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Yellowhound
Active Member
47 Posts |
 Posted - 05/15/2007 : 7:56:11 PM
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This past weekend I saw a International Thomas Vista activity bus from the Carolinas. After looking at the bus a bit, I wondered what
makes this bus more attractive to school systems than a regular Thomas? The bus body looks the same from the entrance door back, it does have a shorter hood for increased visibility, but since the hood is so short, accessibility to the engine is greatly reduced.
We don't have Vistas around here in north GA, the first Vista I ever saw was in Florida a few years back. So I wonder, what made the vista special? What was the advantage to this bus over the standard
body/chassis combo? None of the other body manufactures offered a body like this, and I rarely see vistas around, so I also wonder if it was a good seller for Thomas? It would be great to hear from some of you who have driven the vista, because I'll probably never get the opportunity to do so.
Thanks,
Yellowhound |
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78fordwayne
Top Member
USA
2868 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2007 : 8:05:27 PM
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| Stay away from the Vista! |
Robert B.
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mlkdrives41
Top Member
USA
2055 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2007 : 8:07:34 PM
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| Be glad you don't have the opportunity to drive a Vista. I could say the only advantage to driving one is you don't hear the kids' noise in the back, with the doghouse for the engine right by your feet you don't hear anything else but the engine. You could also check the oil without lifting the hood because the dipstick was right there. The windshield leaked like a sieve. No matter WHAT the temperature we had two of them that had to have the block heater plugged in or they wouldn't start. They rode terrible and I don't think their turning radius was anything special, in fact if you cut the wheel too hard turning right (I think) it would scrape the wheel well cover (or whatever that was called). |
Nothing great has ever been accomplished without enthusiasm! |
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poor_driver
Senior Member
162 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2007 : 11:34:09 AM
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| I agree you won't hear the kids at all. The advantage of the vista was the view and i guess it was the mixture of a conventional and a transit style bus. I didn't like them when they first came out back in 93 but towards the end (97) the looked pretty good, well except for the ones in carolina, don't really care for the dayton (spoke) wheels. |
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pbfreak30
Senior Member
USA
171 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2007 : 1:17:17 PM
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| we have a ton of them...and there pure CRAp we still have of the 93's that are running but even 2 of our 1997's have been placed on subs because of their reliability problems and therefore bringing up 2 of the 93's back in to daily service |
ARROW transportation RP..the best out there! |
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IC
Top Member
USA
3413 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2007 : 4:29:05 PM
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We have a few of the short ones....I've never driven one except to move them around the yard. But they got the COOLEST sounding exhaust of all our buses....that tailpipe TALKS! Reminds me of my first car ('57 Ford Fairlane) when I put the glasspacks on.
Do the full size ones have that cool exhaust sound too? |
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BusFreak
Top Member
USA
798 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2007 : 4:48:55 PM
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| Most of the Vistas I've seen have the DT360, DT408, or the T444E, all of which sound very unlike the Vistas in Fairfax County with the 7.3L International. You're right...those things talk LOUDLY! |
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NWCROWN
Advanced Member
USA
461 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2007 : 10:00:40 PM
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I don't think there are any Thomas Vistas at all in the Northwest.
The Vista name is also used on another crappy vehicle, built by Mitsubishi for Chrysler. |
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03CV200
Top Member
United States
740 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2007 : 04:01:38 AM
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| In elementary school, I used to ride a 1990ish Thomas Chevy Vista. It had tinted windows, diesel engine, and air brakes. I think the engine was a Detriot. It wasn't a bad running bus, it wasn't broken down too much (maybe once ever few months for a day). It has since been traded in on newer bus. I never remember it being extremely loud. |
-Dave |
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Thomas Vista advantage?
