bus was 19 degrees. I would rate the interiors 5/5.

ENGINE & PERFORMANCE:

The engine impressed me in this short journey too. The acceleration is better than Kinglongs. The brakes of the bus are very powerful. The driver was applying the brakes as he would apply them on a normal Leyland AC bus, which resulted in speed decreasing too early. The auto gear box of this bus has 4 gears.

I was fortunate enough to have a signal race (bus some distance away from the green signal which is about to turn red. In such cases he driver tries his best to beat the signal) and the bus did well.

The litmus test for the bus in my journey was at the Kora Kendra bus stop, which is located on upward slope of a flyover crossing the railway lines. I was eagerly waiting to see the manner in which the bus starts from that stop. And it did not disappoint. The bus didn't roll back even a centimeter, but the engine took a second to adjust to the gradient. By the time we reached the top of the bridge, the bus was doing 30 kph. The manner in which it tackled the slope was commendable.

After Kora Kendra, the rest of the journey was sedate. The bus again got an empty highway at Magathane depot bus stop. The way it gained speed was commendable. Kinglong's acceleration is absolutely no match for this. The engine is more silent than a CNG Kinglong (This doesn't mean that it is completely silent). It does not roar like a Kinglong.

Overall the performance is much better than Kinglong. I have seen Kinglongs struggling badly while starting from even slight inclines (crawling up inclines which are less steep than a normal flyover at 15 kph)

I would rate the performance as 4.5/5.

EXTERIOR:

It looks well proportioned. But the rear could have been better. My opinion about the looks of this bus is exactly opposite of the Kinglong. In the Kinglong, the front and sides do not look good, but the rear looks good. In Marco polo, the front looks great, sides look good and rear is average. Quality is miles ahead of the Kinglong. The front looks very solidly built, compared to the fragile front side of Kinglongs. The bus looks really awesome with lights on the sides switched on. My rating 3.5/5.

VERDICT:

This is a much better package than Kinglongs. With the seating layout changed, this will make a winner. I would not go for more Kinglongs if I have choice between Marcopolo and Kinglong. Overall I would give this bus a 4.5/5 rating. I hope BEST buys these buses and not more Kinglongs.

[D.V.R]

It looks good but atleast they could have used better HL&TL.The first one has HL &TL lift off rom the first gen Sumo and the second one has the TL of the Victa.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Anyways, my pursuit for the Marcopolo continues. The control room guys are ignorant about the existence of such a bus (something that is said in the article too!).

Mission Accomplished! I saw her is flesh and blood today!

[Kindly Note: All comparisions are made with the Volvo - since that is the only other AC bus operated in Bangalore.]

I even managed a short ride in it. The design is good, but the finish is far from good. The interiors had a "typical" Indian touch to it, with grab rails running every where. The seats are, perhaps, of the poorest possible quality. The seat mounts look too "local" and the seat cushioning was to the least. The seat design, however, is good.

The seats on the "lower" deck is too low for passengers sitting there to adjust their AC vents! In a Volvo, the seats are a bit raised (due to the location of the fuel tanks) and that helps a lot for passengers to adjust the AC vent. The seats in the new Volvos are really comfortable too!

The LED display in these buses are big (bigger than the Volvo). The interior design is a bit flawed, and they ended up wasting space for the "Wheel well". (Volvo has utilised this way cleverly by installing seats on them).

The bus had a Manual Transmission. (According to the driver, the other bus given to BMTC has an Auto Box). The engine is noisy - both outside and inside. The noise in the rear seats is really pronounced. Towards the front, the sound decreases, but not the extent of the Volvo. The ride was comfortable. The suspension was good enough.

The doors are same as the ordinary BMTC buses (with a bit of extra coverings though!). The company claims that the bus would not move if the doors are open, but this bus did move! All the way from the platform to the main road (atleast 200 metres) without even a hint of 'trouble'! There is an alarm to indicate that the door is closing. The 'Air-curtain' is a good feature, but it appeared that the area of coverage is less.

