galaxygrrl

Hi all!

I've now gone about 500 miles in my car and it seems I'm getting aweful gas milage in my c230 with an automatic tranny (I miss a stick so much untill I sit in traffic). In the city (San Francisco with lots of steep hills and stop and go traffic) I'm getting about 12 to 15 mpg. On the highway, my mpg rise up to about 23 or 24 mpg on a good day. On day, I did manage to hit 28 mpg going about 40 on a flat twisty road.

Is this what other people are getting? Is there anything I can do about it (Given that I'm a former lobbyist for the National Wildlife Federation on energy issues, I'm a bit insane about this issue). Will my mileage get better after the break in period.

TIA!

Maverick666

I have 1250 miles on mine now. regular short commute (15 minutes one way) is about 20mpg... weekend drive get's up to 24 or so for me... weekend drive is a highway with 60-80mph.

I am still keeping it under 3000rpm till 3000 miles... I am sure my fuel consumption will not improve... once I drive the way I normally do after the break in... :p

Oh... I am in the East Bay... so that probably helps too

BrabusCClass

My MB got poor gas mileage till 9000 miles. I got worse mileage than my C36. I would only get 240 miles per fill up, then 280 (about 1500-2000 miles), and now about 320 miles. I still think it gets not that great gas mileage. I dunno if anyone else notices this.

pixmation

Mine just got over 2000 miles today.

I normally only get around 17-19 mpg, only 7 miles from home to work each way and 1 mile out of 7 is freeway. With weekend driving a little more on freeway. I get around 260-280 miles per tank of gas, est. 14.5 gallons.

I normally switch gear between 3500-4500 rpm. So that's not surprising for me.

The first 800 miles of the car, I went to Mammoth which 305 miles each way. I got around 26-28 mpg when cruising at 75-85 mph at 6th gear.

Rick

Your cars all shipped with a heavy "break-in" blended oil. I changed over to full synthetic at 1000 miles, and mileage has markedly improved since then. I'll change the synthetic again at 5000 miles, and then at 5000 mile intervals (even though MB says I can go 10k miles without oils changes).

I'm averaging around 340 miles per fill....

Chuck

I've had four German cars and each of them delivered better gas mileage after one year. The "tightness' of the engine contributes to lower gas mileage and definitely will improve over time.

dcl_C220CDI

Am I glad I went for the 220CDI Coupe, not the 230K!!... I get on average 45.7mpg, mostly I'm on the motway around 80mph. I've had 58mpg on a 120mile trip once, but this was on slower roads -I normally get 500 to 550 miles per fill up!

avlis

I have 1100 miles and have been getting around 25 mpg average according to the MFD. Usually when I look at the "after start" screen it'll be between 25-30mpg at the end of my commute.

I drive 65-80mph for 20 miles then 10 miles of stop and go in the morning. Same on the way home- only reversed.

I've been keeping it under 4000 rpm shifting around 3000 depending on the situation.

Your mileage seems much lower than mine. Perhaps the auto trans robs some MPG until it's broken in?

BTW: I was worried about driving the 6spd in traffic but it's really not bad. So far it's been very forgiving and smooth. The torque curve and gear ratios are such that I can pretty much leave it in 2nd or 3rd and go anywhere from a slow crawl to 30-40mph. And when the traffic does let up- that 3rd to 4th to 5th to 6th sequence is a wet dream!

BTW II: Contrary to the opinion I've heard from others, I think the tach is in a great position on the guage pod.

mdp c230k

My mpg sucks! I only drive 2 miles to work and I'm getting 13mpg if I'm lucky! If I go on a road trip of 100 miles I get 28-30mpg. If you have a heavy foot expect really bad milage in the city's stop and go traffic. The 'after start' computer can really drop if you sit at a light just after starting too. I dont know if it is an accurate measure all things considered.

Steve H.

I was also appalled at the gas mpg I was getting at the beginning but as the engine has broken in it has improved. I have a little more than 3000 mi on the car now.

I have an 18 mi commute and I average 25 mpg. The key is the shift point. Because of the high engine torque I found I could shift at lower rpm, usually 3000. Defeats part of the fun but markedly improves mpg. The highest I have gotten (45 mi one way trip) was 31 mpg.

If economy is important, have the dealer switch the car to economy mode (see archive thread).

edvpt

Rick, My C230K just hit 1K and I picked up a filter and brass ring from my dealer this morning. I too believe in changing at the initial 1K and every 5k after that. What Synthetic and grade did you go with? Did you suck the oil out or did you remove the Oil Drain plug?


