(25/02/2014 10:38)33109 Wrote:  Also DLA 4074 seems VERY slow lately, fair enuf with the college kids on the 16:20 31 duty ram packed it'd be slow but supposedly according to a driver mate of mine seriously struggles with climbing any form of hill.

(26/02/2014 17:41)mathias Wrote:  4074 (S244 JUA) was the second-worst DLA when it was based at Bootle, accelerated with all the enthusiasm of a dying snail, wouldn't go above 30mph. Sad to hear it hasn't improved since then.

Nothing AND I MEAN NOTHING could beat 4028 (S268 JUA) when it came to poor DLA deckers, they should've scrapped that thing years ago!
Foot-to-the-floor-and-nothing-happens acceleration, it guzzled fuel like there was no tomorrow!
Good job Bootle got rid of them, feel kind of sorry for Winsford.
Horrible things to drive.

(26/02/2014 17:41)mathias Wrote:  

(25/02/2014 10:38)33109 Wrote:  Also DLA 4074 seems VERY slow lately, fair enuf with the college kids on the 16:20 31 duty ram packed it'd be slow but supposedly according to a driver mate of mine seriously struggles with climbing any form of hill.

4074 (S244 JUA) was the second-worst DLA when it was based at Bootle, accelerated with all the enthusiasm of a dying snail, wouldn't go above 30mph. Sad to hear it hasn't improved since then.

Nothing AND I MEAN NOTHING could beat 4028 (S268 JUA) when it came to poor DLA deckers, they should've scrapped that thing years ago!
Foot-to-the-floor-and-nothing-happens acceleration, it guzzled fuel like there was no tomorrow!

(26/02/2014 17:53)507009 Wrote:  

(26/02/2014 17:41)mathias Wrote:  4074 (S244 JUA) was the second-worst DLA when it was based at Bootle, accelerated with all the enthusiasm of a dying snail, wouldn't go above 30mph. Sad to hear it hasn't improved since then.

Nothing AND I MEAN NOTHING could beat 4028 (S268 JUA) when it came to poor DLA deckers, they should've scrapped that thing years ago!
Foot-to-the-floor-and-nothing-happens acceleration, it guzzled fuel like there was no tomorrow!
Good job Bootle got rid of them, feel kind of sorry for Winsford.
Horrible things to drive.

I've had rides on both of these which disprove the idea they have constantly been slow. Both could shift while they were based at Bootle, especially 4028 which was the best of the 4025-31 batch in my view. I had this a lot when it was at Speke and it ranks fairly high. 4074 was reasonably nippy too, very well presented and gave a great ride on the 375 while it was at Southport.

Granted, some DLAs do have difficulties with acceleration and top speed (4038 and 4065 would be good examples) but many are decent. I wouldn't say either of the above two were slow on the occasions I rode them. Their ride quality remains unrivalled amongst ex-London deckers for me and easily surpasses the VLWs and DLPs.

(27/02/2014 10:57)33109 Wrote:  Don't know why 4074 has all of a sudden gone soooo sluggish? It was really nippy when it arrived at winsford but now seems to have gotten worse, is this a performance issue or maintenance maybe but probs just age cos they're all S reg so how old are these now gotta be 12+ yrs old???

Also anyone know what's the top speed of a DLA, been told by a couple of drivers that running dead back to the depot some will hit 65 along the bypass? But for worst DLA its a toss up between 4074/4143 for me, 74 is better presented & 4143 is just an absolute mobile shed!

(27/02/2014 20:20)copey Wrote:  

(27/02/2014 10:57)33109 Wrote:  Don't know why 4074 has all of a sudden gone soooo sluggish? It was really nippy when it arrived at winsford but now seems to have gotten worse, is this a performance issue or maintenance maybe but probs just age cos they're all S reg so how old are these now gotta be 12+ yrs old???

Also anyone know what's the top speed of a DLA, been told by a couple of drivers that running dead back to the depot some will hit 65 along the bypass? But for worst DLA its a toss up between 4074/4143 for me, 74 is better presented & 4143 is just an absolute mobile shed!

Managed to wind up 4050 to 62 mph on a 84 last summer. Mind you I think it was going downhill towards Wardle. Remember having to coast down the bank out of Tarporley to let it cool down and drive very steady back to Crewe.