pikeydave

Seeing as I'm now (or the Wife is) the owner of an American manufactured Merc I'd thought I'd say Hello.
3 yr old 420CDI, 55K on the clock and 20" wheels.

Sabrina loves it.


Shame you don't get the V8 oil burner stateside.

Dave

StevethePilot

I've heard it said that there are those who are disappointed with the performance differences between the V6 and the V8 CDIs. In your opinion, does the V8 - as it comes from the factory - have enough power in it to justify the extra two cylinders? Also, what's the mileage (adjusted for US gallons)?

I assume you've either changed or reprogrammed the engine management system, or added a tuning box? How much extra were you able (should that assumption be correct) to get out of the larger beast?

Thanks much,

Steve

pikeydave

Hi Steve,
As I can't afford to run a 320 and a 420 back to back you'll have to trust me!
I've a few decent diesels in the family, 95E300TDTurbo(import from Germany never sold in UK) 98W210E300Turbodiesel, Scania 143-500 etc etc so feel I know a good diesel when I drive it.
The car is standard but 55k on the clock should help loosen it up a bit.
The torque is impressive and it moves 2.6 tonnes of vehicle effortlessly.
Fuel economy is 28 statute miles to the imperial gallon and 20 when doing inner city work.
I don't see why anybody would be disappointed with the performance it's a popular engine in the GL & MLs over here as well as in Europe.
I might drop the cats off and have straight through exhaust to help it breathe better.

I'm in Baghdad most of the time flying ex Air Tran 737s so the wife is doing all the miles for time being. When I do get home it's first job for me is a 2000 mile round trip tow to Italy with a W124 on the way down and a 85 Ford Transit on the way back.
As a fellow pilot Steve I'll let you do the 'gas' conversions

Dave

StevethePilot

... checking my circular slide wheel ... if my sums are correct, that's about 23 miles to the US gallon on the highway and just over 16 in the city.

So you're going to be "White Van Man" on the way back from Italy? Why the two different cars for the trip?

pikeydave

A LHD E300TE-24V and a 76Moto Guzzi T3 Cali are going down to our place in Italy for transport when we're down there and the Transit needs some work (sat for 3 yrs, excellent body though) that I'd be better off doing in my workshop.
Might even use my Sprinter van if the family arn't coming but it'd be a more comfortable tow in the 420.

Fifth Ring

So they make the right-hand-drive, V8 diesel in the US and sell it in the UK??? Seems like a lot of shipping to me!

StevethePilot

Welcome to the modern industrial age!

StevethePilot

A) I like the bike - haven't seen a right-hand drive one like that before. B) I was tempted by the Sprinter, even the old engine, because it was so efficient, but ended up wanting something smaller. I still like the chassis, if I ever go "motorhome" I would look again at the motorhome versions I've seen around.

Fifth Ring

We've had a 320CDI for about a year and what it needs is not more power (torque or even HP). What it needs is less lag. You can't snap your passengers' heads back when the light turns green; but you can do it about 1.5 seconds AFTER the light turns green. Solving the lag issue usually means two sequential turbos (which I believe BMW already offers in the 330D.

I love the efficiency more than anything else, and secondarily I like the novelty of having a diesel (quite rare in the US), and I have to admit that if it did not get such good fuel mileage, I would complain a lot more about the turbo-lag.

StevethePilot

Could not agree more. Is this not a variable turbo? I thought the variable vanes allowed for variable turbo boost. If that's the case, then it should be no problem having the boost all ready to go from the light, should the driver choose to use.

Until such time as you get used to driving the beast, you find yourself ready to make a left turn and suddenly wondering if you'll make it aorund the corner before you get hit. It's quite disconcerting to push your foot to the floor and have nothing happen. The only way I've found around it is to ease to about half throttle first, which doesn't give you neck-snap off the light but does give you much quicker power. Nobody I've talked to can (convincingly) tell me they can eliminate the turbo-lag, but some have said they can reduce it in ways I believe.

STP

Fourdiesel

Variable turbo produces less lag, not zero lag. It is still necessary to get the engine speed up in order to get exhaust gas heat to get the energy to compress the incoming air and to get all that air moving. Diesels inherently increase RPMs at a slower rate than gassers simply because they have more rotating mass to get moving (the flywheel effect) and the turbo itself takes part of a second to 'spool up'. The variable vanes cause the turbo to 'kick in' at a lower rpm than without the variable feature. (the vanes cannot be 'left' in the low speed boost position because at higher power, severe over boost would occur, compressing much more air than required and probably breaking the turbo shaft). If the vanes were fixed and not variable, much greater exhaust volumes would be required to spin the turbo fast enough to compress suitable quantities of air.
End of short course in why turbo diesels drive differently than gassers.