I am averaging 21.5MPG with a 60/40 mix of Freeway and City driving.

shtatc

I think that the MB motors are not the best for MPG....I have been getting about 320 miles before the warning light comes on...about 14 gallons of gas....avg about 25mpg....now have about 13000 on the car...the mpg has not changed (improved or worsened) since I got the car...has stayed fairly consistent.

Jerry Schwartz

2002 C230K measured 12-28 mpg depending on my driving ...actually measured by filling up gas tank to Full each time; it's very close to what the computer measures also.

Jerry Schwartz

My mpg is with auto xmission. One would expect that a 4 cylinder should do at least 20 mpg in all types of driving ....

Mapman

This type of driving is absolute hell on an engine. A 2 mile drive? the engine probably doesn't even get a chance to fully warm up. If you drive the car this way on a regular basis, get ready for lots of problems down the road.

Personally, if I had a two mile commute to work, I'd be walking - but then I don't live in L.A. Don't they arrest pedestrians there?

Big Dog

Ditto on the poor gas mileage. I get between 13-15 in stop and go commuting traffic. However, I do get between 26-28 on highway only travel.

Interesting comment about the changing of oil (I've got about 1400 miles on the car).

MB-BOB

These comparos between cars don't make much sense unless you are all talking the same numbers. Some of you are alluding to it.

Each time I fill my tank, I log the figures from the "after reset" page in the MFD. then I reset the trip computer for this page to zero. Thus, my "after reset" page tracks tank to tank mileage, and that's all. (I use the "after start" page to play day-to-day games, etc.).

After compiling several tank loggings, and with 7,800 miles on the odo, my 3.2L is registering 21.5 mpg per tank, at an average speed of 28 mph (per tank) with A/C control in EC mode... about 320-330 miles per tank. In September, with only 5,000 miles on the odo, I was getting 19.3 mpg, at 27 mph with half-and-half A/C use... about 280-290 mi per tank. When the car was new, I was getting about 18.3 mpg. So, I believe my engine is producing better mileage as the miles pile up.

Comparing MPGs together is a useful exercise, but you need to share your (per tank) mpg and (per tank) mph averages, transmission type and A/C usage, to make it easier to compare apples to apples.

As far as feeling guilty Galaxygirl, I wouldn't. Just last week on the national news, it was reported that 2001 was the first year in US history in which trunk/SUV sales eclipsed car sales (in units sold). And judging by the car shows, the manufacturing trend toward foisting 3-4 ton SUVs on us will continue. While they're getting 14-16 mpg, you at least are doing your part with your comparatively efficient car (at least on the highway).

All we need now is for the middle east to pop one of those oil embargos on us as they did in 1973-74, and that will shake-up some attitudes. In the meantime, your Mercedes will not deliver the mileage you would expect from a Volkswagen. But, then again, it's not a Volkswagen, either.

jpgroom

We have about 1200 miles on the car so far. After mostly (about 90%) highway miles we are getting about 26 overall. My wife drives the car about 65 mph on the highway, 65 miles roundtrip each day.

Yellow_Fly_Red

I got 10.6liters/100 km on my last tank of Gas...
yeah.. so I'm pretty happy about that. My gas mileage has been fluctuating between 11l/100km - 13l/100km so 10.6l/100km is my best so far now that my car is broken in and the weather has been very warm lately for this time of the year.
I think my fuel mileage should improve in the summer...
Will be very happy if I can average 9l/100km.

Oh, I normally shift at 3000rpm and cruise at 2500rpms... and for this tank... I think I've only redlined the car a few times while racing my friend's A4 otherwise I drive like a grandma... :p

Rick

Wait a minute....are you people only looking at the MFD in "after start" mode? I wouldn't use that as a gauge for fuel mileage, because it averages idle time(which will be VERY low gas "mileage") and total running time into the equation. Click one more step to "after reset" or do what I do and keep a spreadsheet tally of the actual miles per refill.

Phill B

With only 200 miles on it so far I've managed to stay between 21mpg (13L/100km) driving around town, to 32mpg (9.1L/100km) driving 30 miles twisty country roads then about 45 miles of highway crusing, average speed of 40mph, top speed of 68mpg while cruising. Much happier with the fuel consumption over my last car, a WRX.