Polar Bear

It was rumored to for quite some time for the W211 but it never got the technology. Starting in 2007 the Bluetec name was used and the emissions were significantly reduced, but they never got urea injection. Many said they didn't have an effective way to enforce the tank getting filled or prevent tampering. Apparently the new ones provide so many starts after the tank gets low, and show a warning on the I/C saying "50 starts to required Adblue refill" or something similar. If you do not refill it by the time it reaches 0, it will not start.

Boulder GT3

So that's a deal breaker for me.

Thanks for the information.

philfna

Yeah the UREA adblue system is probably a stepping stone. I'd rather avoid another dependence on fluids.

Boulder GT3

I had no idea that it had the ability to disable the car when it needed a drink. I can imagine my wife going nuts about the time she gets in the car and receives a chicken little alarm telling her to go to the dealer for urea. The car would be in the ocean.

They kind of skip over that part in the sales pitch.

I had a C6Z06 Corvette that I tracked and it would go into "limp home" mode when the tires got hot on the race track. The TPMS system couldn't be disabled. I ended up removing the sensors and sealing them in a a tube I put 30PSI in and left behind the seat. Honestly, who dreams up this stuff?

Still loving the CDI.

philfna

Well, it had the best of intentions, but I doubt many of the engineers thought it through. As Polar Bear has stated -- it is a stepping stone. I would rather wait till the next iteration that removes the AdBlue Urea.

Did you get the KD-Box info I emailed you?

harkgar

Philfna,

Can you please confirm if the Kleemann tuning box is a 2 terminal plug and play or does it need wire splicing? In a photo posted by Kosher Benz the box has lots of wires coming out of it. How much did you pay?

I am talking about the KD box for the inline 6, not the V-6.

philfna

I don't know with the I-6, but I would imagine it is sthe same with the V-6 it was truly plug and play....Phil

wvo_biodiesel

I've had the '06 CDI for 2 years now and I love it. I average 30-32mpg on a full tank (mixed driving, which includes a lot of driving in New York City). On the highway, I can top out at 45mpg if I'm careful, but usually get around 40mpg.
Winter mileage is a bit worse, but I still manage 27-31 mpg on my commute to work (about 10 miles, mostly suburban driving with some stop lights and stop signs, etc.).

Boulder GT3

What do you have to do to get 45MPG?

wvo_biodiesel

i usually average 37-42mpg on the freeway, depending on the conditions. the trip i got 45mpg was a 30-40 mile trip to the airport that was probably 90-95% freeway, 5-10% local highway. i averaged somewhere between 55-65mph (wasn't going too fast) and was fairly conservative on the gas pedal, not trying to maintain a constant speed, but easing off the gas on slight uphills and giving more gas to regain speed on the downhills.

on 200-300 mile road trips, i frequently average over 40mpg (going 70-80mph)

i'm wondering if the kd box mod does in fact increase mileage 5% (their claim) if you drive conservatively... anyone know?

philfna

I drive the same route day to day, and I am getting 6.5 percent via the pump method 328 verus 330 miles driven. 6.5 percent improvement in city driving, but I don't drive like a badass either. I have never broken 43 mpg...45 just seems unbelievable to me...I would love to know what you are doing to get that.

Polar Bear

They can do pretty good on the highway. An example of a short trip and long trip.

This is in US Gallons, of course.

wvo_biodiesel

Here is a pic I took during my "45mpg trip."

Polar Bear

Interesting that our 44+ MPG spurts were both at 65ºF.

Boulder GT3

45MPG is very impressive. I was wondering if you were putting a 100lbs of air in the tires and using kerosene for motor oil.

I still like how fast I can go and get relatively good mileage. This trip had at least 20 minutes of dinking around in stop and go before I took this picture. I ran a steady 80-100MPH for a couple of hours and ended up at 35.5MPG. That's rockin' in my book.


Off topic, but one of the key reasons I bought the CDI was because it had some of that "right thing to do" feel about it and I liked the novelty. That I can get 28MPG around town and mid 30's on the highway in a pretty refined package feels good even though it can't be cost justified. I'm not preaching as I have enough carbon sins in my life but I was disheartened to see Prius sales fall 42% since October and pick-up sales taking off again. People are so short sighted.

MBNUT1

I totally agree with the sentiment of this post. I absolutely love driving my E3504matic except when I look at the mpg meter. It's not an issue of cost of the fuel but it sure makes me feel pretty unjustified burning that much fuel to cart my 145 lb's to work and back. My only rationale is that I don't put a ton of miles on it (~10-11k/year) and I drive it with a very light foot (22.6 mpg for the last 6K miles) Some motorcycles don't get the kind of mileage that you guys are posting. The E-diesels are just awesome automobiles.

wvo_biodiesel

I also agree w/ the sentiment of the last few posts. I bought the diesel and started making batches of biodiesel from waste vegetable oil b/c I thought it was a good "green" thing to do. It was a fun project/hobby, but is very time consuming. A local farmer mixes in biodiesel w/ the ultra low sulfur diesel in all his tractors b/c the biodiesel has better lubricity (and I guess the old diesel w/ sulfur isn't available to him anymore).
Anyways, to get back on topic, I recently contemplated buying a new Jetta TDI b/c I heard you could get 60+mpg! I am seriously considering the new Prius hybrid. Since I drive a lot, I should really do more to emit fewer carbon emissions.
Here is an interesting article for Boulder GT3--if you don't drive your gas guzzlers too much, don't feel so bad about it.
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...errari_feature

The author of the article is kind of kidding, but it the point he makes is valid.

Polar Bear

They sure hold their values much better than their gas counterparts, so if you accumulate a lot of mileage it will save you some money, especially if you buy new.

I don't know (doubt) if this car will sell for this, but look at the price http://www.e320cdi.com/98E300DT/gallery.html

I also like having something "different." And also, here is my car during the gas shortage here in NC several months ago. Notice the bags on the "other" pumps. I recall pulling into that gas station not really realizing how bad the gas shortage was in the area. I started pumping fuel and the cars driving by noticed and started swarming and literally there were 12 or more cars circled through the pumps after I started pumping. One finally asked me "is that a Diesel?" and I said "yeah" and they said "man you are lucky - we've been looking for gas for over an hour and are about out." This lasted for nearly 1 1/2 months here.

philfna

I like the uniqueness of it too. Also the MPG is great. I picked up an S-class for a steal, but I discovered the car performs fuel wise much worse in the snow than the E...In the summer it will be fun, but still I might as well start a bonfire with money in it...

C5DRVR

Good posts here and they reflect my observations as well. I too am always amazed at the passing power from 70-85 mph. We average around 35 mpg with our 2005 model. I would also like to add I am very pleased with the reliability. We are just crossing 130,000 miles on the odometer and I am amazed how well the car still drives. It still drives like new.

Polar Bear

That's great to hear. Thanks for reporting! I guess ours really are new then!

Boulder GT3

I'm back on top with the CDI:

I had a service experience today that was as good as the one last week was bad.

A very generous board member has ordered a KD box for me that I can't wait to play with. I did some crude benchmarking today and with favorable conditions I got 38.8MPG at 64MPH. We'll see what the box does.

philfna

You'll love the KD-Box...Phil

wvo_biodiesel

So what is all this talk about the KD box? Should I get one? I have 50K miles on my '06 CDI now and wouldn't mind playing around w/ it a bit. I think it had more than enough power, but if this will give me even more (just in case) plus add to my fuel savings when I drive conservatively, maybe it's worth looking into...
Does the box basically "trick" the ECU and/or increase the turbo boost?

Polar Bear

Yes.