Hi, new member of MBWorld from Hong Kong.

Recently bought E250 CGI with ECO start/stop feature. Just wondering if there are any solid stats (or road tests) as to how much fuel savings with this feature? also, will it cause problems to the engine/ignition in the medium to long term?

I find myself turning this feature off after only using it for the 1st week because the shaking motion when the engine restarts just became annoying for city driving (which is pretty much all there is in Hong Kong) and I can't help to think that this must take a toll on the engine in the long-run!

 

I've had the same question from one of my customers who bought a c250cdi of me last week, I'm on this and will have an answer shortly i'm sure. offcourse I'll be keen to know what other people think of this too of course

 

Having been to Hong Kong several times the first question that comes to my mind is.."why would anyone want/need anything more than a small,cheap car there?".Given the short distances on the islands and the *traffic* I can't understand it.I know that the mainland (including the New Territories) isn't as small...I wonder how easy it is for an HK resident to enter China.And for that matter even if it's easy why would one want to bring an expensive car there? (theft,damage,etc).Oh well.....

As for start/stop...IMO it *cannot* be good for the engine in the long run.As you may know it was invented at the behest of "environmentalists" in Europe and the US.Reducing pollution was,and is,its main purpose in their minds.I fully expect it to become mandatory in the US eventually and when it does I'll do everything I can to disable it...even if doing so is illegal.

In short it's hard for me to imagine stop/start saving a lot of fuel...particularly with diesels.

 

I have always been weary of this feature too, the un needed stress it must cause on the different parts must be high.......
and yes, if something was born of American desire: I'd question it too......
I'll have it on my cls, but don't plan on using it........
I think it's an okay idea, just not ready yet..........

 

It's advised to let turbo engines idle a few secs and then shut them off . I am not convinced that using start / stop 30 times in a congested traffic could cause some damage and more wear / tear in long term .
I don't know if it applies to CGI engines though .However, I would prefer to drive it in a conventional way

 

Cool, look forward to hearing from you again.

 

Traffic is exactly the reason for getting a luxury car in my view, it alleviates the anger! Try being stuck in traffic in a cheap small car, you'll go crazy!

 

allright, I have to get into a little more detail, but what I found out so far is that it works differently from starting your car when you get in, the mixture is added into the cylinders and is waiting to be ignited when you release the brake pedal, or turn the steering wheel, the car starts up straight away. The starter motor does assist but doesnt take the full load of the startup. The system is very clever and undoubtedly much more complicated than I just described, but its a basic version. In other words, MB made this system to work like this, and it will not make certain parts of the car wear faster. Just enjoy it as much as you want, and press the ECO button if you find it annoying

 

Having an E-class in Hong Kong is no different than the rest of the world, it is a status symbol as well as an appreciation of a well made product. Hong Kong cars cannot get into mainland China unless you pay a small fortune to get it licensed.

 

The OP states he turned the start/stop off and never missed it. If is can be disabled through COMMAND or by customer request at the dealer, this is a non issue.

 

Yea...agree the ECO systems does seems to be quite clever as it starts up in a flash and does not compromise the response time when the traffic light turns green.

However, I am bothered by the fact that I could not always activate the brake assist whilst I'm in ECO mode as the brake assist works perfectly when I have the ECO mode turned off. Wonder if it's just my driving habbits that I need to adjust somehow?!

Also, happy to know if anybody can share their experience on the amount of the cost saving on fuel with ECO on/off.

 

It's really going to depend on your driving pattern and how much time is spent in stop-and-go traffic. You're not going to find a solid metric for this. The greater benefit is the reduction in emissions - you can feel good about that

 

Start/stop was pretty well engineered not to put excess strain on any components; however, there is an issue with start/stop that keep it from showing up in the US on any large scale on MB cars in the near future.

That issue concerns the gas we have in the US and our emission systems. There is much concern that start/stop could contribute to early catalytic converter failure in cars running US gas. This is not a concern in cars outside North America.

BMW has adopted start/stop on 2012 models and we'll see when the converters begin to fail. I understand that MB is letting BMW be the test mule for this.

 

All new AMGs with the 5.5L have ECO Start-Stop. Manufacturers currently have no regulatory incentive to include it on NA vehicles as the EPA testing cycle doesn't factor it in.

 

True, but there are other issues factored into that start stop - the primary being the cat warm up time in the AMG that is intended to resolve this issue.

 

Cat warm-up has nothing to do with only offering ECO on the AMGs. Euro-spec Benzs with ECO will not engage start-stop mode until the car has reached operating temps (regardless of the model, AMG or not).

 

Same on US models.

 

it might not be much on a small engine or a diesel, but when you have a v8 just standing at the light you see your gas mileage drop like a rock. i would love for my next S class to have this.

 

Would never purchase a car with start/stop, especially one made in Europe. Long term reliability has got to be a problem.

 

Isn't that comment a bit short-sighted? It's like every new technology (cylinder deactivation, dual-scroll turbos, electric power steering...)

 

We stood outside the Dim Sum restaurant in Happy Valley, Hong Kong and just watched the cars go by. Mercedes, porsche, jaguar, masaratti, ferrari, audi, BMW.....all new.....and yes, there was the very, very occasional Toyota. You have to be in Hong Kong to understand. I have never noticed this many high end cars continually drive by anywhere in the world.

By the way, they do serve outstanding Dim Sum

 

I have it on my Porsche Cayenne Turbo. It may not actually save fuel but it sounds great every time it restarts (especially with my modified exhaust).

 

Good luck finding a new benz... Buy one now while they are still available without the system. It is shortsighted what you say as it works great and pretty much required for emission standards.

 

Boy,you've got that right.HK is a facinating,amazing...and breathtakingly wealthy...place.But,believe it or not,it can't hold a candle to Singapore,which makes HK look like Detroit by comparison...both in terms of wealth,orderliness and cleanliness.If you ever get there you'll understand!

 

Fixed it for you. The effect on emissions is still up in the air (pun intended) but the main advantage is for gas mileage - although the exact gains haven't been tested by the EPA yet and I don't know of any Government entity that has any definitive testing.