AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

Bedford YRQ coach on trial

4th September 1970
Page 61
Page 61, 4th September 1970 — Bedford YRQ coach on trial
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

VHEN I tested the new Bedford YRQ hassis which was fitted with a Duple Vice)3? 45-seat body, it fulfilled all the maker's laims for a quiet and comfortable ride. !ompared to the 466 Cu in. engined VAM L7M January 12 1968) this latest version is txuriously silent. So low is the noise level, Nit the driver can hold a normal-level onversation with a passenger sitting six DWS of seats back. And with the new esign's redistribution of weight, the tenency which existed in the previous version awards pitching when lightly laden, has all ut disappeared.

At any speed below 50 mph the engine Loise is little above that of a subdued aurmur, above that speed one is aware of n engine working, but if two people are ngaged in conversation mechanical noise is oon forgotten. The driving seat is some 611 Drward of the power unit and, in fact, the ngine has to be felt rather than listened 'or—it's easy for the driver to be lulled into hinking he is travelling much more slowly han he is until a glance at the speedometer .eveals that he is doing, say, 50 mph.

Like its predecessor the VAM, the YRQ iandles exceptionally well. Its steering is tccurate and positive and once one becomes tccustomed to the extremely light brake tedal pressure, braking is quite acceptably :ontrollable.

With the engine and gearbox moved back n the chassis one must inevitably increase he remoteness of the units from the driver tnd consequently the distance through which controls must operate. Vauxhall has ;ucceeded quite nicely with the clutch and tccelerator controls but the ultra-heavy haulking mechanism of the Turner gearbox has foiled its attempts to compromise with the gear linkage.

So long as rapid gear changes are not called for. one can suffer the uncertainty of the mechanism, but in the cut and thrust of city traffic or when needing to do a quick downward change, say, on a hill, I can only describe it as most unsatisfactory. On occasions during my operational trial run I was compelled to make three or four attempts at engaging some of the gears. The worst offender in the box was second gear—despite my using all the tricks in the book, it succumbed only to brute force. At times I had to coast round corners when, although I had commenced changing gear well in advance, I had still not succeeded in selecting the gear I wanted in time.

Heavy baulking

I feel that such heavy baulking in the gearbox might just be acceptable if in return it was impossible to crash the gears after one's attempts at changing from one ratio to another have been foiled. But this is not the case and one can make plenty of noise despite the syncromesh.

A compromise must be made, of course, between the amount of leverage advantage in the linkage, the acceptable amount of movement of the gear lever and the prohibitive cost of an adequately stiff relay system. I feel that the YRQ needs a lighter change even if this does entail the lever travelling a bit further backwards and forwards. I am sure I would find the stretching this would incur, less tiring than the continual wrestling with the recalcitrant mechanism.

Fuel consumption proved to be very good with the vehicle returning 16.7 mpg when running at a steady 40 mph and 10.0 mpg running at full throttle on M1 at 61.3 mph average speed.

With the 5.28 to 1 final drive ratio fitted to the test vehicle. the 0.79 to I overdrive top gear made high-speed motoring quite a relaxing business. Even on narrow, undulating roads with the direct fourth gear engaged I was able to keep up reasonable average speeds without sacrificing the fuel consumption too much.

During the performance tests the vehicle showed that it was no sluggard doing 0 to 20 mph through the gears in 8.6sec. 0 to 30 mph in 16.2sec and 0 to 40 mph in 29.0s.ec. Its direct drive performance was spoiled only by a severe chattering in the transmission set up by the gearbox layshaft and therefore not curable by a prop-shaft damper. The figures, however, were good—it accelerated from 10 to 20 mph in 11.4sec. 10 to 30 mph in 25sec and 10 to 40 mph in 40.7sec.

A big improvement over the mechanical handbrake of the VAM model is the springpowered parking brake which with no effort on the part of the driver produces 43 per cent retardation on a Tapley meter.

A full test and operational trial report on the Duple-bodied YRQ will appear in Commercial Motor after the Earls Court Show.

The ex works price of the YRQ chassis including the optional 9.00-20 radial tyres, heavy-duty alternator and brake anti-freeze equipment is £2087.

Tags


comments powered by Disqus