Today, I've been on both a Volvo B9TL Gemini 2 and a VDL DB300 Gemini 2 and I'm going to compare them both:
- The character of the two is mostly the same, the voith gearbox as always gives the bus a bit more character so the DB300 wins on that one.
- The handling of the VDL DB300 is good however, the Volvo B9TL is slightly better. The B9TL wins on that one.
- The power is sluggish on the VDL DB300 with a 6.7ISBe Cummins Engine. It is slow and unresponsive initally. The power of the DB300 is mostly reliant on turbochargers and when the turbo isn't working effectively, the bus does tend to crawl and pick up pace very slowly. The Volvo B9TL with the D9 9l engine in on the other hand, is powered through and through by a pure Volvo engine. I must say it did slightly remind me of the D10-245 engine in the Palatine 2 in some way or another. It picks up pace very quickly and progressively and moves off very well when the driver puts his foot down arbeit not harshly or heavily. In terms of power, the Volvo B9TL wins hands down.
- Finally, looking at the ride quality, the VDL DB300 is good but the gear changes aren't smooth due to the size of the engine. It does feel a bit snails pace at times. On the other hand, the B9TL gear changds are very smooth and even more so with the ZF Ecoshift gearbox. It doesn't feel juddery and progress is almost certainly being made quickly but smoothly.
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