Anybody getting poor mileage now?
 

I have been checking the mpg on my 300SD and it has dropped from 26~27 mpg inthe summer and fall to around 20.5 now! The only difference is fuel. I am making the same commute, traffic is about the same, my speed is the same (70~75)

Has anybody else experienced this type of drop?

With the price of diesel 30 cents higher than gas, I might have to park my baby and go back to my other German car (1984 BMW 528e) It gets around 24mpg. Of course I would rather be in my big comfortable Benz as my commute is 2 hours each way!

same thing here mine has lost 3-4 mpg sigh

I don't go through a tank fast enough and do too much varied driving (from all stop and go to all highway and everything in between) to give you any solid numbers.

Did it seem to coincide with the ULSD?

Yep. That is when my mileage started dropping.

300d wins on mpg!
 

Yep, I'm glad I have a 300d, not the sd or sdl. I just tested my mileage, around town roughly 30 mpg :D . On the highway, I'll get 36, maybe 35 with a/c on. With a/c on in the blazing hot southern summer, I get 26 city.
jeff 1991 300d, 102k

Same here. I'm getting about 19-20 mpg. Doesn't the price per gallon of diesel go up in the winter? Spring is coming...

In reality both of our cars are 250DT's. That's what they're called in Europe. I think MB was banking on the reputation of the 300D name when they named it the 300D 2.5T in the US. Love the car though, as much power as a 123 300DT, and about 5-7 more MPG.

Yup, it's tied to the price of home heating oil.

I'm losing milage, and its starting to really piss me off.

I have been adding cetane boost and 2cycle oil to my fuel and have not seen this drop. I have also been doing a 1300 mi RT run every 2-3 weeks with it and consumption has not changed on this trip either. Does it maybe have something to do with the climate your in?

Its called winter diesel. They thin it so it doesn't gel up when it gets cold. It has a lower btu energy content than summer diesel.

ive noticed only a very small drop in the SD, nothing to get pissed about though, i plan on doing some wvo this summer and cutting it with diesel, just to save a few bucks and have some fun, also putting on a straight pipe and a boost controller and guage... cant wait for this summer/warm weather.

I average anywhere from 22-25mpg driving 65 mph about 50 miles round trip. I shoot the breeze with the truck drivers that deliver fuel to the store where I work and they say we never get blends with #1 here, its always straight #2. I sign the receipt for the fuel a lot of the time and I can verify that. In the dead of winter, it usually gets into the teens with a dip into single digits once or twice a winter so gelling isn't that big of a deal.

MPG goes down in the winter
 

I record every gal of fuel - with odometer reading. It can vary from tank to tank for obvious reasons, but I'm definitely at least 5 MPG down from Dec thru March for each of the last 5 years.

yeh, winter diesel is cut with kerosene which as someone said earlier has less BTUs than diesel.........but gels at a lower temperature than diesel.....

My MPG went from 20.x to about 24mpg when I knowingly switch from winter diesel to #2 diesel.