Mercedes Benz Luxury Bus review I had traveled from Bangalore to Mumbai in Sharma Transports Mercedes- Benz bus during last Diwali Vacation (2009). It was just awesome experience to travel in the Mercedes Benz bus. I booked the bus 15 days in advance only and took the front row to know the first hand experience.   The bus was an hours late when it came for pick up, after crossing the Bangalore traffic, the bus started to show its real power. It was easily going in 80KM - 100KM speed. The ride quality was smooth. They even served Mineral water. The seats very comfortable and it was even better than Volvo. It had LCD TV which was very clear. They played some Hindi Movies on the way.   They halted for Dinner near Tumkur and after that the bus was crusing gently. The suspension in Mercedes Benz is much better than volvo. And I had a good sleep.Road work was going on near Davengere and the bus manged the potholed roads easily. It haled for a tea break at around 2AM once.By morning we had reached Kholopur, where we had morning breakfast and then started. Since I had travelled in Volvo many times, I was able to judge the performance between the two. On the pick up and power i found both Mercedes and Volvo are on par . But in Mercedes i could not make out the speed. It was a smooth ride. Since i took the first row i was able to see the speedometer. Have took the snap also at 110 Speed which I have posted in my gallery .  The bus body is built by Sutlej. The looks are not as classy as Mercedes Cars. But technically it was performing well. It took around 16 hrs to reach Mumbai. Even after wasting almost an hour in Pune. plus two breaks of 40 mins each. While coming back i took Vishal Travels Volvo B9R from Mumbai to Mangalore and later Durgamba Motors sleeper Ashok Leyland from Mangalore to Bangalore.But overall i found Mercedes Benz much comfortable than Volvo B9R. In Volvo B9R i felt the speeds at night and sudden brakes woke me up regularly. Compared to Volvo B7R, B9R is much comfortable and stable. But Mercedes ia a real star. Its even better than the New Isuzu also. But compared to all the other luxury buses, its price is high. Hence many of the operators still prefer to go with Volvo. Mercedes Benz City Bus review After spending some 3 hrours in Majestic bus stand , at last I was able to see the Mercedes Benz bus. At the first look itslef, the exterior looks terrible, its like a square box. More worst is its painting. My god I got a shock seeing the color and finishing, its now where near Volvo, the Tata Marcoplo painting at least looks much better than this. Was wondering who had selected such a dull and a sad color, its no where reflecting the Mercedes Image. Due to its bad color it looks like a local built bus.   The Interiors were looking good and decent, it was even better than Volvo's. But the dashboard is really sad. Doesn't look international and attractive. All the Display board was looking blurred, its something which Mercedes needs to look at. The front design, mirrors, wiper all look simple, definitely not the one expected from Mercedes. Not a premium Image at all. Just look at the rear view mirror of Mercedes and Volvo. And Volvo has a camera with a mini LCD screen at the drivers place for viewing the rear, thats also missing. The rear looks dead, no signs, nothing attractive like Volvo.   The tyres look very old even though its a new one. The quality of Mercedes is not getting reflected in most of the parts. I asked the driver on the performance of the bus, he was happy and said it was on par with Volvo. The ground clearance is low and already I found a dent at the rear. Not well designed for Indian roads. This has happened within just 10 days of its launch.   Overall I think Mercedes seriously needs to change its color and improve the exterior a lot, its sad to see such a bus coming out from the from Mercedes stable, its not even meeting minimum expectations of Mercedes. Never thought they would do such a blunder. I had traveled in their Intercity bus from Bangalore to Mumbai and happy to see the quality and performance. Its no where near to it also. I think Mercedes can tell atleast Sutlej to build the bus than importing from MCV who have not understood the Indian market. |
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