(02 Aug 2020, 11:30 pm)mb134 wrote I've always found the E200 MMC a far better vehicle in general than the Streetlite. For GNE, their E200s are light-years ahead of their Streetlites in terms of atmosphere, comfort and build quality. Likewise with First, their Streetlites feel like they're about to fall apart any moment whereas their E200s I've been on have been very solid and much more pleasant places to be. 

I didn't say the Streetdeck was unreliable, I simply stated that the Cummins engine in the E400 has proven itself constantly across all sorts of routes for any number of companies. Compare that to how many Damiler powered Streetdecks are running around, then tell me that you can say the Streetdeck is as proven as the E400 (especially considering the earlier GNE examples).

Don't see why they wouldn't have the choice of Wright, they must have be desperate to get any order they could - I'd say it's likely Hornby acknowledging that the E400 is a bloody good product.

The only parts of the E200 I'd say I prefer over the Streetlite is the ride quality (it seems slightly smoother), and the engine noise (it's a lower pitch). Other than that, I think the StreetLite feels nicer, it feels more open.

I can't get the statistics for the ADL products, but it's not as if there's only a few vehicles with the OM934 knocking about. There are over 500 StreetDecks currently registered so I think it's fair to say it is pretty proven, if not at the scale of the Cummins. 

The thing is, if they needed new vehicles this year, the only 'real' option was ADL, Wrightbus are still recovering, and if they're even taking orders there's probably a huge backlog they need to clear first so it'd be doubtful any vehicles would arrive this year.