CME4BENZ

We recieved an internal E mail today.

Base price (MSRP) is $49,075

"same standard equipment as gasoline E320 including paint and upholstery options"

"4matic, Appearance package and AMG sport package not available on CDI"

NOT for sale in CA, MA, ME, NY, VT


__________________

BoBcanada

Is air suspension available???

Turbo2

How about Keyless Go? With the pre-heating of the glow plugs needed I doubt it will be available. Im also suprised that the MSRP is higher than the current E320, will next years E320 (or 350 as it might be) still be cheaper than the diesel?

Thanks for the heads up Keil!

glojo

There is no reason why Keyless Go should not be available. I understand exactly what you are saying about the 'Pre-Heat' but it is an option, as are ALL other options. (MBUSA might NOT include them though)

It would be interesting to know why the CDI is more expensive than it's petrol counterpart. This again is something that MBUSA has decided)


Good luck with your chioce,
John

CME4BENZ

Sorry guys. I don't know much more at this point.

Netstar lists appearance package and sport as options still but the Email we recieved said they are not available. Not sure about the active suspension. The price is $1,000 more than the gas motor. More $ to build? Paying for the R&D?

As far as the glow plugs my understaning is that these new diesels start immediatly and do not require the "warm up".

Maybe our friend from England that is driving a diesel "estate" can address that.

glojo

There is still a 'glow-plug' and if you have Keyless-Go, it is taken into account.

The diesel equivalent in both the UK and Europe is cheaper than its petrol equivalent with exactly the same options.

E320 Elegance Estate £35370
E320CDI Elegance Estate £34710

John

Turbo2

John-
So when you go to start the car, do you still have to wait for the coil light to go off before you start it?

Thanks

glojo

Yes, but we do not have the severe cold weather in the south-West of England that other owners might have to contend with. The coldest it has been this winter has been -2 centigrade and it took approximately 5sec to go out.

If you are impatient the car will start without waiting but for the five seconds it seems silly not to wait.

I have NEVER seen ANY black smoke coming from the exhaust even on the coldest of mornings.

Good luck with your car and I would love to see your face the first time you hear the engine. They are so unlike any standard diesel, a 1.8 diesel Citreon engine is sooo loud compared to the 320CDI

Bye for now,
John

Turbo2

John-
Thanks for the info., Im looking forward to hearing and driving one of these new CDI diesels, 369 lb/ft of torque sure sounds exciting.

Thanks again,
Lowell

LeslieRushforth

LeslieRushforth

Leslie...Chesterfield England.

The car does start instantly even in -6 C. wih out having to wait for the pre-heaters to warm.

The E320 CDI is owsome Plenty of torque
Power is fabulious all through the range when you want it you get it in the neck like a rocket.

Went to Belgium last week 700 mile round trip freeway driving between 80 to 100 M.P.H it pulled 38 miles to the gallom (imperial uk gallon) Thats 30% more than you will get from the gasoline car.

The car is just great on performance.

glojo

Hi Leslie,
Nice to hear from someone that also 'sings the praises' of this brilliant engine.

The sad thing is, if I lived in the US I would not buy one. The cost of fuel in the US is far, far cheaper than overhere, the CDI is more expensive than the petrol equivalent, the diesel cannot have the same options as the petrol, and finally the servicing periods will be FAR more frequent to those that we are used to. My previous 320CDI would go 22,000 miles between services.

The - 2 centigrade we had was very much a one off. - 6 would definitely fetch tears to my eyes. Oslo experiences temperatures colder than the inside of my fridge (the ice box )

Nice hearing from you again, and thanks for all your previous assistance,
John

John

LILRAJA

sevicing is more than the gasoline counterpart?
hmm. that's interesting to know.
i did not know.
i am test driving one on wednesday. :-)
will update you guys then.

raja

glojo

Good luck with the test drive, and I look forward to reading your opinion.

Regards,
John

glojo

There is a link on this forum to Ebay where they are selling the 320CDI. I am surprised that the advertising 'spill' actually states

""The current technology allows drivers to insert the key and start the car immediately without glow-plug waiting"""

In my previous post I stated that the engine could be started without using the 'preglow' and I accept that Mr Leslie does not use his (He is a person I hold in high regard).

However Mercedes-Benz recommends it use and advertising a procedure contrary to this is not the most sensible of acts.

Quote from manual, """Vehicles with a diesel engine

Turn the key to position 2 in the ignition lock

The preglow indicator lamp in the instrument cluster lights up.

As soon as the preglow indicator lamp goes out, turn the key to position 3 in the ignition lock and release it.

