This is even further off topic but did you ever see on TV when the dropped the world's largest rubber band ball out of an airplane? It bounced and exploded, that was extremly cool.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Forgive my English-Major retardation, but shouldn't it come into play that the car's acceleration is not a constant number? E.g., the '87 300D accelerates from 0-20 in 2 seconds. To pick up another 20 (from 20-40 mph), it takes 3 seconds. To pick up the next 20 (from 40-60), it takes over 4 seconds. As speed increases, acceleration decreases, and not at a constant rate. So I think there are too many variables to solve for velocity, because you don't know the acceleration rate without knowing the velocity, or the time it took you to get .5 miles. Maybe I'll regret opening my mouth on this one, as I might have said something revealingly stupid. I haven't taken physics since junior year in high school, so even though I'm decent with math and with engineering-type knowledge, I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about now.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Don't feel stupid. You are absolutely correct. The acceleration that I gave to Carrameow was an average number from 0-60. It is much higher than this number when the vehicle is in first gear and much lower than this number when the vehicle is in third gear. I used this number for the average acceleration across the entire 1/2 mile run, which is clearly wrong. The vehicle cannot accelerate at 6 ft/sec² from 60 mph to 120 mph.

It is all just a meaningless exercise for the prosecutor.

like the guy above said? A 1987, which has 165 hp, can barely do 12 sec. The 85 300SD has about 75% the horsepower, maybe 125, tops. Am i wrong in double thinking this? Isnt the 85 300D turbo 5 cylinder engine a 125 hp unit? I never did a dyno test.

Dave has some good data on the 603 powered W124. He can get it into the 10's on a very good day.

There is no possibility of 10.8 seconds for a 617 powered SD unless the vehicle has been modified with a shorter gear ratio or a heavily modified fuel pump and significant boost increase. The engine would need to put out over 150 hp to make this time.

His claim, however, was for 11.8 seconds. This also seems like a stretch for a 617. The time is more typical of a 603. However, I would not rule it completely out.

Some people run the test downhill, or with a wristwatch, or with the speedometer on the vehicle. All of it contributes to erroneous data.

The best my SD has ever done is about 13.8 seconds on flat ground with the pedal MASHED to the floor on takeoff, and held there like no tomorrow till I hit 60 (it was still in 3rd gear till I let off the pedal at 60) I'm betting with it being super cold out the times would improve a little, due to denser air/more power in the boost charge....I should check

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Whew. Looks like I got something out of high school physics afterall.

Carrameow, maybe you should take the prosecutors out to the street and show 'em what a 300D can and can't do.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

The only data I have is what was offered in the original brochures for my car. In the book on the 1987 300 series, it offers a graph of the acceleration from 0-55 for each model (55 was the nat speed limit at the time). 8.7 is the overall time it offers for the 603 in the w124 ... but I'm not sure under what conditions they did those tests.

I never really want to "test" my own car, because I have this awful fear that if I floor it, a wheel will fly off or something important will just break in half.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

what if, I mean what if you could pull your old MB aboard the Startrek Enterprise, get spock to hit one of those time space warps and see it in its glory, at its birth, brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it
I guess we have gotten away from the post a bit

Assuming everything is in order on your car, it would undoubtedly benefit from a few such runs, especially if you've been depriving it.

I recently stopwatched my SDL pre- and post-Alda adjustment and achieved 15.2s and 12.1s respectively.

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Chris

'04 ML500 - 53k, Inspiration Edition, Desert Silver
'11 Audi A4 Avant - Brilliant Black
'87 300SDL sold
'99 C280 Sport sold
'85 190E 2.3 sold

Wow, that's a heckuva drop. Maybe when spring rolls around and the tundra-esque conditions are cleared from the roads, I'll take the w124 for a couple runs through the streets of State College. Although I've been warned the cops there tend to keep an eagle-eye out for college kids driving Mercedes. (I'm not a college kid, but young enough for the profile).

Here's a question: when one tests acceleration, should you put a little weight over the back wheels, or keep it as light as possible? I know keeping some weight back there can improve traction, thus might improve accel. ... ?

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

I had nothing in the trunk but my laptop. Fuel tank was full.

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Chris

'04 ML500 - 53k, Inspiration Edition, Desert Silver
'11 Audi A4 Avant - Brilliant Black
'87 300SDL sold
'99 C280 Sport sold
'85 190E 2.3 sold

Thats pretty good for an English major!! It never ceases to amaze me how smart the people on this Forum are !
Thats why I kept on getting Ridculous answers like I would be doing 80 mph in a 1/4 mile's span from a dead stop..you cant use linear acceleration, because its 0 at dead stop and increases polynomially or exponentially, whatver, therefater with hiccups for gear shifts.As Brian said, to get that data, you have do a lot of analysis. But somewhere on line I can find a curve for a normal car and even use that......

A vehicle accelerates upon it's torque curve and differential/transmission gearing. It's hp isn't all that important. The way the torque is distributed, and the maximal engine speed to retain a smaller gear is.

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1987 300SDL (324000)

1986 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo) (166000)

1978 Porsche 924 (99000)

1996 Nissan Pathfinder R50 (201000)

Horsepower is a measure of torque and speed combined. While you are precisely correct that torque is what moves the vehicle, a vehicle with more horsepower can utilize proper gearing to put more torque to the road.

To state that horsepower is not important is not correct. If I have more horsepower, and I can select any combination of gears that I want, I will beat you every time, no matter what your torque is.