latent

300 miles to date and its a grreat engine. But I thought it would be quieter for a MB Diesel.Will it get quieter as the engine 'beds' in?

glojo

The 320CDI should only be a few decibels noiser than the 320 petrol at tickover, after that the CDI is quieter. Many months ago someone supplied a link where a magazine reviewed both vehicles and carried out numerous noise tests at various speeds.

Is there a similar sized diesel that is quieter?

Regards,
John
Overcast Torquay

Spartan

I have a couple of DB meters (noise measuring) and I suppose I could run a few tests.

Hey atssystems.com, you are in my neighborhood, do you want to test your car and my CDI? We could meet for coffee and decibels.

glojo

And eat them with your mandibels!!!

John
Wet Torquay

latent

I'm not sure about mine. Noisier than my old C200K at idle. Am I expecting too much from an engine this size? Alo when accelerating seems very 'knocky' from inside.

glojo

We all sing the praises of this engine but being realistic you will get a slight diesel knock at tickover. These modern diesels tick over moderately quickly and that helps keep both noise and vibration down hopefully your engine will 'loosen and get more quiet.

My wife has just returned from Lincolnshire a round trip of 570 miles, all on one tank of fuel and 39 mpg. oh and she averaged 61mph (The journey consists of a lot of motorway). I am really impressed with those figures and certainly would not expect those sort of figures from the petrol 320

I am sure you will pleased with your car.

Regards
John
Windy Torquay
John

saffrontiger

I'm assuming you test drove the car before purchase right? The very dynamics of diesel motors will always have more noise than petrol. I can say that at 3500 miles, my engine sounds the same and i wouldn't have it any other way

latent

I'm assuming you test drove the car before purchase right?

YES!

The very dynamics of diesel motors will always have more noise than petrol.
and Yes, but how much is natural for the model of car I have ?

glojo

I don't drive our car in an aggresive manner, I don't 'floor' the throttle when pulling away from road junctions or traffic lights and I don't even lower my window to listen to the engine. BUT, when driving our vehicle the engine noise is really not noticeable, and certainly NOT noticeable as a 'diesel' noise.

It's 'natural' noise is obviously its 'natural' noise. If you believe your vehicle is excessively noisey, then take out a demonstrator from your dealer.

You will obviously get that slight diesel noise at tick-over and there is nothing you can do about that, but I don't understand what your 'natural' noise is?

Bye for now
John
Windy, showers mixed with brilliant sunshine Torquay

latent

Hmm. I do notice the gentle 'diesel tapping' at tickover. Perhaps I'll ask the dealer - as long as I don't get fobbed off! Incidently what is the default tickover RPM?

glojo

You will get a slight diesel noise at tickover, and I'll check what our tickover RPM. Obviously we will all have our own personal description of the noise.

John

It is ticking over at approximately 650rpm. The guage is not very accurate but that is the boss's best guess.

ima55r2

I was in a test drive with a friend of mine in both the diesel and gas 320 this weekend and the cdi was almost as quiet and just as peppy. If they had a cdi wagon he would have bought one.

I don't know too much about diesels, so what is tickover?

latent

Thanks - not sure 'tickover' is a word used in the US. basically it is a coloquial word for when the car is at idle - just ticking over

glojo

It is how we describe the engine idling speed

It is a shame that the US does not import the 320CDI Estate, still, "I'm alright jsck"

Regards,
John
Sunny Torquay

Barry45RPM

They are fuel economical, (and lately better performing & cleaner) but there IS a reason the term "Diesel Clatter" was coined.

Davel

[QUOTE=glojo]My wife has just returned from Lincolnshire a round trip of 570 miles, all on one tank of fuel and 39 mpg. oh and she averaged 61mph (The journey consists of a lot of motorway). I am really impressed with those figures and certainly would not expect those sort of figures from the petrol 320

I just returned from a trip from Myrtle Beach SC to Maryland about 479 miles, and had a little over a 1/4 of a tank left, this was cruise set at 75mph with AC 3 people and luggage. I average around 31 MPGs petrol 320...

glojo

[QUOTE=Davel]An excellent return, I forgot to add that the 'boss' also had air conditioning on. No doubt you are as pleased with your vehicle as we are with ours.

since we have had the vehicle (Feb 2004) it has only travelled 3579 miles and the computer informs me that it is averaging 34mpg. This journey was the vehicles first 'long distance' trip. (it is mainly used round town) How does that compare with your 320 petrol?

Regards,
John

Thanks for the post

Davel

Mine turned a year old in June and has about 13,000 miles now. Back-and-forth commuting to downtown DC (14 miles each way) I've seen a low of around 350 miles and a high of 415 miles, on average 380 miles to a tank of gas city driving. Highway 550 miles and the computer read 40 miles remaining. This really depends on the driving habits of the driver. I filled the tank today after covering 409 miles (city driving) and put in 19.9 gallons of gas ($41.00). I run the tank down pretty low before refilling, although I would'nt recommend doing this. Good luck with your diesel, I would love to have a 4matic diesel wagon

glojo

Oh how I envy you. I have to take out a bank loan to fill up my tank

We do not have the option of the E-class 4-matic in any shape or form.

Regards,
John

cdiken

I have the CDI but must admit I think back to my BMW 524td and how it sounded like a real diesel.

I used to love watching the glow plug light as I shut the seat-belt buckle and turned the key again each morning. I loved the commercial sound of diesel being burned. Diesel rumble is the sound of progress, kind of like jet noise is the sound of freedom.

KB

Green E-300 DT

Like coins dropping into an empty one pound coffee can.

The sounds of savings. I love it.

In the old days with my '61 190Db,

"Knock knock.

Whose there?

Diesel!

Diesel Who?

Diesel save you plenty of money if you can stand the noise!"

And you think the new CDI are noisey? You should have heard that baby, but it ran forever, and got very good fuel mileage.