The interiors is dull when compared to the Volvo, and the finish is average.

Ratings: (all in comparision to Volvo 8400)
Interior Design: 3/5
Ride: 4.5/5
Exteriors: 3.5/5
Performance: **No Comparision** (This is because, I feel it wouldn't be fair to compare an Auto box to a Manual. Anyways 230hp is good enough for the City).

Here are the images: (All images can be seen here)

[nkrishnap]

Finally spotted the TATA Marcopolo bus in Bangalore. I was travelling in a volvo on the residency road and when this TATA Marcopolo stopped by the side in the signal. I looked as big or as small as the Volvo .

Route no 317 K (not sure about the K though). Registration was temporary one, KA01 TR ****. Not sure about the 4 digits.

Could not click any pictures as the bus started to move from the signal and also the Volvo had advertisements on the side panels.

[AkMar]

Originally Posted by binaiks

The LED display in these buses are big (bigger than the Volvo). The interior design is a bit flawed, and they ended up wasting space for the "Wheel well". (Volvo has utilised this way cleverly by installing seats on them).

Well, from the experiences in Kinglong buses, I would not say that this is a clever move. At least in BEST Kinglongs, the space between the seats facing each other is very less, and someone crossing over from the front to rear or vice versa invariably ends up brushing past the knees of the seated passengers. I have witnessed a few "Mujhe dhakka kyun maara?" arguments too, especially when one of the persons involved is a female. I do not know whether there is enough space in the volvo.

In the BEST Marcopolo, people make "clever" use of the wheel well space by keeping their bags on it.

Please refer to the pic of the dashboard. In the automatic version, the gear selector is at the place where there is a rectangular plastic part, to the left of the steering and above the display board controlling LCD.

Did you notice where the handbrake lever of this bus was? In the BEST marcopolo it is located on the dashboard itself.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by AkMar

Well, from the experiences in Kinglong buses, I would not say that this is a clever move. At least in BEST Kinglongs, the space between the seats facing each other is very less, and someone crossing over from the front to rear or vice versa invariably ends up brushing past the knees of the seated passengers. I have witnessed a few "Mujhe dhakka kyun maara?" arguments too, especially when one of the persons involved is a female. I do not know whether there is enough space in the volvo.

I guess you are talking about the seats arranged side-wise. Volvo doesn't have such seats. Instead, the wheel base is designed in a different fashion, thereby enabling them to have "normal" seats on them. A full "two-seater" is placed on the wheel well, in a manner that the "base" of the seat is mounted on the well. (I am at loss of words to explain it clearly).

The front overhang on the Volvo is also longer than the Marcopolo. Thus, they could have the two-piece front door, as well as a seat ahead of the wheel-well. Look at the attached image. The single seat, near the door, is mounted on one side of the "Wheel-well", while the seat facing "backward" is on the other side of the well.

In the attached image, you'd see that the seat that front end is raised, much higher than the other seats. I've added an approximate drawing of how the layout looks like (Note: It is NOT to scale).

[kavesh55]

Regarding the interiors, why is BEST sticking for plastic seats in the buses. The are low quality and not comfortable as metal and wooden ones. Personally experienced it.

Note from the support team: Do not take full quote to reply. You can take parts of quote to emphasis your point.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by kavesh55

Regarding the interiors, why is BEST sticking for plastic seats in the buses. The are low quality and not comfortable as metal and wooden ones. Personally experienced it.

The model that BEST has tried out it too flimsy. It is of a very poor quality. However, that doesn't mean all such seats are bad. There is another model, which is currently being used by BMTC in their normal and Volvo buses.

This one is sturdy. The make is "Harita" and the model is "innova". This is the one that Volvo uses on its new buses. It is pretty sturdy, and the seating is very comfortable. I did spot quite some BMTCs (non-Volvos) with such seats.

Here is one pic: