Mercedes-Benz Tourismo test on the roads of Croatia

Mercedes-Benz Tourismo: a test on the roads of Croatia.

Mercedes-Benz Tourismo buses have been operating on long-distance routes all over Europe for 20 or two years now. They are available in over 50 countries, even in the North Cape and southern Sicily. Our web-site correspondent tested the buses on the roads of Croatia.

The cavalcade of 6 vehicles taken for the Europe-wide test drive included 4 different bus lengths, 3 different bases and 2 axle configurations. Beside that, the twin-buses had engines of different capacities, different manual and automatic transmissions, the layout of the doors, kitchens and bathrooms, shiny in the sun in different colors and smelled nice with new decorations of different textures.

In tune with the abundance of cars and was laid out an experimental route: the winding mountain roads alternated with ancient European towns, comfortable, but very narrow and crowded, later on a zigzag road along the coast we went to high-speed autobahn to return through a desperate “mother’s tongue” mountain pass. The organizers’ challenge — to justify that regardless of the length, engine power and axle configuration, the buses could handle any road! But who would have doubted..

Thanks to the modular platform the variety of versions and configurations is enormous! Here are only two examples of using buses Tourismo in Germany: the women’s national soccer team takes it to the competitions, and the military band of the Bundeswehr goes on concert tours. The soccer players love the exclusive equipment on the bus, and the musicians appreciate the integrated instrument holders.

A short introduction.

The creation of the Mercedes-Benz Tourismo began in one thousand nine hundred and ninety-four years, then it was called the O 350, to date, more than 20 two thousand buses were made, two generations. The first belongs to the period from 1924 to 1960, the second, respectively, is produced since 19706, but today’s cars are very different from the decade-old. The first generation accounted for about twelve thousand buses, in other words, in fact half. And with the second generation came its own “name” model names instead of a purely index symbols: the more expensive bus O four hundred and four (later &#The more expensive O four hundred and four (later Travégo) was designed based on the highest technology and equipment requirements, while the new O three hundred and fifty Tourismo, made in Turkey, carved out a niche for itself as a business class bus.

In two thousand and eight years, the annual creation of one thousand two hundred and sixty-six units. In 1912 the concern launched the 5000th Tourismo. The now-famous Touristo with its distinctive jib-shaped strut hid the running gear with the complex multilever front suspension, disc brakes on all axles, which were borrowed from the model O 404. Now the Tourismo and Travego are actually the same, but the younger brother is more modest in design and equipment. In 1915 the 10,000th Tourismo was produced and 2,402 buses were sold.

In the front view: Mercedes-Benz Tourismo M.

Engines, gearboxes.

The Mercedes-Benz Tourismo is powered by the OM 400-70 inline six-cylinder engine, with a displacement of 10.7 litres and an output of 160 kW (360 hp). с.) to three hundred and fifteen kW (428 hp. с.), meeting the requirements of the Euro 6 emission standard. For the “youngest” in the range and the non-longest Tourismo K, 10.3 m long, there is an OM 936 engine, with a working volume of 7.7 liters and an output of two hundred and sixty kW (354 hp). с.). All engines are equipped with a battery injection system, closed particulate filter and exhaust gas recirculation. Exhaust gases are cleaned with BlueTec 6 technology, which uses an SCR system with AdBlue injection, an oxidation catalytic converter and a particulate filter.

Two main transmissions are available: six-speed mechanical GO 210-6 or automatic GO 250-8 PowerShift. The automatic transmission is designed to transmit torque up to 2,500 Nm. In short, an excellent, proven over the years and together with the modern set of units, occasionally encountered in other products of Daimler AG.

It is equipped with in-line six-cylinder engines OM 40070 with a working volume of 10.7 liters and power from two hundred and sixty-five kW (360 hp). с.) up to three hundred and fifteen kW (428 hp. с.), Euro 6.

Variable values.

Split is a seaside resort town, and there’s a fairly large airport. This is the starting point of the route. Hooray, the 1st car is the smallest &#There’s time to get used to it, before I get behind the wheel of the longest 13-meter bus. The semi-circular dashboard with integrated manual gearbox lever, already familiar from tests of Setra buses, is wrapped around me. In principle, these comparisons are fair, because the buses have common machine bases.

Daimler AG distinguishes Setra buses as more niche, high-end, club buses, while the Mercedeses are versatile, from workhorse to business class. Croatia roads are good, but they can hardly be called flawless, there are no obvious potholes and potholes, but the old asphalt surface occurs in the districts of cities, while the autobahns one hundred percent in line with the common European. On the wave of these different road surfaces, listening, and analyzing the acoustic comfort of the bus.

Mercedes-Benz Tourismo K.

The engine is not audible and not palpable inside in general in any way, regardless of the modification tested: noise and vibrations are absent in all modes, and the only instrument to control the work of the engine is a tachometer! What cannot be said about the interior equipment. The luggage racks and plastics clatter on roughness and paving stone, and at speeds over 80 the tires and wheel arches “wake up”, but not too annoyingly, to cause discomfort.

The unpredictable spring weather bestowed our way with a strong crosswind, which made us correct the line of travel all the time, and this phenomenon was more evident in the long two-axle buses. Time for a transfer. Now I get the three-axle Tourismo L, which is almost fourteen meters long and has a base of 7,100 10 mm. It dislikes very much the narrow “hairpin” of the winding mountain roads: in order to fit in the space of the turn one should use the whole width of the roadway and the shoulders – what the observance of the road markings is like here! With all this, one should always keep in mind big mirror cowls on massive and long outriggers, but one may safely forget about gear shifting, a tandem of a massive motor and automatic transmission works perfectly, you only have to watch the clearance, and don’t miss the “oncoming” in a closed turn..

Mercedes-Benz Tourismo L.

Driving formulas and “basic” tasks.

In 50 two kilometers a short break and another change of the bus. The organisers suggest that you look first at the two-axle Tourismo M. The distance between the axles of the rear bogie in all buses of the family is unchanged – one thousand three hundred and 50 mm. Repeating the same route over the pass. And what do I see: the three-axle vehicle with a shorter base to fit into the corner is much easier in the limited space of the “hairpin”.

On a workplace: a rough steering wheel with leather upholstery, automatic transmission PowerShift, a rear-view camera, a refrigerator are at the driver’s disposal.

The conclusion is predictable, geometry and physics can not be bypassed, but depending on the purpose of the bus in operation, thanks to the modular platform, you can choose a pre-balanced option. It is possible to vary the number of seats, the trunk capacity, configuration of axles and seating arrangements – that’s what the builders were going for. Then I get behind the wheel of a 12-meter bus.

Interior equipment: Travel Star Xtra upholstered Softline seats with footrest, folding table and luggage pocket.

Representatives of the German concern are eagerly praising the “golden mean” &#Representatives of the German concern enthusiastically praise the “golden mean” model RHD, 12.1 m long and a base of 6 thousand eighty mm, as the best in terms of efficiency of standard suburban and small intercity transportation at low operating costs due to the 4×2: no excessive fuel consumption, unnecessary costs for tires and chassis and service costs of an additional pair of brakes. But at the same time, these reasons limit the scope of implementation and passenger capacity, in other words, one should choose the specification wisely.

Head restraints of passenger seats are not only height adjustable, but also can take any shape.

No greedy “base”

The general family “Tourismo”, not included in the bus elite of Daimler AG, is equipped with more than decent, even for the discriminating euro passenger. This is how the official press release describes the medium equipment: “The bus is equipped to receive the network signal Wi-Fi or WLAN. Movies or map of navigation device are shown on 2 monitors. For the connection of portable electrical devices there is a double power socket under every other two-seater seat, also on the left and right wall in the last row of seats. Thanks to the refrigerator in the front and the on-board kitchen near the middle door, no one goes hungry. In addition, there is a toilet cubicle near the 2nd door in the base.”. What can I say, one can only envy white envy..

Wheelchair-accessible equipment.

The list of standard equipment Mercedes-Benz Tourismo RHD, officially delivered in Russia: Engine OM 470, three hundred and fifteen kW (428 hp. с.), Euro 6, automatic eight-speed transmission “Mercedes-Benz” GO 250-8 PowerShift, hydrodynamic secondary water brake retarder, ESP electric stabilization system, electric ground clearance control system ENR, TPM (Tire Pressure Monitoring), xenon headlights, fog lights, tailgate with lifting mechanism kinematic scheme, data interface for FleetBoard Bus system, dual two hundred and thirty-volt power sockets under each second row of seats and in the rear, rearview camera with window washer, acoustic reversing signal, adaptive cruise control, fire alarm device with sensor cable in the engine compartment, UDS emergency recorder, seat and cabinet for touring group manager, AEBS critical braking system, lane-keeping system SPA, rear toilet with switchable water or dry cleaning, refrigerator in the front, on-board kitchen with coffee machine (40-cup capacity), water boiler, sausage cooker, drainer sink, drawers, automatic roof air conditioning, air conditioning in the driver’s seat, Travel Star Xtra seats, 40 nine passenger seats, Softline upholstery, footrests, folding tables, luggage pockets, two video monitors with a diagonal of 40 eight cm.