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Old 03-30-2007, 03:05 PM
DslBnz DslBnz is offline
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Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 2,220
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hatterasguy View Post
Diesel is up to $2.75, it went up a dime in my area. 93 is damn near $3.

I'll have to see what fuel does this summer, because if it stays over $3 a gallon that will affect my buying decision this fall when I get another car.

I'm cheap so I don't like to spend money on fuel. So if its below $3 a gallon, I can look at E55's , above then its E320/300D shopping.

Long as a car gets over 20mpg I'm happy, I don't want to drive a cheap tin can even if it gets 40mpg.
The E55's seem quite reasonable these days. But then again, you can buy yourself an E420/E430 for much less and still have a car that has a great deal of power, and returns mid 20's in everyday driving conditions.

Best compromise, IMHO for a 210. V8 power, near six cylinder economy, and cheap as a six to initially purchase.

Then again, the overdrive gear makes the car roll quite a bit downhills, and the transmission, being electrically controlled, seems to always try to "learn" your driving patterns. It just never "adapts" if your driving patterns are random.It will also take many seconds after hard acceleration to speed to get into top gear (about a 2 second delay between EACH upshift). The torque converter is not as slippery as the ones from the 722.3x. As a result, they tend to fish a bit if you commute through hilly terrain (much more so with the E320). I don't know about others, but I HATE fishing transmissions.

Forget about the E300s. Prices are still ridiculous. If I were the one purchasing a newer diesel, I'd splurge an extra 8 - 10K dollars to get an E320 CDI with similar miles but is 6 - 7 years newer.

BTW,
Diesel shot up 6 cents a gallon today at the Sunoco I bought from. It is now 2.699, and regular is 2.599. So, the same as mid-grade. But gas will be shooting up again to offset the difference. Especially this travel season (let it hit 'em where it hurts, I say). I'm still returning 26 - 28 mpg on average, so I can't complain.
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