Who has driven or own both a 300D and 280E - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

lietuviai · #1 03-30-2006, 10:50 AM

I was just wondering what other members driving impressions compare of both cars. I looked and drove a relatively low mile 77 280E last night. I was not too impressed by the 280E I drove. It barely seemed more agile than my 85 turbo 300D. I was expecting a rocketship but it seemed to just barely have more power than my 300D. The 280E also felt heavy in the area of steering even more than the turbo diesel does. My 230CE with the four banger seems to be quicker. The car was in great shape and had a good service history.
It was a beautiful car but it just didn't win me over though.

sixto · #2 03-30-2006, 11:08 AM

I drove a 77 300D, 77 280E and 81 300TD within a few days of each other. The 280E didn't seem perkier than the TD. The 280E attacks hills better than the Diesels, though.

The Euro 280E is a very different beast.

Sixto

pawoSD · #3 03-30-2006, 12:48 PM

Was it an injected or carburated 280, that makes a huge difference too. My grandfather (who was a paint dept supervisor at MB in Stuttgart) had a 280SE in 1978 I believe, my dad got to drive it sometimes, and he said it was a MONSTER on the autobahn, easily topped 140-150mph, very quick. Also said at those speeds you could actually SEE the gas gauge falling.

My friend's mom had a 280te wagon until she killed it by blowing an oil line....had 177,000 on it at death, she fed the poor thing regular gas and such, but it still moved VERY quickly when she leadfooted it. Got about 12mpg

but hauled that wagon with 4 people in it to 110+ no problem (she did it once to show us) It died of rust and neglect, after she poured over $12,000 into it (5k to buy, 7k in repairs over 2 year span) She had no clue what she was doing. Now she drives a mazda protege5 hatchback and has no $$.

lietuviai · #4 03-30-2006, 01:32 PM

It's definately a fuelie. The car has somewhere around 67K miles. The odometer had recently stopped working. The seller had recent service records to back up the mileage. It's a one owner car.
The car was just gorgeous. The paint and body was in good shape and the interior was near perfect except for a couple of cracks in the dash. The A/C worked but the heater didn't, could be the mono valve but it didn't have the kind found in the diesel models. It didn't run perfect, took a little effort to start, even ran a little rough in the beginning, maybe the cat was restricted?
It idled well when it warmed up but it seemed about as loud as a diesel but w/o the clatter.
I was hoping these cars got around 20 mpg's but by what PawoSD said about getting 12 mpg's, I guess one of these is not for me. I like the 25+ mpgs I get with my 230CE.

pawoSD · #5 03-30-2006, 01:37 PM

When properly tuned and on premium gas and driven without a lead foot I'd imagine mid to upper teens maybe for a 280 with fuel injection. The carb'd ones drink fuel like a river from the tank.... The mileage Reealy falls when leadfooting it though....same goes for our minivan, I drove it for a week when doing my oil cooler lines/motor mount project last year, and I was always leadfooting, I got 13.4 mpg!!

JGB · #6 03-30-2006, 02:02 PM

Hello all,

I currently own a '77 280E, and agree with most of what has been pointed out already. Mine gets around 15-17 mpg and only gets fed premium. As for the noise, they are a bit louder than your standard gas engine. Mine has about 100K more on it than the one your looking at, wish I lived a bit closer, I would love to see it. As far as power goes, I think its in the 145 -150 hp area, with the euro engine being higher compression and 20 or so more hp. While not a rocket off the line it matches up pretty close to my accord, with the advantage of being able to cruise all day at 85 if needed.

the one your looking at sound like a nice ride.

DslBnz · #7 03-30-2006, 03:06 PM

I drove an M110 powered beast for one year. It was a European 1985 280SEL. Quick enough, once underway.

I averaged about 20 mpg in the summer, and maybe 15 in the winter.

The 280E US engine is seriously detuned to offer up barely even 130 hp at 5000'ish rpms. Not like mine was with 185 hp @ ~6000 rpm. The 300D turbodiesel is much quicker.

Perhaps the fact that the 280E US has something like a 3.69:1 differential, and skinny tires might contribute to the poor consumption.

lietuviai · #8 03-30-2006, 03:17 PM

I might agree that the 77 seemed detuned and hp figures in the 130's make sense.
BTW, skinny tires actually help fuel economy since there's less tire friction involved due to the narrower footprint. The only way I'd see skinny tires hurting fuel economy is they were loosing grip like burning rubber off the line.