Why is my W201 fun to drive?
 

We took the A4 back off the road for the winter and got out the 1988 190D 2.5 non-turbo automatic I bought my girlfriend as a winter car a year and a half ago.

Its a ragged little car, I picked it up for $600 from a friend of mine. Its rusty, semi-wrecked, and generally beat up. But its only got 151k on it and makes like a pound shy of factory compression. It was a dealer maintained car until it was involved in a minor wreck that "totaled" it but the owner got to keep the car and the clean title.

The car runs like an absolute champ, gets 30mpg+, and when all my girlfriends campus neighbors get their windows smashed, no one ever touches the 190D.

So my point,

I've been driving the car as she has my 300D out of town. WHY is this car so much fun to drive? Its a 93hp car, with stock suspension and I always have fun driving it. It feels easier to throw around and the short rear end in it makes it jump off the line, granted its out of steam at about 30mph.

My W124 has 400E brakes, sportline suspension, and like 60 more hp, its certainly faster, and it definitely will take corners at much higher speeds.

But the 190D consistently puts a huge smile on my face. Does anyone else have a 300D and a 190D?

Is it the shorter wheelbase? According to wikipedia the difference is 5.3 inches.

Silly thread, but I was thinking about how much I like this little pile on my ride home.

I own excellent condition 91 and 92 300Ds. Superior in every respect to the 83 240D manual I recently picked up. But I find myself wanting to drive the 240D. I'm sure part of it's the novelty...which will wear off. But somehow it's just....fun.

The wheelbase makes a HUGE difference in how a car feels-going from a single cab pickup to an extended cab (+18") it feels like I'm driving a semi with my 600 lane turn radius

The shorter wheelbase, lower stance and lighter chassis make the car more "tossable" in nature. This will make the high torque of the 190D's engine give it more push and response, whereas the heavier 300D will have more weight working against it.

I have more fun tossing my 190E 2.6 around than our new Subaru Forester. The W201 feels more "mechanical" in nature as well.

Balance and harmony.;)

I love a 240 stick too. I bet the 190 is similar but better.

I think even a 190D non turbo can blow the doors off of a 240D haha.

I am supposed to be getting a 240D soon, so we will see. Its down south, its a question of when my friend I am buying it from has time to go pick it up from his other house. If you look at my sig, I'm not in a rush to get it haha, too much inventory. But I am looking forward to experiencing a 240.

Unhooked the EGR on the 190 today, time to make some pulls on the butt-dyno lol.

Hey on the W124 the non-EGR OM602 supposedly was rated at 4 more HP. Thats like a 5% gain :eek:

i have both 240d manual and 190d 2.5 auto. the 190d is my daily driver, the 240d is my fun car. As far as speed, i feel they are pretty close. the manual really makes the difference. My girl friends 240d auto is scary to drive because it is so slow. thats why we got her a 300td (my new favorite to drive :).

as for my 190d 2.5, i traded it today for a beat to $#!+ '87 190d turbo. I'm super excited to say the least.

Reminds me of my old 220D.

You had to cane that car just to keep up with the slowest of traffic. It's a lot of fun to try to extract the max out of the car, something you just cannot do when a car has lots of power.

This is one reason I'm quite fond of my wife's 68 MGB. It feels like you are going 60 when you are at 45, lots of fun to run out the car without getting noticed by the cops.

Jim

And dont forget: with a 2.2l you always know if the engine is running. At 3500rpm, it sounds like a race car. I like pulling long hills with the pedal on the mat; thats throaty!

MY '84 190D is a blast to drive too. It is now the daily driver getting the biggest share of miles (about 86 miles round trip to work). I'm getting mostly 35 MPG combined and the 5speed, 72 hp diesel is just fun. Very tossable, light handling. Just for fun, I put the 15" 205 series tires/wheels off my daughters old '87 300D on the car and now it has more grip. May go back to the skinny 14" tires this summer though, just to see what I can get the fuel economy up to under best conditions.

I own both the w123 300td and the w201 2.5turbo. I prefer to drive the w201 as well.

If you can learn to modulate the turbo (i.e. anticipate traffic), it is faster than most cars out there (above 50 mph).

What's your rpm's at 70 mph?

around 3k I think. Maybe 2950. Speedo is not reliable and tires are slightly bigger than stock so I have about a 2.5% error factor there too. I have a 3.42 rear end in this thing.

I have a 190d 2.2 that I converted from a 190e 2.3, so I have a low rear end ratio (2.85) AND the auto box. :D 0-60 is about 19-20ish seconds....60 to 75 is another 25 seconds. It sounds great and will cruise all day on the highway at 75mph at 3000rpm. I have been getting about 31 city 35 highway as long as I don't rev to extremes.... Definatley a fun car. Fun to switch between it and the 420! Pretty sure the 420 can take off from a light faster while idling... :)

same reason go carts are...
agility.