Just checked my sources again... looks like ESP was optional on the E-Class line and then became standard in 2000.

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1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

No offense but you need a little more practice driving in the snow. E300D's are great in the snow. My friend and I drove around in his all last winter in some really bad conditions and never had a problem. He had 60% gone Conti's on it at the time. ESP helps a lot but just learning how to drive it and keeping off the turbo is the best.

He keeps the car up a Uconn in upstate CT, they get a heck of a lot of snow. He passed many a stuck SUV.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

had to take the 300td in the storm yesteday. not as easy as a 240 but manageable.
yer near clveland? i'll be right over to take that menace off your hands for the winter.

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currently
[1981 300 td tdidi 165500 dark brown/palamino-Brownie-mine-3k miles of ownership
1983 240d 162+++ Anthricite grey w/ henna red interior and hella lights-wifes car-Red

the above two cars are for sale
and can be seen on the cars for sale thread here. pix also available.


240d-144+ Manilla Yellow w/ palmino interior-greasecar kit-Blondie-the college kids car

23" gt 21 speed still on original tires-still got the nubs
21" khs tandem

What year is your friend's E300D and does it have ESP from what you know?

Just because a vehicle is an SUV doesn't mean it will always been good in snow... rear wheel drive SUVs can actually be worse than our rear wheel drive cars due to the large tires. I've seen too many of them stuck on snow around here.

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1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

98 E300D and it does have ESP, I think it has ASR as well.

ESP is nice when you shut it off you notice the difference.

We passed a Ford SUV with 4wd badges on it. The owner had taken a corner to fast thinking that since he had 4wd he can go as fast as he wants. The truck rolled over stop sign and became stuck in someones front yard. We passed him and laughed.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

But that renders what you posted before completely useless because your friend can get around due to the fact that he has both ASR and ESP. The Mercedes ESP system can't really be "shut off" and the switch that makes you think you're shutting it off doesn't actually do that. It disables the engine-torque-reduction capability and thus reduces the computers' intervention capabilities to about 20%. But even at that, when the system detects that it is needed, it will step in and reactivate the engine-torque-reduction control mechanisms and then once it feels that it is no longer needed, it goes back to the 80% mode. With all that in mind, an ESP equipped Mercedes-Benz vehicle never moves without ESP (unless the light is on and the system is malfunctioning or something).

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1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

May owners manual lists the ESP as an option.

Rich all I know is when you hit the ESP off switch the triangle in the center of the speedo lights up and you can do spins and doughnuts. With the ESP on the car fights you and making it spin is almost impossible. I mean flooring it and cranking the wheel hard over at 20mph in 4-5in of slick snow. The car just wouldn't spin, slide yes but spin no. With the ESP off the rear will come around nicely. You can still feel the the traction controls acting up a bit but it gives you a lot of leeway and doesn't really interfear.


ESP makes a big difference with normal driving in the snow; you can turn it off and drive with a light foot. But on hills having it on helps a ton.

Just a side note: with ESP "off" these cars will do some awsome spins, lots of power.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

As I stated before RWD is what I have primarily driven and I am used to driving them in snow. I drove my S-10 (with 1/2 worn all season tires) in the same conditions today and I could 'push' it faster through the snow and ice compared to the E300. When I drove the E300 this morning it was the most caustious driving I can ever remember in any winter condition. Most of the time I was below 30mph. And this was only 2.5 inches of snow

The best RWD car I had in snow was a 1979 Seville. Although it was not the best year of quality for an American car its intent was wonderful. To me it is kind of like the W123's of Cadillcac. It was my 'SNOW TANK' as it alwasy amazed me at how it could push through long and deep drifts. I miss that car.

Tell ya what...I'll trade you that overpowered POS E300D and you can HAVE my 240D...garuntee you'll have better traction and no worries about those nasty turbos!!!

I'll even throw in a set of steel wheels with agressive studded snow/light terrain tires...

I'm still relatively new to my W210 diesel. Can someone explain the difference between ASR and ESP and what they stand for? All I know is that they are traction related. I think my car has ESP as occasionally I get false warnings about it on the display.

Driver skill is definitely the #1 safety factor when it comes to driving on snow and ice. There are way too many 4WD SUV idiots who think their vehicles are invincible. I particularly dislike those who tailgate me on snow. I remember last year's Thanksgiving we had horrible ice on the roads. The whole city was literally an ice ring. I saw a few flipped over vehicles on the highway as I was cautiously passing by, and guess what, ALL of them were SUV's.

Another BS that I've come across recently is that most tires shops are unwilling to put snow tires just on the 2 front wheels (on a FWD vehicle), citing a new safety law that went into effect this year, even though that's what we've been doing on my wife's Honda for the past 10 years without any trouble. I suppose too many idiots have spun out when slamming the brakes with just 2 snow tires. Well you're not supposed to slam your brakes on the snow, period. I'm thinking to buy a pair of wheels with snow tires online for each of my vehicles (just for the rear wheels). I know 4 snows gives you better stopping power, but I really don't want to buy 8 tires and I've been driving with all plain M+S tires without too much trouble, so I'm sure 2 snow tires will be much better than none.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

Need trick with FWD I found...sit slightly skewed in an intersection with an outside front tire in the slushy stuff...then set the parking brake and just romp on it and throw snow/slush/dirt/sand/crap all of the car behind you which is tailgating...

Gets them to back off real fast...or you have to pull your 9 and increase the footprint of their tires

I agree that two snow tires on a RWD car are better than none, and not as good as four. However, putting just two snows on the front of a FWD car is a very bad idea. Either put on four or none.

I agree with this...unless you plan on driving in reverse the whole time, having less traction out back to STOP will not be a good thing...can you say sideways?

Well like I said I've been driving the FWD Honda with snows only on the front for the last 10 years and I never had a problem stopping on snow. Even if I applied enough brake pressure to active the ABS I didn't detect any sideway motion. Remember the front tires do most of the stopping on any car. I know 4 snow tires would be safer, but I just think the danger of driving with 2 snow tires on the front is overblown.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL