A couple salespeople I've spoken to swear that it is coming out in the US next year as a 2010 model. The GL420 BTC is actually priced a couple grand less than a GL550 on the MBuk & MBde websites...

 

I doubt it and I'd be quite surprised if they brought over a big-engine deisel at this point.

BTW, I'd dig a fox hole - some folks here are very good at shooting down these rumors but do so with large guns.

 

It's really very simple.

EVERY different drivetrain sold in the USA must be extensively tested to verify it meets EPA requirements. This testing includes a 50 thousand mile road test.

It's therefore a pretty basic economic calculation to estimate whether the sales volume of that combination will recover the certification costs. Of course they want to more than recover them.

This, for example, is why in the USA only the 450 engine is available with the offroad package whereas in Europe, for example, it's standard equipment on all models.

In the car side, it's why there's an E-class diesel 2WD sedan, but no E-class diesel 4Matic sedan and no E-class diesel station wagon at all.

No, the only low volume car MBUSA tolerates is the G-class, well and truly overpriced at over $100k. And wouldn't a G320CDI be perfect?

So, as for the V8 diesel --- in your dreams.

 

A serious dissapointment, by the way. Serious.

 

Autoweek mentioned that in 2010 Mercedes would be selling a 350CDI engine in multiple lines. I would have to assume that the '10 GL would get the same. About 250 bhp and approximately 450 lb ft of torque iirc.

BTW, I think it is a real shame that we can't get the 420CDI here in the USA. It would probably be a huge market for that engine, and in real world conditions, I think it would return even better average mpg than the 320CDI. Why? Because it doesn't have to work so hard to move 6000 lbs.
Bish

 

Sure that wasn't 350CGI, i.e. the direct-injection gasoline engine?

There sure seems little need to increase displacement of the diesel engine given current conditions.

 

Actually--if the engine weighed exactly the same--it would have to work exactly as hard.

The path to increased fuel economy is never larger displacement.

Check the chart shown here
http://www2.mercedes-benz.co.uk/cont...nicaldata.html

 

I'd avoid saying "never." If the initial engine represented is too small for the vehicle it's working to move, then increased displacement or even another couple of cylinders could really make a difference in improving fuel economy.

Now, in the Mercedes lineup, I don't think you'll find that situation, but hey, they're pretty damed good engineers, overall.

STP

 

From that chart, the 320 gets 35.3 mpg! Is that test loop mostly downhill?

 

I'm not an automotive engineer, but it seems to me that if a slightly larger displacement engine has to rev to a lower range in order to do the same work, there is a good chance that it might achieve better fuel economy, especially in the diesel family. Although I must admit I'd really like the 420CDI for the power increase.

Bish

 

No. The Autoweek article was talking about the new CLS, and how even in the US it will be offered with a diesel engine; that engine being a 350 CDI. It only makes sense therefore that that engine, the 350 CDI, would find its way into the rest of the Mercedes range.

Bish

 

Unfortunately that HUGE market is already driving 320CDI's, BlueTEC's & 550's. Agree it would be a wonderful engine, but at the sake of pirating other models and not gaining appreciably from other makes, there is no point.

 

Imperial gallons are larger than USA gallons.

 

Sorry, but Mercedes can no longer introduce a diesel into the U.S. market without BlueTEC (saleable in all 50 states).
DAG did not develop the 420 with BIN5 (BlueTEC). Moreover, the V8 diesel engine has been killed by DAG for all passenger car markets.

The 350 CDI next year is a name change only and remains the same OM642 engine as today.

 

I second LKCHRIS' motion for a G320CDI....I had a G500 in '02, a real guzzler, but I loved the vehicle.

 

I thought MB was going to stick with naming models according to displacement?

 

It may be the same engine, but is it bored out to extra displacement? Or are the hp/torque gains mentioned by Autoweek simply due to ECU tuning, etc?

Bish

 

Same displacement engine called 280CDI and 320 CDI. Both are 3.0 l displacement.

Again, the 350 someone has heard of is the gasoline V6 called 350CGI when fitted with direct fuel injection. Market conditions do not fortell displacement increases these days.

 

I drive a GL420, and I'm sure the GL320 would be more economical to drive...
I have averaged around 17mpg(us) over the last 15k miles, but thats with a lot of stop and go city driving, highway at around 100 mph, and some german autobahn driving with around 125-130 mph over a lot of hours.
At a steady 55mph it does arund 34mpg (us)

The 350 cdi could be a twinturbo version af the 320 cdi (like the 335d), just as the new 4-cylinder diesel engines will have the same displacement of 2.1L but be named 200cdi, 220cdi and 250cdi.