Motor Coach Industries E-Series

Motor Coach Industries E-Series
Years of manufacture	1997 to 2013
Length	45 feet
Width	102 inches
Power/Fuel	Diesel

The Motor Coach Industries E-Series was their flagship, luxury motorcoach. It made its debut in Hawaii during the 1996 American Bus Association's annual meeting in 1996. Regular production would commence in September 1997.^[1] As sales of the J4500 surpassed the E-Series, MCI quietly discontinued the model in 2013.

Design history

Designed in conjunction with Designworks USA, a subsidiary of BMW North America, the E-Series was one of the first coaches on the market to feature projector headlights and LED marker lights. The coach had clean lines with a sloping front end and rounded off rear end. The entrance featured a unique spiral staircase. Mechanically, MCI initially offered the coaches with Detroit Diesel Series 60 engines in up to 430 horsepower along with either Allison or ZF automatic transmissions.

For the 2001 model-year, MCI introduced a number of enhancements to the E-Series along with new naming conventions. The new E4500 featured flush-mounted passenger windows. To improve handling, the coach featured traction control and a solid-link sway bar.

Initially, the E-Series coaches were also made available to customizers as a conversion shell. These "entertainer coaches" were known as the 102-ELS3 model, and featured a more powerful Detroit Diesel Series 60 engine, up to 500 horsepower. Ultimately these shell coaches were discontinued as most converters continued to favor the Prevost H3-45 for their products.

In 2009, MCI introduced wide-ride suspension, electronic stability control, a reverse sensing system, and an upgraded SmarTire® pressure monitoring system as standard.^[1] Amerex fire surpression system, Asset Tracking System (GPS) and DriveCam monitoring system also became options. Inside, MCI introduced fade-on-and-off lighting as well as optional LED night lights.^[2]