That's what I was wondering. Ideally you'd have my drive - 65 miles each way. Happy diesel.

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- Brian


1989 500SEL Euro
1966 250SE Cabriolet
1958 BMW Isetta 600

Ideally, you would have my commute. I replaced my tires today after 10 months and over 40K miles. Within the last month I've been in MI, TX, and AZ, about 4-5000 miles total driving (mostly 500 to 1000 mile trips). That's what these cars were built for. You folks need a good bicycle.

Just out of curiosity, what is it exactly that you do that requires you to drive so much?? I am jealous! Most of my longer distance driving is leisure-based....school is only 5 miles away each way for me. I still rack up about 17-20k a year though.

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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)

I'm an engineering consultant in the nuclear power industry, so I spend a lot of time visiting power stations all over the country. I prefer driving to flying, so I drive quite a bit. Next month I'll be in MN for a few weeks.

That's not the big question, The big question is Where the heck do they live? If you live that close to anything industrial, or office related it must really be bad around there...

The office is about oh 3/4 of a mile down the street, with the stop lights and traffic it takes about 2 minutes. I never warm my cars up unless its really cold, if its 40 or over I just turn the key and go. But I do keep off the turbo until the oil has warmed up.

The 617 never protests, the 603 does. I do a lot of driving during the day, so I don't worry about the short trip.

The broker has used her SDL around town for well over 15 years and its still going strong. 200k+ around town short trip miles isn't enough to kill them it seems.

Thats the nice thing about 617's, the really don't mind short trips, never complain.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Why didn't you get an S class for this type of driving? Even the tightest and smoothest riding short wheelbase cars can't compete with the longer cars. The 123 is a good balance though.

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1976 BMW 2002- 100k
1995 BMW 325i 175k
1984 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbo Diesel- 270,000 mi

1981 Mercedes Benz 240D- Estimated 300,000+ mi Returned to the earth

I would think the short drive isn't too good for your car.

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I'm almost always alone and I'm just not a very big W126 fan, if anything the W123 is even a tad too large/soft for my taste. The W126 is a better highway car, but I just like the W123 better. Most of the highways I see are pretty smooth, anyway.

If I wasn't such a wimp I'd take my bike instead.

Was this post to brag about living so close to work or being such a lazy mofo?

My wagon needs a good 5-10 minutes to reach normal operating temps, if I had to constantly start it cold, drive for less than a minute and then turn it off for 4 hours, I would feel like an arse (for me and my diesel).

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-justin

1987 300TD, 1987 300TD
2008 R32, 2000 Passat Wagon

I have a short (10min) commute and I do a lot of city driving. One weekend I took my 300d to Tahoe which is a 4 hour drive. When I returned I noticed the hill that I used to drive at 25mph I can now drive at 35mph no problems. I didn't do anything to the car except drive it at 85mph for four hours straight. I would agree that short trips aren't good for the car, but great for a bicycle.

Nope Nik, right in the middle of suburbia. In fact the largest historic district in CT. Surrounded by 200-300 year old houses.

I put about 15 miles on the car during the course of the day, mostly stop & go and really don't have the time to walk home to get the car every time I need it. It's just the nature of my job and I have a heckuva time balancing my laptop, briefcase and thermos of coffee on my bike in the morning. Running around 10-12 hours a day loading up customers' and our own trucks is exercise enough during our busy periods. I'm lazy but that's outside from work and the activities that having 4 kids bring along with them.

I'm going to drive but I'd rather not cause any long-term harm to my TD if I don't have to. My other cars I could care less about since I only keep them for 3 or 4 years.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

It takes me that long just to get to the car

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the sooner you start... the sooner you'll get done If it ain't broke, don't fix it.. Its always simpler to tell the truth...
2007 Honda Accord EX
2007 Honda Accord SE V6
96 C220
97 Explorer - Found Another Home
2000 Honda Accord V6 - Found Another Home
85 300D - Found Another Home
84 300D - Found Another Home
80 300TD - Found Another Home
Previous cars:
96 Caravan
87 Camry
84 Cressida
82 Vanagon
80 Fiesta
78 Nova
Ford Cortina
Opel Kadet
68 Kombi
Contessa

Nope, this post was to find out ideally how long my car should be run per use so that I didn't cause any more harm than I need to. Perhaps the question wasn't specific enough.

I let my TD idle in the morning while I bring the dog out for his morning duties and I take a leisurely drive around the neighborhood in the morning to stretch it out another 5-10 minutes depending on how late I'm running. It's funny though, the other cars I only let idle for a minute or so and drive right to work and feel surprisingly arse-free.

I did the 30 mile each way commute thing before I was able to buy my house here and that got old real quick. I never saw it as a badge of honor either.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

These cars are pretty tough, I wouldn't worry about it. As long as you let it warm up at some point during the day, and change the oil more often because nothing will burn off it will be fine.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200