Barkas (the van) or Ikarus (the bus)?

[EuterNal, God's Silliest Soldier]

I've got 10 hours of play-time, done about 300km so far, switched up my car two times during the trip,. Been driving a Barkas with Fury's V8 engine in it, while also keeping a VW diesel engine handy for a rainy day.

I've just found a fully operational Ikarus 260 (single cab model), with engine, intercooler and diesel to spare. I'm weighing my options right now - should I stick with Barkas, or switch to Ikarus? I could use both the bus diesel engine or V8 on the Ikarus, but I wonder what the trade-offs are?

How much would the top speed be impeded on the bus? Would the extra space to store things and move around be worth it? Genuinely curious what other people with more experience got to say.

P.S. I've got 270 liters of gas and 140l of diesel, so fuel is a non-issue

[Veepo The Goblin Maid]

The bus is more fun imo. It's like a mobile base

[Wonkehcheetah!]

The bus is tied with the IFA w50 (shed variant) as the best vehicle in the game IMO. I'd prolly take it, all my runs eventually end with me driving one of the two.

The v8 gives the Bus a fair bit of extra speed, enough that you'll max out the speed gauge on flat terrain, but it won't accelerate nearly as quickly as a V8 barkas tho. So if you want to be a speed demon, I'd stay with the Barkas, unless you want alot of extra storage. Honestly, I don't even use the bus engine once I have a v8, it's a straight upgrade.

The only downsides is that you can't remove the seats (without mods at least) and the bus doesn't like hills, it goes doubly so for the double cab bus (I heard the bus can go up hills better in reverse, I haven't tried that tho)

[Hyuga_Denis]

I havent tried the V8 in the bus. All i know is I returned to the Barkas after trying the bus for 10kms. Unfortunatly I gave the barkas the diesel engine of the bus which was a downgrade. Should have kept the V8 but didnt wanna go back again. Id find another one.

So in terms of speeding through the game, Barkas for now!

[Wonkehcheetah!]

I'd like to add, according to the wiki: when you compare the v8 versus the Bus engine. The V8 actually has *more* horsepower (288 hp vs 208 hp), however it has lower torque (444 NM vs 697 NM). I've read that the gears are set up much more efficiently in the V8 though, allowing it much more functional power in virtually every scenario.

Not only that, the V8 also has much better fuel economy, using only 18.9 L\100km as opposed to the bus engine's 73.5\100km, plus gas is much more common than diesel. Meaning that there is no reason you should not swap to the V8 as soon as you find it.