84 300SD
109Kmiles
26 mpg

as of last fall.

can't wait to get it running again.....

No argument. We should be using liters, just like the rest of the world. American cars use lots of metric parts nowadays, just about everything except the numbers on the speedo. We need to take the plunge and leave the English measurements in the dust like Canada did.

Your 40 mpg is four times better than a 10 mpg SUV. And 1.6 times better than a 25 MPG MB Diesel. It's all ratios.

That's great to hear! I finally picked up a Mercedes and am already looking for another one. The "Mercedes Bug" has bitten me hard. LOL!

Thanks for all the input...I appreciate it.

'87 300D,

Just did a tank at 23mpg (drove it 80-90mph for 200 miles)

Generally I get 25-27. Hoping it'll improve a little when I repair whatever makes it misfire at low rpm. It's city MPG seems to be garbage.

The worst I ever got out of my 83 300SD was 19 mpg, driving it like I stole it. Long road trips 25 ish, with people and luggage. Best ever, 27. 85's do better, due to taller gearing.

I'm impressed to see the high numbers on OM602 powered 124's. Should save plenty of money to pay for a new head gasket every few hundred thousand miles.

LOL!!!

1986 W124 300D Euro model. This car has the NA 3L i6 paired to the 4 speed auto.

I've gotten close to 40MPG on long trips with no traffic and doing a steady 70 - 75MPH on fairly flat surfaces.

I also do a LOT of city driving in and around NYC. I've never seen my mileage dip below 27, and this includes winter time.

I recently started recording my mileage on www.fuelly.com and over the last 4 fill-ups I've averaged 30.4MPG.

You can check out my averages and statistics here:

http://www.fuelly.com/driver/s38junkie/300d

Hows the '603 with no turbo?

My '87 190D 2.5 Turbo would regularly return 34-36mpg higway. One trip I babied it at 55-60 on 2-lane highways, averaged 42.5mpg round trip. Great little cars. This one was in excellent tune.

In '87 300Ds I'm usually hard-pressed to break into the 30s, needs to be straight highway to get above 28-29mpg but I haven't yet had one that didn't leak a little at the DVs nor one that had recent injectors or pump work, recent timing chain, etc. All were with over 250,000 miles and needing a tune. Current '87 TD(T) hasn't really had any trials, gets pretty good mileage on a trailer. With 225 rubber it won't be a mileage king, nor with the extra weight and drag of the wagon body. I'm hoping for 29-30 at 73mph when it's finished and running perfectly. Timing, injectors, and IP imperfections will affect the mileage as will brakes and tires.

My E320s on the other hand, same body, same gearing, return 25-27mpg highway, on premium gasoline (same price as diesel here) ahd have an extra 90hp.

Well, with 109HP it's not exactly what you would call "quick" but at highway speeds the power / gearing is quite respectable and about the same as my friend's perfect running W124 300D 2.5 turbo. And there's definitely no problem passing at those speeds, even up hills. Overall, it's a very relaxing drive with almost no detectable diesel clatter once fully warm. I've had more than a few surprised passengers when I tell them the car they're riding in is a diesel.

Interesting comparison you make to your gasser. My 1997 BMW M3 slushbox (yes, they made "M" cars with automatics, if that's what you want to call it) will return 30MPG on highway trips and offers 240HP (premium fuel is a must). That said, it's not hard to dip into the high to mid-teens doing all city driving, whereas my diesel refuses to give anything less than 27MPG.

It seems like the ideal set-up would be to use your gasser for highway trips and your diesel cars for city driving, where diesel engines are more forgiving with stop-and-go driving.

Cool, thanks for your answer. I don't want to go too far off topic for the sake of the OP haha. I may PM you later.

I went exactly 600 miles on my 95 E300 the first tank after acquiring it and put in exactly 20 gallons. That's 30 MPG. Needless to say, I was impressed!
The car has LOTS of power for a non turbo (kinda like a gasser), and is very economical. The other 5 cyl's have gotten from 22-25 average every time I have checked. It cracks me up every time I see an ad on CL for a 617 powered car "gets 30 mpg". That is what the gal told me that I got the E300 from, and now I believe her. 30 MPG on a 617 turbo car? I think not...

oh yes, I forgot about the 190 2.2 It gets between 30-36 every time I have checked. This car should not be measured by miles per gallon, it should be measured by miles per gallon per hour! (if that makes any sense). What I mean to say is, it takes hours to get up to speed to get MPG!. I have always said: "it may not be very fast, but it sure is slow!"