review of MAN 18.240 HOCl-NL-R
popped by Pasir ris again ytd to go sit my new darling (lol).
Decided to preview the thing before a full ride soo i chucked
myself out from int one stop out using a s17.
Apprehension greeted me when i board the bus. Will the new
generation Voith gearbox not produce any whsitles? Will bus have
the turbo whistle mix with Voith producing a nice sounds like MAN
18.310 Cuaseway link? More importantly,Will there be hubs?!
first thing that caught my eye. Hey the flooring is kinda
carpettish textured. Indeed the floor llooks different with the
matted design. Went to the rear n found a tix immediately. had a
look around . look pretty much like a Scania k230Ub but just feels
much more spacey. Stretched legs out. hmmm lots of legroom. hmm the
air pressure equipment is confined to one side of bus only.
Noticed the L shaped rear protrusion immediately. Recokoned its a
MAN Lion's City kind of feature.
Before entering Pasir ris the bus produced the voith whistle.
confirming that the Voith whsitle is here to stay despite being a
new gen voith gearbox
FULL RIDE
This time I compare the bus to the other MANs i took. Mostly the
MAn engine sound is a bit more low toned. Not as high toned as i
wanted it to be. The bus when shifting from 1st to 2nd gar kinda
chokes up. however, this is where the MAN engine power starts being
shown off as the bus roars 9 the word roar used with much
significance due to MAn's mascot the Lion) loudly and the bus
gains speed despite gear choke.. the roar brings back the days of
the Merc O305 double deckers whom engine roars are a much show of
power then.
the bus easily shifts after hitting the second gear after a
power roar. Upon reaching 4th , the floating sensation did not
come. this was expected as MANs dun normally give floating
sensations due to their high engine whining. However often times,
the bus kicks down to 3rd when hitting 4th. bus seem to not be able
to maintain 4th gear optimal drive... hmmmm
the voith gearbox repeated shows its face when the bus shifts
gears producing a high pitch whine to go along with the MAN engine
sound. however no turbo whistle was detected. sian. no combination
of both whsitles from the turbo and the Voith gearbox to produce a
heavenly sound. I detected hardly a sign of a hub reduction sound
although there is a faint one sometimes. Apparently true to
promise, the new hub reduction technology (what they call it hypoid
hubs?) makes hubs real soft.
As promsied, the suspension is enhanced and the effect is truly
felt. (with 4 suspension adbsorbers at the rear), we all got a
comfy ride.
overall, the bus is a refreshhing (MAN engine sounds) and
comfy ride (superior air suspensions)
info
I took a pic of the VIN plate with BC permission.
WMAA69ZZ46CC07603
to decipher the VIn a few poiinters:
W first letter is country code
last 4 digit is chassis series number. so its the 7603th
chassis.
A69 is the chassis series. Some will find this number VERY
significant.
upon alighting from the bus i had a good look at the rear. very
chio curves. rear looks good. much nicer than scania. well
proportioned and symetrical it is.
ZYX
.
Have you ever wondered what it might be like if it is fitted with
ZF?
