I wish I'd held on to my first '76 240D. I am not pulling legs when I say it regularly got 42-45mpg - I used to write down the mileage and gallons every time I'd buy gas and kept a log book for a long time, and the odometer counted miles accurately too. Every MB diesel I've had since then gets less than 30 I think, though I'm not as anal about keeping track as I used to be.

There's a certain satisfaction that comes from driving a 61x diesel regardless though. The V-8's are fun now and again but are massively overkill for everyday driving. And I can tell you that 12mpg's as I get in my 1974 450SE regardless of driving style is quite depressing!