I want this bus!!!

[brojcol]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Van-hool-T809-Black-Mini-Bus_W0QQitemZ270037722440QQihZ017QQcategoryZ6728QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I would call it "Mini Pearl"

If I had somewhere to park it, I would buy it right now!!!
All I need is room for a bedroom, bathroom, SMALL kitchenette and living room with pull out sofa.  This is just right.  Same size as a Damon Intruder I looked at this summer.  Boy, a guy could do a lot with a bus like this, don't ya'll think?

[H3Jim]

Way cool, all except the MAN engine.  I would want a detroit or a cummins.

[Jeremy]

That's just the same as mine - the rare short version of a full size bus. Mine is a 35 seat 1987 Plaxton, rather than a 37 seat 1986 Van Hool. Mine has a similar mid-mounted straight six, but with a turbo. Also, my bus has a manual gearbox rather than the auto, and 22.5" wheels rather than 19.5", but essentially they are the same animal. I bought my 'short' coach as the turn into my yard is too tight for a full length one, but since then I have heard more than one owner of a 40' model lusting after the shorter type.

Jeremy

[H3Jim]

Jeremy what engine do you have?  If the MAN, have you had any issues of parts / maint?

[Jeremy]

No, it's not the MAN as my bus is British - it's a Bedford 500 turbo (that's 500 cubic inches). Bedford's ultimate owners were GM, but my engine was designed before the days of common platforms across divisions, so it's good old-fashion English engineering. I've not had to buy or fix anything yet, but I don't expect any problems getting parts as there are lots of these engines about - the Army alone uses thousands of Bedford 500s, so there should be plenty of cheap 'New Old Stock' on the market for years to come.

Jeremy

[brojcol]

Jeremy,

What kind of fuel mileage do you get with yours? (bear in mind, we still measure in gallons and miles here...)

Jimmy

[Jeremy]

I haven't worked out the exact MPG (I've never done that with any vehicle I have owned), but the running cost is almost identical to my 4.6l petrol Range Rover, so it probably averages out at 14-15mpg (the previous owner claimed to get 15mpg - at the time I thought he was exaggerating to lubricate the sale, but now I reckon he was about right).

At the moment my bus is effectively an empty shell - no doubt as the conversion progresses and the vehicle gets heavier the economy will begin to suffer. It'd be interesting to email the seller of that Van Hool and ask what mileage he gets.

Bear in mind that diesel costs the equivalent of over $8.00 a gallon here, so 15mpg is by no means 'cheap to run'. I fully intend to run on veg oil in due course, but silly as it sounds I have yet to find a sufficiently cheap source of new veg oil (I won't use the dirty stuff).

Hope that helps

Jeremy

PS, fuel here is sold in litres, and everything else is sold or measured in metric units as well, but due to some quirk I've never understood road distances and speeds are still measured in miles, not kilometres.

[Jeremy]

Oh - and my bus is fitted with a 60mph speed limiter which I was advised to leave connected as it was good for the fuel economy

JA

[H3Jim]

So Jeremy, the miles you've traveled divided by the litres equals litres per mile.  Just mulitply that by .26417237 to get miles per gallon.  But I'm sure you knew that, but just have not done it.

[Jeremy]

Sure, but that would require me to have measured how many litres I've used!

Jeremy