The engine starts automatically.


i

You can start the engine without preglow if the engine is warm. """

End quote

As I have already stated, yes you can start the engine without preglow (obviously when it is warm the preglow literally flicks on and off anyway)

The idea of preglow is to heat the cylinder + fuel to make it easier to ignite. If you opt to choose not to use the preglow when the engine is cold especially at temperatures below freezing. Then the fuel takes slightly longer to ignite, therefore more fuel gets into the cylinder and therefore when it does ignite, there is more fuel that has to be burnt.

Obviously the ammounts are very small, but for the brief time it takes for the preglow to go out, WHY put extra strain (fuel) into the engine??

On this forum there are numerous questions about the 'running in' of your new vehicle. Would you ignore the advice and do just the opposite???? I am sure some folks would. But those of us that take pride in our new car would do there utmost not put undue stress or strain onto it.

I have had this little 'rant' because in my previous post I stated something that I believe in, and now I have read an article that contradicts my advice and I wanted to put the reason why I wrote what I did.

Finally, this is not a personal criticism of Mr Leslie, he has often given me sound, sensible advice. We all have our own views and they must be respected by others.

Thanks for tolerating my little rant (hopefully)
John

DMI+RY

Hi

I shouldn't agree on some points stated:
The petrolium is in fact cheaper (so far) in US, but considering 30% milage increase and about 11% diesel fuel break (cheaper in US), we are talking about 50% more miles for every dollar spent on fuel while using 320CDI compare to 320 petro.

Besides that, it looks like CDI base price going to be around $1K more than standard E320, so that would be recovered by the fuel economy within 15-18 month of regular 12k/year usage.

Yet it is more expensive to produce CDI engine (about $1500-$2000, because of high pressure components, turbo unit, etc.)

glojo

Hi,
I would be very interested to know where you get that information from.

I am not doubting your word, but no member from any country OTHER than the US has stated that they had to pay more for the equivalent CDI powered car???

Hopefully we will get some responses that corroborate your statement.

Regarding my statement about not buying a US CDI, yes the fuel issue is a part of the reason, but I could have had the AMG options (not the 4 exhaust pipes though) package, Keyless Go, heated steering wheel, airmatic suspension etc all fitted onto my CDI. MBUSA has elected not to offer these options for there diesel powered vehicles, and that is there decision.

What will the service periods be for the CDI??? I am curious because of the difference in quality of fuel.

I love the CDI and am amazed at the advanced technology. I hope that everyone in the US that buys this fantastic vehicle are as impressed with it.

Another good thing about modern low sulphur diesel is the complete lack of horrible diesel 'pong'. After the first cold start of the morning the exhaust smells a bit like a 'Bangkok Brothel' (not that I have ever visited such an emporium!!) But the smell is quite perfumey. Before I dig myself deeper into the hole that I have already dug, I will wish you good luck with your purchase.



Bye for now,
John

DMI+RY

I read it in one of the articles after MB announcement on Detroit auto show, that the MB rep. specified that even though CDI engine is about $2000-$2500 more expensive to make, MBUSA will keep the price at the level of existing E320 gas models.

glojo

Thank you very much indeed for the quick response. I have just checked the New Zealand site and the 320CDI is $7000 NZ CHEAPER than the equivalent 320 petrol saloon both with the same specification.

So someone, somewhere is not being 100% truthful. The UK, Europe and New Zealand are cheaper. Australia does not advertise a like for like equivalent, but the 270CDI is just $2000 Aus. dearer than the 240 petrol equivalent specification.

Obviously there is nothing that you can do about the situation, and I blame my curiosity for highlighting this descrepancy in pricing. I can understand to some degree the logic, but the petrol V6 also has some technically advanced and perhaps expensive ancillary parts that a diesel engine does not have.

Thanks again for your reply,
John

Mercedesfan

Perhaps the US version of the diesel E (which will be a 2005)won't be priced higher than the 2005 petrol E since we have not yet seen the prices for the 2005 models??????????

DMI+RY

)That is also the possibility...
As rumored before, the MY05E320CDI will be about $1K USD pricier than MY04E320, but all MY05E-Class line might get increase as well..
Only time will tell us the truth

BTW, If MB really increasing slowly the price for MY05 in addition to taken off Free Scheduled Maintenance Plan - that's a very bad move.
Here in US, when you start talking about MB - first words you hear is unreliability (mostly electrical) - no matter who you speak to (well, besides salespeople in MB dealerships ).

DMI+RY

Hmmm, actually current MY04 on MBUSA has Base MSRP of $48,795.00 (that includes destination charge).

So, if the Base MSRP for MY05320CDI is $49,075 (incl. destination?) then for a new year model $280 increase - not bad at all