Quickride: Mercedes-Benz O500R 1836 Jetbus HD

"Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW." (aya-yu) 09/11/2014 at 17:54 • Filed to: None

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Well, it's been quite a while since i write the last Quickride. But Let's kick back this series...with a bus.

I took this bus back when i still live in Surabaya a few months ago, simply because i want to take a bus. This particular bus is only one year old, but it's already racking a massive 513k kilometers. Damn. Small wonder why in Indonesia bus is genereally replaced after 3-5 years, due to massive mileage and bad roads we have here.

Because it's a Bus, everything inside it was also Big. Just look at the dashboard there. And oh, it's manual! Real drivers row their own gears, even bus driver.

Before discussing the engine, let's discuss on how this bus drive first. If you drive a bus, you have to remember that because the bus is big, it corners like it's sliding. Just imagine driving an enormous full-size van with a very soft air suspension, and you drive it from the bonnet in front of the front axle, plus that sedan weighs and handles like apartment. See my point?

The engine was a 12l Inline-6, producing 360hp. That might sounds low. But don't forget, this is a diesel, so it's also producing 1180lb-ft of torque at 1200-1500rpm. Hell yeah. 0-60? 11 seconds. Top speed? 120km/h.

The bus seats 36, and the seats are the standard one since i'm only traveling for about 250km or so, so no fancy seats like the one on long-distance trip. But still, they're pretty nice.

And oh, the bus itself? It looks a bit like this. This Jetbus variant originally made by an Indonesian coachbuilder called Adi Putro back in 2011, and still in production until today because huge demands of this body style. Other than this body style, Mercedes also offers the 1836 in another body style like Jetbus 2:

Scorpion X:

Skyliner:

And many more.

Maybe some of you wonder "how much that this bus cost?"

The 1836 Chassis itself cost nearly 90k USD. For that 90k USD you got this:

A seat, chassis, some tires, suspension (Airmatic Air Suspension), Brakes, fuel tank with 400l of fuel and an engine in the back, that's it. Then you take the bus to be build by a coachbuilder, this is another 40-60k USD for the body and interior like in this quickride. If you want really top notch interior you can go even as high as 100k USD or so.

Bus is expensive, slow, and hard to drive. But i love it. Love is weird, huh?

For Sweden > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 09/11/2014 at 17:58

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On a bus. Wut.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > For Sweden 09/11/2014 at 18:03

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Yeah, it's a manual 6-speed gearbox. Also available on 12-speed auto for the less jalop.

Tohru > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 09/11/2014 at 18:20

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The chassis you buy looks a lot shorter than the bus it becomes.

Hmm... I see potential...

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Tohru 09/11/2014 at 18:30

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I don't know. That's Merc's press photo.

Tuned this engine can produce 420hp and 1400lb-ft of torque. Plus it's RWD..

Cé hé sin > For Sweden 09/11/2014 at 18:42

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Why not? Until quite recently manual coaches were in the majority (though not in America presumably).

Indeed Volvo still offer manual rolling chassis to coach and bus builders.

Cé hé sin > Tohru 09/11/2014 at 18:55

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That's the way they're made. By chance I walked past a Scania factory the other day and they had several examples parked outside. They make the front (driver) and rear (engine and transmission) sections and then join them temporarily with the brake lines and power cables coiled up. The body builder then attaches them to the rest of the bus in the appropriate locations.

Note the temporary seat in one of the pictures...

Tohru > Cé hé sin 09/12/2014 at 22:38

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I wanna autocross it in bodyless tinybus configuration.

Tohru > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 09/12/2014 at 22:39

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Track day bro?