S450d, a very interesting car and its introduction gives me hope that mercedes benz is making a commitment to diesel technology.
My wife and I bought our 1984 300D turbo diesel 30 years ago (seems like yesterday).....the car carries a lot of memories.. nothing like hearing the sound of an OM617 engine in the morning!

Congratulations Mercedes Benz on the introduction of the S450d diesel auto bahn burner!

https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2024-mercedes-benz-s450d-driven


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV5kZwl0h5Y

Will it be available in US?

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Jim

I do not know. Back when the volkswagen dieselgate was going on, one of the lead mercedes sales people at the local dealership told me that there was a ship in route traveling from germany to the united states carrying a large number of mercedes diesel automobiles.

He said that when Mercedes Germany heard the EPA was hot on prosecuting Volkswagen over the dieselgate scandal, they immediately turned the ship around and brought ALL of their Mercedes diesel cars back to germany.

Apparently, mercedes has not imported any mercedes diesel cars into the united states since the EPA beat the living H outta volkswagen. so who knows if we will see the S450D here in the states.

One thing I have figured out is this; sometimes the germans keep their very BEST technologies for themselves. They do not share their BEST products with any other country. And really, can you blame them?

Especially with the trump tariffs knocking them down into the dirt.

"Driving the best S-Class we don’t get."

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

Everyone should be buying american made cars, SUVs and trucks......

The story you heard about Mercedes turning a ship around may not be officially documented, but it does align with what many believe happened quietly behind the scenes. After Dieselgate hit Volkswagen in 2015, regulators—especially the EPA and CARB—started scrutinizing all diesel imports much more harshly. That created a chilling effect on every German automaker, including Mercedes-Benz.

By 2017, Mercedes stopped offering diesel passenger vehicles in the U.S. altogether. They didn’t want to risk what happened to VW. The scrutiny wasn’t worth the niche sales in a market already leaning toward hybrids and gasoline SUVs.

So, yes—Mercedes pulled out of the U.S. diesel game after the VW scandal. Whether or not there was a literal U-turn of a ship mid-Atlantic, it’s true that U.S. buyers haven’t seen new diesel Mercedes models like the S450d in years.

What is hard for me to understand is the principal of garbage in garbage out. From my understanding, California has some very high quality, high cetane, clean burning diesel fuel available at the pumps.
Then, you have the veggie oil people running their vintage OM617 diesel engines on veggie oil......the car travels along smelling like french fries! Then there is biodiesel; there used to be a biodiesel producer in north carolina that created a manufacturing process to produce biodiesel that did not require lye.

It sure appears that diesel emissions/soot levels depends a lot on the fuel the diesel engine is burning.


I really like the OM617 and the OM606 diesel engines.....

https://www.kqed.org/quest/60342/biodiesel-power

it looks to me that interest in biodiesel production began to die out around 2012 for some reason.

from what I understand, it is better to run an OM617 engine on biodiesel rather than veggie oil.

Probably better for the IP.

Except you're not.....lol

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

Old news.... 1.5 yr old.

These won't be United States side new sales. Not that impressive in the looong time it took it to get to 247km. It struggled to reach it too. That does not outperform the 2005/6 E320 CDI's Top End of 161mph right out of the box.....

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

I see the new S450D as a commitment on the part of mercedes to continue with diesel technology. Being the fastest or not isn't of importance, the fact that they are continuing on is what matters.


Now, if they would simply bring back all the NLA parts for pre-1995 cars. I keep telling them at the stealership the MONEY is in selling parts!!

Because it destroyed all those diesel motors. The people who were buying the conversions were more "environmentally" savvy then they were mechanically inclined and knew how to proper care for them.

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

Huh ?? What "commitment??!"

When they're NOT even sold in the largest market in the WORLD !!

The United States of AMERICA!

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert