Record Run Buses 2012: five buses, five days, 18,000 km

The five buses completed a demanding round-the-clock program between 22 and 26 October 2012. Loaded at 50 per cent of the payload with a realistic 3.2 t of ballast, the three Mercedes-Benz Citaros each covered a distance of about 1400 km in demanding urban traffic. The two high-deck touring coaches of the Setra ComfortClass 500 travelled about 9000 km each in long-distance trips on public roads.

The urban traffic in Hesse’s capital Wiesbaden (Citaro) and trips between Leipzig and Hamburg as well as trips in the quadrangle formed by the cities of Leipzig/Sangershausen, Schweinfurt, Hof and Bautzen (Setra) presented challenging routes for the five buses.

Record Run Buses 2012: Mercedes-Benz Citaro

Citaro Euro VI: 8.5 per cent better fuel economy in Record Run

The Mercedes-Benz Citaro came to the starting line in three versions: The new Euro VI-certified model with the also new Mercedes-Benz OM 936 h engine and a displacement of 7.7 litres and a rated power output of 220 kW (299 hp) faced the directly comparable Euro V-certified predecessor models with OM 906 hLA engine (6.4 litres displacement, rated power output 210 kW/286 hp) as well as with OM 457 hLA engine (220 kW/299 hp). Transmissions, final drive ratios and tyres were identical in each case.

With a fuel consumption of 38.7 l/100 km the new Euro VI-certified Citaro turned in an excellent performance in the Record Run Buses 2012 in light of the difficult route. It considerably outperformed its predecessors, which are known to be economical, by 3.6 l/100 km or 8.5 per cent. This means the Euro VI-certified Citaro not only delivers on the brand promise of fuel savings of three to five per cent but can even significantly surpass these figures. Assuming an annual mileage of 60,000 km it also relieves the burden on the environment by 5700 kg in CO2 emissions at the same time.