Scania K360IB4x2EB Irizar i6
On The Road
After taking photographs before the promised rain set in, Simon was first to take to the wheel, where he liked the layout of the instruments. He was unfamiliar with the Stoneridge digital tachograph that Scania fit as standard (Siemens is an option) but found it simple once Steve had explained it. He found it difficult to set a driving position that was both comfortable and gave him a good view of the dials through the wheel, but eventually found one. Simon has operated Scanias with Van Hool Alizee and Irizar Century coachwork in the past, and in his school contract fleet he still operates a trio of Northern Counties bodied Scania buses that were new to Fowlers.
The Opticruise two-pedal gearbox control on the eight-speed automated manual box requires you to turn the control knob to ‘D’ in the same way that you would push the ‘D’ button on a full auto. It has a useful hill hold facility that gives a four second delay before the foot brake releases once you have taken your foot off the pedal, though accelerating will deactivate it immediately. It gives bleeps to tell you it is activated and a countdown which Simon thought would eventually get on his nerves. It holds on the brakes rather than the gearbox and works only on the footbrake, not the hand brake.
Simon did notice a couple of issues. Early in his drive it seemed that the gear change process was rather more obvious than he would have liked, with a distinct drop into gear, though this phenomenon became less pronounced. On roundabouts, it seemed to ‘hunt’ a little before getting into its stride to pull away on a couple of occasions.
These points aside he was impressed saying, ‘it drives beautifully’. ‘The steering was lovely with a good lock, and if you take your foot off the accelerator it applies the first stage of the retarder – I like that. It just eases you on a hill.’
Both Simon and Andrew were disappointed that the A pillar obscured around a third of the main offside mirror for the driver. Everything lost could be clearly seen in handy lower mirror, although this was slightly prone to vibration. Otherwise the mirrors were very good with no blind spots and a clear view in the small upper mirror across the front of the coach. Simon was also surprised that the driver’s blind system had a vertical bar in the middle of the screen, a distraction that he thought relatively unusual these days.
He pointed out a degree of sway in the body at times, which was also evident as a passenger, though it wasn’t enough to cause any discomfort. He also commented on how quiet it was in the driving position.
Andrew has bought over a dozen new Scanias over the years, including nine service buses and four Van Hool T8 and T9 coaches, as well as several secondhand examples, although there are none in the current fleet. ‘I’ve always liked Scanias and this one grew on me,’ he said.
As he climbed into the seat he noticed that there was a safe fitted beneath it. The first time he released the handbrake, which pulls straight up, he was surprised, but once you have done it once, you know what to expect.
Part of his stint included driving through Stamford where negotiating the tight corners and narrow roads presented no difficulties. Like Simon he commented on the hill hold, ‘I think that bleeping might get on my nerves. You get five bleeps to tell you it’s about to release, but if you release within half a second it doesn’t bleep.
He commented, ‘It seemed to change gear at lower revs and then catch up with itself. I noticed it doing it with Simon too. It doesn’t like being rushed, but it’s deceiving. You think it isn’t rushed but you’re soon doing 50mph. It’s very nice to drive. The engine and the eight-speed box matched nicely. It could be driven at pace but was equally at home ambling along. 360hp isn’t a great lot today, but this felt like a more powerful unit. Like most Scanias, it has a lot of torque with plenty of power in the lower range. The gearbox changes to keep it in the lower range as soon as it can.’
‘Personally I think it could do with going a little bit further before changing gear. It changes up then goes back to 1,000rpm and seems to just struggle a bit to catch up. If it was to just change down to 1,100rpm it would be better. It doesn’t fly, it is more measured. A lot of coaches we drive are all top end, but this is the opposite. It means that when you put your foot down it goes. Unlike the Volvos it has only eight gears, which is plenty.’
On the flat, it set off in second, skipped third to fourth and then engaged every gear through to eighth. At 1,000rpm in top it was doing 46mph and at 50mph it was reading 1,100rpm. At what point a box changes depends on pedal pressure and readings from the inclinometer but going steadily on fairly level cross country roads it was in sixth at 30mph reading around 1,600rpm, in seventh at 40mph showing 1,500rpm and in top at 50mph at 1,450rpm.
Summing up, Andrew said. ‘It doesn’t take a lot of driving and it’s quite a nice bus to drive. It’s very stress-less because it’s quite happy ambling along.’
Speaking to Paul Chapman afterwards, he explained that the parameters within which the gearbox operates are set out in advance. Our coach was programmed to start in second gear on the flat, but it is perfectly possible to set it to drive away in first if an operator prefers. Quite a number of other features can be controlled in a similar way, a surprising one being that the system does not automatically show a green band on the tachometer; if you want one you have to programme it to appear. To my mind, showing a green band ought to be the default position.
Andrew commented, ‘Not having the EGR is one less thing to go wrong. It did look one of the less complicated coaches underneath and the less complicated it is the better.’
Overall, Andrew’s verdict was, ‘It’s a lovely touring coach; I’m quite impressed with it’.
A read out taken following the test showed that over the course of the day the coach, including the trip to Holbeach Drove, had covered 228 miles at an average of 10.9mpg, and that the average speed was 33mph. The element of our test showed figures of 10.57mpg at an average of 30mph, although that average will have been reduced by the time spent idling while pictures were taken.
From a passenger viewpoint, it was by no means a noisy coach but the noise that was generated was not where you expected it to be. At the front it was really quiet, at the rear there was noise but this was not excessive, and it was in the centre that I was slightly disappointed because the seat immediately to the rear of the centre toilet seemed to us all to be the noisiest position on the coach, possibly because noise was travelling up the stairwell.
The blowers were quite loud when they cut in, but the heating system proved very efficient on a wet and rather unpleasant day.