Any potential buyers having second thoughts about buying a diesel? For some time I thought my next car would be a diesel but the current price differential (20% in my area vs regular gas) as well as several articles citing continuing big premiums for diesel fuel and potential supply issues with diesel in the U.S. have turned me around.

 

I'd rethink it if all I could get was a BlueTec with runflat tires.

On basis of fuel economy, they still win.

 

So IKchris,

in your opionon you think the CDI is a better way to go than the bluetech??

 

Best way to know if its worth it is to use this site.

www.fueleconomy.gov just plug your local gas and diesel prices and mileage that you put in every year with the percentage of local and highway driving and you will see even with higher diesel prices vs gas prices you will still save money with diesel. Do a side by side comparison of the GL 320 vs GL 450.

 

I hate runflat tires they make the ride so rough its not worth it. I hope the 2009 GLs don't start using runflats. My BMW 550 with runflats was so rough with them on I had to switch them out at my own expense for regular tires which made the ride so much better both handling wise and comfort wise.

 

My opinion has been that the BlueTec was not designed to make the GL320 better, it was only designed to let MB sell it in more states. That is important for MB, I don't have a problem with what they have to do to make money.

But knowing that BlueTec was coming I bought CDI's in a GL320 and a ML320.

I don't want to worry about another fluid to top off or another injector system to go bad. I now learning that it won't have a spare tire I am glad I have a CDI.

It's been stated before, if the CDI is clean enough for 45 states, it's clean enough for me!!

 

It is obvious the '09 GL320 BlueTEC "will" have the runflat tires spec'd by GL Fahrer on another thread. This is done to allow for the AdBlue tank. Whether runflat tires will be on all models had not yet been addressed on this forum.

 

How much is this new equipment going to increase the price?

 

No one at this point can answer that question... and I would include MB in that statement...:-) Pricing is always the last thing to be posted on the MBUSA website and probably subject to change as the webmaster is typing the post.

 

I wonder what makes you say that? MBUSA web site always has most up to date information

 

I had not seen this site before. You are correct in that it clearly shows that diesel is more cost effective than gas. I was surprised to see that the environmental impact was less with diesel than gas (i.e., lower number of barrels of oil consumed yearly and smaller carbon footprint). This is in addition to the lower initial purchase price and better torque for highway driving.

I am a little disturbed to see that I am supporting the whole Al Gore movement, however, and wish that I was polluting a little bit more. It is disappointing to know that I was unwillingly dragged into the church that worships mythical and man made climate change...

 

+1 !!

 

Hey, nothing wrong with saving a little money.

Plus, you get all that diesel torque.

Just drive more miles. More smiles, I'd say.

 

I just look at it like I am repaying my carbon debt for all those years of hot rod boats, and naturally aspirated diesels. My '93 7.3L looked like something from a James Bond movie when I took it above 7,000 feet. I felt sorry for those bicyclist that I passed, NOT.

 

Oh, JEALOUSY! I really, really should've opted for the 7.3L Powerstroke in the Excursion, instead of the V10 gas. What a waste! Ugh!

Now, you can't even get the 7.3 any more. Sad.

STP

 

You sure should have. The one I traded in for the GL was an '02, the last of the Mohicans. 17 - 18 mpg. Garage kept. It didn't even have a door ding.

 

Well, then I feel better about the fact that we've beat the crap out of the 4DASAUR (its plate). Inside and out! Dings, dents, scratches, poorly installed aftermarket stereos and televisions - the beast is probably worth about $4. Hey, that's a gallon of diesel!

 

At least you used yours properly as a truck and I assume off-roads. Mine went from my garage to the parking garage at the State Capitol, and back. The closest thing it saw to off roads was driving across the mowed grass in my pasture. The 4WD was used a couple times when it sleeted about 1/4". Out of 92K miles, about 85K were with one 130 lb person in it.

 

I really didnt care about car gas and costs until I saw that website and saw the whole carbon impact score of a vehicle. I originally got that site from Motorweek when every week they would say this car uses 21 barrels of oil per year and leaves a carbon impact score of etc. Since that time I started looking at the window stickers of vehicles and that website comes up showing how the EPA calculates fuel economy. I hate to say it but my days of driving M cars and AMG cars are over, may be I am getting old but I am considering the enviroment when I buy cars now.

 

It's seen about 15 miles of off-road, counting fire roads to find sledding hills a couple of winters, and I still think that's being generous. The great vast majority of time it spent on the highways. But the wife insists (insists, mind you!) on a 4-wheel-drive vehicle, somehow convincing herself that it's safer in weather than a 2-wheel-drive.

Anyway, this sucker has hauled kids and dogs and furniture and a trailer loaded up with garbage or a Humdinger golf cart or whatever. But it's nothing the GL cannot now do, given we still have the trailer.

STP

 

Al....is that you???

 

.......me too. Now instead of one 130 lb person driving a 8 passenger, 7600lb vehicle that gets 17 mpg, it's one 130 lb person driving a 7 passenger, 5200lb vehicle that gets 22 mpg.

STP. I think your wife and mine must be communicating. I heard the same arguement about the 4WD. "It helps to keep the car from hydroplaning when it's raining." Is that a problem in Scottsdale?

 

If you knew the number of people spilling half-caff lattes out of open windows because they have hit speed bumps (aka pedestrians) while doing their makeup and talking on the cell phone, you'd realize how our streets run with fluids and just how dangerous it is.

Seriously, though, she very often took long road trips to parts unknown in the big trucks, primarily for dog shows (transporting via your own vehicle, especially when you've got five or six, is infinitely less expensive than trying to fly them, plus then there's the savings in renting a car big enough for them and the other people, yadda yadda) and I literally tracked a tornado crossing I-40 in Oklahoma just outside the Panhandle while on the phone with her, that looked like it was basically on top of her, one time, so she did drive in the inclement weather quite a bit.

She loves the Triton V10, but with all that highway, man, we really should've done the diesel.

STP

 

The truth of the matter is that it is a no-brainer. Around here, and I suspect in most parts of the country, you get most if not all the money back for 4WD at trade-in or resale. The KBB doesn't always reflect that but actual resale will, kind of like the diesel engines.

 

Who knows if you are supporting the Al Gore movement - I'm starting to refer to it as Gorebal Warming. Remember one web site rated the GL320 as one of the Meanest Cars (I think it was number 2 on the list) instead of a Greenest Car. Like the whole Gorebal Warming BS, it is now a political thing based upon emotion instead of facts. Interesting that there are other planets in our solar system that are warming up and there are no humans on them to blame. The fact that the earth as cooled down one degree this past year, doesn't mean anything to those tree huggers.

I like our GL320 because it saves me money.