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Hi everyone. Hope all of you are well who come across this thread. Need some help answering some questions about my W213 MY 2017.
I plan on shipping my W213 E300 4Matic to Europe. I've since been going back and forth between the US and Europe every 6 or so months, and need a car in Europe to daily. Not sure if anyone knows the following:
-Will I need to re-map my ECU/tune it to be able to use gasoline in European countries? In the US i use 91/93, but the octane for gasoline is higher than what we have in the US. I know the ECU will tune the engine on it's own to accommodate the lower/higher octane fuel. Will I have any issues using 95 RON without tuning?
-I might leave my Benz on American plates and not import it (I dont have to register it in my country, and can leave it on foreign plates for as long as I want). However, if it comes to importing/registering the car in my country, i'll have to swap out my tail lights from US spec red turn signals to EU spec yellow turn signals. I believe this isn't just simply buying EU tail lights and plugging them in, correct? Not sure if any coding is required or if the pins/wiring is the same?
IMO you'll be further ahead by keeping your car the way it currently is. 95 RON fuel is better than 91/93 octane and won't have a material impact on your vehicle. IIRC the tail light pins are different. One has an extra pin, but I don't remember if it US or EU. Other than that, the cost differences will be registration and insurance. Standard US insurance does not cover the EU without a special rider ($$$). Vehicle registration is vastly more expensive in the EU especially if VAT has never been paid. These are my recollections from going through the same process years ago. YMMV
IMO you'll be further ahead by keeping your car the way it currently is. 95 RON fuel is better than 91/93 octane and won't have a material impact on your vehicle. IIRC the tail light pins are different. One has an extra pin, but I don't remember if it US or EU. Other than that, the cost differences will be registration and insurance. Standard US insurance does not cover the EU without a special rider ($$$). Vehicle registration is vastly more expensive in the EU especially if VAT has never been paid. These are my recollections from going through the same process years ago. YMMV
Yeah registration in Croatia would be roughly $450 a year without insurance. But I wouldn't be registering it or importing it, as I can keep it on US plates and just register it online for about $200 and have my family ship the reg when it arrives to me to Europe.
I have already shopped around for insurance in the EU and i've found insurance for EU countries for $80 a month, and so I won't get ticketed when I get pulled over (basic insurance).
For the taillights, i'll do some more research, but I couldn't find anything solid online if it's just a swap or not. I too have heard that there are different pins.
The octane system in the US is different from EU. US uses AKI, which is the average between MON and RON. EU only specifies RON. 95 RON is roughly equivalent to 91 AKI, so you don't have to remap anything. Having said that, when I did European Delivery with my current AMG, they did remap the engine, but it's a high-strung performance engine. Particularly in Germany you can find octane as high as 105 RON at the regular pumps, so performance cars can take advantage of such a high octane if mapped for it, but with an E300 it's not worth it going to that length.
Technically, 95 RON can be worse fuel than 91 AKI if it has a really low MON, but you won't know. MON and RON are two ways to measure the fuels resistance to knocking under different engine conditions. RON is for milder conditions and MON is for harsher, more stressful conditions, so a higher MON is better for harder driving.
Last edited by superswiss; Sep 9, 2025 at 01:00 PM.
The octane number in North America (AKI) is not what the rest of the world uses (RON). My E300 m264 in Australia specifies RON 95 on the fuel door. You will be fine with the higher rating. The higher the RON, the more energy dense the fuel is, which translates to slower burning fuel for a given horsepower output; improved fuel economy and reduced risk of pre-detonation (pinging or engine knock).
In Europe we blink with a separate yellow light, is not allowed here to blink with the brake
Correct. I'd like to get the tail lights switched before I ship as everything is cheaper in the US when it comes to parts and also more readily available/quicker to get if needed (for pins and connectors, etc).
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