Been interested in diesels? What exactly got your attention? The reason I ask is after living in Stuttgart for over 3 years, and seeing all the Americans who still, even after living there in Germany were resistant about diesels, I've found that those of us who love/like their diesels are not "normal" An example of this resistance was witnessed by me at a local EuroCar rental place. Americans would call in or come in to get a rental for the weekend and would specifically want a gas car and not a diesel. With all the different models available there in a diesel, I found it to be strange.

So I'd like to hear your stories.

 

Definitely love my E320 CDI! One possible reason why americans may not get diesel because of the fear of not finding diesel fuel. Here in California, I may have to drive by 3-4 gas stations that do not have diesel fuel before I finally find one that does have diesel.

 

I've always found that if your anywhere near a major highway finding diesel isnt a problem. Besides after my latest run from Fairview Georgia to Pennsylvania (825 miles) on one tank - you could always go to Reno to get fuel

BTW, the computer readout on this picure was a bit off, I actually got 41.5mpg

 

I'm afraid "not normal" applies to me, on the other hand, based on reading the thread so far, perhaps we could agree that all the gas car drivers are not normal

The percentage of diesel cars is growing in Europe and has already passed the 50% mark.

Diesel for me is something more than economy, a habit that I've inherited from my father from the W111 times to the W123 which was my first own diesel that I bought from my father. I guess those days the fuel economy, engine longevity and good value for trade were most important arguments. Diesel fuel has been specifically low priced in my country but even if I drive less today, I would not consider a gasser for the main car in the family.

I think it is also that at W123 times we suffered from comments related to the car acceleration (even if other cars did hardly better on longer trips), something makes me show others that a diesel today can outperform most of those typical gassers in Europe (the average gasser isn't an E63AMG here). But mostly I believe it is the relaxed driving with the engine power characteristics (that is torque from low rpm). Of course the fact that engine noise is so low today is another difference compared to those older diesels.

 

Love my CDI. Was in Germany late last year and in the UK a month ago. Most of the MBs and BMWs I saw were diesel including S class. Not to mention all the other brands that were diesel that we do not get here.

Glad I switched. Mileage & great performance in a beautiful package. With the CDI the old noise and performance issues are gone. My CDI is much quieter than my previous BMW with a performance exhaust.

 

I've been interested in diesel powered vehicles since the mid seventies. It wasn't the vettes or the muscle cars that got my attention. It was the diesel powered Mercedes. I didn't take but 30 years for me to finally get one! 2006 E320 CDI. Great car and it is everything I ever imagined it could be. The wife and I also both drive diesel powered Dodge trucks. We see the diesel vehicles more as an investment than as a just a car. Resale, reliability, longevity and MPG all add up to good value for the money. Could be I am a little off as well. I thought that differential equations and thermodynamics were interesting! Ed B

 

GM poisoned the well for diesels in the US with their Oldsmobile fiasco. VW used the same engine block for both gasoline and diesel engines. GM tried that with the Olds V8 and it was a disaster. Another problem with American diesels is that a rotating injection pump was used that relied on diesel fuel to lubricate it. Mercedes had expensive, in-line injection pumps that used engine oil for lubrication. You don't get what you don't pay for.

We drove a 190D for 17 years and traveled all over North America in that car. It was my wife's car and she loved it. Even when we had a premature alternator brush failure on a trip and everything in the car went dead including the electric fuel pump, the engine never quit and we simply drove to the nearest dealer, had the brushes replaced and were on our way. That little car never let us down.

I doubt CDi's or BlueTecs will soldier on for decades the way old Mercedes diesels would with their simple mechanical injection pumps. The new diesels are more complicated than gasoline engines. That's one reason I decided not to get a BlueTec, even without urea injection.

If I lived in California or Canada where fuel costs are so high and where their diesel fuel is cheaper than premium, I would go for the BlueTec.

Meanwhile, I drive so few miles that the cost of driving the '08 E350 won't be much more expensive than if I had a BlueTec. Besides, my bladder can't handle 700 mile fuel tanks

 

This is the kind of story I like to hear.

While I know that MB has/had field tested the BlueTec engines for over 3 years in real world vehicles before bringing them to the US - I too have my reservations not so much about the engine, but about the dealerships ability to maintain them. Because I only lived 5 miles away from the Sindelfingen plant, I had the opportunity to speak with a couple of my neighbors who worked on different sections of the E class production line. I knew when the I6 would end production for the US, and the V6 would take over. I specifically wanted the "old" I6 becuase of the history. I'm hoping to put many many "long distance" badges on my car's grill.

If I lived in California or Canada where fuel costs are so high and where their diesel fuel is cheaper than premium, I would go for the BlueTec.

What just makes me scratch my head is when I see all the gas version E320's on the road. With ~$1,000 difference between the gas version and the diesel, I just dont understand why people still drive the gas version. To each their own I guess, but I still think it's odd.

 

The E320's were released before the CDI's. Even so, unless there is a huge savings in fuel costs, owning the gasoline version has some advantages. The M112 engine in the E320 is a simpler design (and probably more reliable) than the two types of diesels. Gasoline is easier to find when you are traveling. Diesel fuel can be more expensive than Premium in many parts of the country. There is a noticeable turbo lag in both versions of the diesel although the V6 seems to be less so than the I6.

Don't get me wrong, I came close to ordering a BlueTec but since I don't believe there is a longevity advantage anymore, there wasn't any reason to choose it over the 350 which is faster, quieter, has better throttle response, has less hassle finding fuel and was $1,000 cheaper. Besides, the diesel comes with 16" wheels and smaller brake rotors.

 

I grew up on MB diesels as a kid in the 70's and 80's...first car I ever drove was a '71 220D when I was about 12...probably a dozen 300TDs among family and friends when I got my license in the mid-80s.

I've done a lot of work and pleasure travel in Europe in the decades since, and have always respected the diesels. When gas got expensive last year and rumors of highly complex emissions controls for future diesels started, I went out of my way to import a CDI into CA.

 

When I was buying about a year ago, incentives on the E350 were much greater than those on the E320CDI...

 

A placard in our dealership reading "...369 lb/ft of torque" first caught my attention. Our CDI's massive low-speed torque is what has kept me a diesel fan, along with its superior fuel economy.

We are now a two-diesel family, the other being an '07 VW Touareg V10 TDI (553 lb/ft torque) which we recently bought to tow our Porsche to the track. Modern diesels have virtually no drawbacks and many advantages.

We should soon see other manufacturers (e.g., Audi, BMW) beginning to market diesels in the USA. Mainstream American car buyers know nothing of the virtues of these engines, and overcoming the perception that diesels are noisy, smoky, slow and unreliable will take a while.