thebishman

When I drove my brand new GLK back from the dealership, I returned 20.9 mpg at an average speed of 62 mph. This over 550 miles.

The GLK now has about 1700 miles on it, and driving to/from work, (about 12 miles), and not going over 70 mph, I can get about 20-21 mpg. This is with 70% highway and 30% town driving. I am extremely happy with the mileage of the GLK. It actually starts off in 2nd gear, (even in 'S' mode I believe) to enhance economy. I can easily get over 16 mpg in town driving, unless I am flogging the car.

I am eagerly awaiting word of the GLK diesel/hybrid variant as I would very probably buy it this autumn if available here in the USA.

As for the GL 320CDI: name me another 7 passenger, 6,000 lb SUV that can tow 7500 lbs easily, that gets 19 mpg in the city and up to 25-26 mpg on the highway, and this at speeds over 70 mph. There is none. It is a great vehicle in so many respects. I personally wish that the 420 CDI was available here in the US as in real world conditions, it might return the same if not even better mpg; (because the V6 has to work harder to move all of the mass).

Bish

scottybdiving

I hardly ever get to drive it, but my wife keeps a very accurate log of fuel and mileage. She gets 22-23 in everyday driving, 50% rural, 50% city. That is based on miles driven / fuel consumed. It has never been on a road trip to determine highway mileage.

webada

22-23 on the GL or GLK? Those are pretty impressive for 50% city driving.

One of my friend who owns a S550 notice the c-class fuel economy when he got it as a loaner, it doesn't do any better than his S. You gotta wonder what's going on in these 300/350 engines...

NYCGLK

22-23 on V6 diesel GL.

As far as S class v C, here is my theory. I used to drive V6 camry (3200lb) and and 4cyl Matrix (2900lb). With V6 I could push pedal briefly and I'm going 40 already, so no need to floor it all the way for too long.

Now when I drive matrix I find myself constanly flooring it for longer time, since it takes much longer to speed up.

All this can be seen in fuel economy. I used to get 21-23mpg on V6 camry in local (not really city) spirited driving. And I would get 23-25 in matrix. And EPA rating are much further apart than that.

scottybdiving

That makes 22-23 look pretty good in a 5400 lb, 7 passenger, 7500 lb towing, vehicle, eh?

NYCGLK

It is good for such a big car. If I drove it though, it would not be even 20mpg

I'd go for diesel instead of hybrid (esp. if you do lots of highway driving) if I wanted something gas efficient. They did comparison in UK and diesel 5 series was very close to prius in terms of mpg. Test drive was mostly highway tho.

But while 22-23 is good if you have to have such a huge car, diesel Jetta or prius double amount of mpg and cost half the price. Sorry you can't convinece me to get smaller diesel to be fuel efficien in 5400 lb, 7 passenger, 7500 lb towing, vehicle. I'd go for V8 diesel vs. V8 gas, but not V6 diesel vs. V8 gas. 5 extra mpg is not worth it.

scottybdiving

...........and that's why they make both. In my case, it replaced a Ford Excursion 7.3L Powerstroke and the GL 320 seemed like a huge step down in size. BTW, the Excursion had a 10,500 towing capacity, 8 passengers, and got 19 MPG on the highway. It was not the MB that brought us to a diesel. We were looking for a diesel and found a MB. If and when they bring a diesel GLK to the US, I will take a hard look at it. The 2.2L 4 cyl would be my preference, although I wouldn't rule out the 3.0 V6 either.

Leslielp

Here is the updated fuel #

2566.6 Km 414.16Litres of fuel 13.58L/100Km 20.96 MPG (Canadian) Estimated USA # 17.45MPG

Based on normal - moderate driving city/highway about 60/40% - I am sure as the weather gets warmer the foot will get heavier :-)

I keep detailed records for each fillup along with outside tempreature in celcius.

NYCGLK

should add driving cycle (city/local/highway) and style (spirited/normal/hypermiling)