We couldn’t seem to get the MAN-Gemilang A95 bus to roll even one degree despite some tight cornering.
Double-deckers aren’t necessarily prone to rolling over.
We experienced this on our recent drive of the MAN A95 double-decker chassis with Gemilang’s ‘Eco Range’ body.
It was a surprising and pretty amazing experience, which MAN puts down to having stabiliser bars on each of the three axles of this 12-metre low floor city bus, combined with its low centre of gravity and light aluminium construction.
Adding reassurance was MAN’s electronic stability program (ESP), which would have instantly and automatically reduced the engine torque or braked targeted wheels if we had got too carried away.
But great roll stability is not the only standout feature of the A95 Eco Range.
The other remarkable thing in our book is the fact that this bus has only one step on the bottom deck, right at the back row of seats.
That’s because it has a portal axle which are common in Europe but unusual in Australia so far. The differential is offset to the left, and there are intermediate planetary gears stepping up to the wheel centre, so passengers don’t have to “walk over” the axle – enabling a flat aisle right to the back.
You can watch the full video review here.
Video: Barry Ashenhurst