The entire bus is about 300kg heavier than its Australian-built stablemate Volgren Endura. The side panels on the Audace are aluminium with fibreglass fronts, rears and roof.
Meanwhile the frame underneath the attractive-looking Audace is tubular galvanised steel, triple rust-treated with an electro-static dipping process, body deadener and foam injected inside the tubing.Įldred says similar Marcopolo coaches in Brazil have had no problems lasting the test of time for at least a couple of decades. Gazing at the roof line, the Aerosphere 355 air-conditioning unit isn’t noticeable, which means it’s good for aerodynamics.
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It’s the sort of day-charter environment that one could well imagine the Audace serving.Įldred opened everything up to reveal plenty of luggage space and access for the driver to check the oil and coolant. Turns out it was wind noise through the inadequately sealed front right corner of the bus near the driver, which Eldred says would be addressed before the coaches go on sale.Įldred turned off the motorway and we drove into the Campbelltown campus of the University of Western Sydney for a few photos with a bit of space to park.
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The view from the big tinted windows at the rear of the coach was good, the fabric seats were comfortable - but without head inserts - the vinyl floor was clearly suitable for messy schoolkids and footy teams, there are interior luggage racks, and the engine noise level was fine.Īt the front of the coach there was an annoying noise which at first seemed like radio static. The Audace is Marcopolo’s effort at competing with imported school-charter coaches at a price point Volgren’s offerings can’t match. If you want an aluminium frame and many more options you’ll have to go for the Volgren Endura, manufactured by Volgren, which is Marcopolo’s subsidiary in Australia, and coming in at between $330,000 and $350,000 depending on options. At present there is little choice in specs, but the upside of that is a very competitive price of around $290,000.įor that you get 57 non-reclining seats but with seat belts, an Isri driver’s seat, a Volvo B7R chassis putting out 290hp (213kW), a 6-speed ZF EcoLife automatic transmission, and a triple-treated galvanised steel body. This bus is specced to suit Australian school-charter needs. Marcopolo says it’s the same bus as is being built elsewhere, except it is 2.5m wide and right-hand drive, as are other Audaces being built in the Chinese plant for Hong Kong and South Africa. The model destined for Australia is currently being built in China, mostly using components in common with the dozen or so other Marcopolo manufacturing plants around the world. The Audace is a completely built-up (CBU) coach designed and engineered in Brazil, the home country of Marcopolo, which is one of the world’s biggest coach builders. Marcopolo estimates annual sales of this type of imported school-charter bus runs to about 350 units a year in Australia. If sales go well there will be many more of course, and not necessarily just on the current Volvo chassis.
This particular Audace – pronounced ‘Ordasi’ and meaning ‘audacious’ in Italian – is the only one in Australia so far, but by February 2014 there will be at least a couple of dozen in the country. The bus is so new that even Eldred, the Market Development Manager for Marcopolo Australia, hadn’t had a spin. The reason he hadn’t driven it before was that the new coach had only been launched a couple of days previously, at the Australian Bus and Coach Show in Sydney. The skill came from being in the bus game since he was a kid. In fact Eldred had never driven the Audace before. Marcopolo’s Audace coach represents a bold move into Australia, writes Steve Skinnerīus industry veteran Jason Eldred swung so confidently through western Sydney streets and onto the M7 Motorway you could be forgiven for thinking he’d been driving the sparkling new Marcopolo Audace coach all morning.
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