Post by capitalomnibus on Jul 15, 2021 23:24:37 GMT
Enviro 200
The E200 1st and 2nd generation are improvements from the Dennis Dart but they also have the build quality that rivals a kids plastic toy house. As much as it did get better after ECWVTA, I’m still not the biggest fan and in this post I’m mainly going to focus on 2nd gen Euro 5 E200’s ECWVTA 2012 and up
It’s hard to find somewhere to start and I apologise if this just ends up all over the place but there are so many things I hate about E200’s
The body: While the body might look good from the outside and even inside, the rattles are just terrible, interior panels are flimsy and have a tendency to create a high pitched squeal where they rub against each other, the poles have a tendency to come lose and rattle/squeak, the doors both front and rear rattle, they are literally rattle boxes. From the exterior you have the rear corner bumpers that are forever being ripped off (Also applies to E400’s) because of how low the buses sit, they are always doing panels form where they have been caught on kerbs, traffic islands and even speed bumps which part of the blame does have to come down to the driver but go and ask any coach maker and they are always doing panels on E200’s.
Actia Multiplex system
While I fully understand the purpose of using a multiplex system I think it’s crazy that a fault with this system can essentially trap you in a bus, pretty much everything in the E200 and Enviros in general is controlled by multiplex system which in simple means signals from every aspect of the vehicle are controller by a computer, from the door controls to the climate control system, it’s all well and good when it’s working but as I just said when it’s not in rare cases you can find yourself trapped in one as when the system is not responding or has a complete failure you can’t open the doors without physically pulling them open as no inputs are being dealt with by the computer, you can’t even turn the bus off from the cab, it’s crazy. This system also causes a delay with things such as the horn and throttle to name a few, only momentarily but there is a delay there and it is noticeable.
Speaking about doors, there are also situations where you close the front doors and for some reason the button will no longer respond for about 5 seconds in which time someone has jumped into the doors trying to get on the bus because they think you’re going to drive off and then found them stuck in the doors as we as drivers are frantically pressing the button trying to reopen them and nothing is happening, it’s so annoying and frustrating, causes so many arguments with people saying why don’t you open the doors etc yet there is nothing we can do, it also seems to only affect the 2nd gen E200/400’s for some reason, from some point I think around 2014 onward they were fitted with sensitive edges so they doors would just reopen automatically and I’ve not had the issue with MMC’s
The rear doors also have this thing where if you don’t fully let them open, they will close at a snails pace for some reason, I can only guess it’s that they don’t get a recharge of air to close but at times it can cause the doors to completely stop and you have to try again or reset the bus, something much more common with the first gen enviros
The multiplex faults can also take out or make act strangely various other things such as cab heating/wipers/indicators/assault alarm etc and pretty much just render the bus useless, there are times that if you manage to get it to turn off, it won’t restart and then you’ve pretty much had it but I suppose this system keeps some engineers in a job and Sovereign busy.
There also seems to be untold amounts of issues with the ramps fitted which again if a fault is detected the brakes won’t release and you are stuck awaiting an engineer.
You can read more here
www.actia.co.uk/multiplexing
Drivability
It might be something that isn’t thought about but the halogen headlights fitted as standard are actually quite poor, much more noticeable on 1st gen Enviro’s but even still I feel the LED headlamps should have been standard from when they were available as they really do light up the road.
The overall drivability of E200’s is pretty good, they have a good turning circle, light steering, much improved brakes/gearbox and engine for the most part
But take one down a country lane and they will start tramlining like there is no tomorrow, while it’s pretty easy to deal with it can be quite unpredictable at times I can only assume it’s down to wheel size and suspension set up but I’ve never felt it to this degree in a decker for example down a lane.
The Voith Gearbox option should just not exist, it’s very jerky at times mainly under braking and there is a notable judder when it drops back into gear from ANS Auto Netual Stop, the constant whine which always seems to be louder on the 3 speed box drives me nuts, the lack of a 4th gear really limits comfort on long runs as they are pretty much redlining at 50mph where the Allison examples sit at much lower RPM
The engine is a much improved version of the Cummins ISBe 4.5L but emissions derate and adblue became a thing, Adblue and emissions system faults could derate the engine power and torque by up to 50% in some cases which was an absolute nightmare for drivers and engineers, mainly drivers because they are the ones having to put up with a very slow bus which I’m telling is bloody painful and the Voith gearbox with it’s longer ratios doesn’t help this, there can also be 101 different reasons as to why the emissions light is on and the bus is in some form of derate, the derate can also suddenly disappear with no reason or warning and so can some of the other warning lights that like to show their face when in-fact there is no actual fault.
The suspension is questionable and personally I don’t think it’s up to the job, some buses just sit low for various reasons which can give a harsh ride and doesn’t help the panel damage as they do scrape
more and more made even worse by being fully loaded, they have a tendency to catch on speed humps and scrape when going over speed tables, sometimes depending on operator spec you have to have the door closed to lower the bus which can be confusing as pretty much every other bus I’ve driven you can lower with the doors open. The ramp won’t extend if the bus has been lowered, you have to have it at normal ride height and then after deploying the ramp you can lower the bus. When the ramp is out it’s not uncommon for the doors to either refuse to open because they are not stuck on the ramp or the doors refuse to close because the ramp is now setting off the sensitive edge.
A few other general things
On a Hybrid E200/400 to release the halt brake you have to press the brake, on a diesel E200/400 the halt brake comes off with the accelerator
The interior lights give a lot of reflection on the windscreen
There are times you can press the bell and it won’t register on the dashboard yet the passenger Bus Stopping sign will light up
On E200’s the cab window will slowly close under braking something which still happens on the MMC’s
The mirror arms on E200’s are just terrible, they use tiny little arms that’s flex far too much, I’d rather have the thicker heavy duty ones fitted (I’ll attach a photo later of what I’m talking about)
The dashboard uses membrane buttons which wear out very quickly and when they are worn out can be very hard to operate, this has to be one of the stupidest things about enviros, literally a button that’s going to be pressed hundreds of times a day made out of cheap plastic and this started form Gen 1 E200’s and they didn’t learn until the MMC where we got proper buttons
There is pretty much no cab storage and the locker provided is pointless and could be a much bigger opening like on the Gemini 2/3 etc
The fire extinguisher can rotate and over time you will be unable to see the pressure gauge as they can rotate right round.
Ones fitted with the Allison gearbox at around 35-45MPH there is a loud wallowing sound which in some buses is very loud, I can only assume this is the rear diff or gearbox.
The handbrake is located further forward than on most buses which means you have to stretch further to operate it
The HVAC system just isn’t powerful enough to do anything to the climate in the saloon in the winter and it’s location means as soon as the rear doors are open all the hit air just blows out with it, it’s much better on E400’s
The LED cab light is very bright and drivers complain of getting headaches from it, stagecoach even went through the effort of fitting resistors to make it less aggressive
The heating vents in the cab are at weird positions and normally get broken so air just blows about everywhere rather than being directed meaning you get cold feet but super hot lower legs that ends up drying out your skin
The rear diff being noisy above 30mph was common from the days of the standard step floor Dart.