China, my 1980 240D usually gets 27-30, with about 31 being the best ever. This is mostly city. Seems to actually do a bit worse on the hwy......:confused:
This is real mileage, tank after tank after tank......

I've used my 240D consistently now for two years. If I graph out the weekly mpg based on fuel I discover:

winter use goes to about 27 mpg
summer use goes to about 34 mpg

The car is driven following these rules:

It needs about 5 minutes for warm up especially in winter.

To work at 5:45 almost exclusively freeway driving in a 48 mile stretch at 60 mph; home about 6:00 pm same way in the right lane. I'm the slow guy in the right lane.

If they give me the finger as they pass, I just lean the shotgun out the window :eek::D

This is my time to relax on mostly abandoned freeways.

I decided on these rules after I bought a 240D from a guy who destroyed the engine driving 85 mph between Detroit and Cleveland. The engine was 4 quarts low on oil, which was oil for gas cars to begine with :(

That should be a crime too. But I digress.

I used biodiesel one summer for four tanks full, and got lower mpg- about 27 which probably adds credence to the statement that biodiesel does contain less energy potential.

This is my story and I'm sticking to it.:D

I just bought a 220D that needs a vacuum pump. Following repair, I'm going to try it out as a daily driver. If anyone has a 220D vacuum pump they want to sell, pls PM me.

Thanks,
S

Diesels shine in stop and go driving mpg........then hold their own on the hwy. No mystery at all.:rolleyes:

My "240D" averages 27mpg but I've seen as high as 35mph on purely highway driving if I stay at 55mph.

I'm jazzed that my (new to me) 190D 2.2 stick is getting 36MPG. Driving my 300CE the past eight years has made me forgot how awfully slow these diesels are. And, I'd forgotten how sticky and sweaty MB Tex is. Seat covers coming soon, but loving driving a manual Mercedes again.

To All,

I used to drive my 1981 "brother of the heart's 240D stick 4DR" a lot when I was running errands/making deliveries for the plantation in SC & frequently got 34-35MPG on pump diesel.

Truthfully, MOST of the time I drove it on de-watered/filtered French-fry grease that I got free & mixed 1/2 & 1/2 with ag diesel. = That makes for REALLY CHEAP driving.
(That little 4-banger was still running fine with over 400K in 2016, when the body finally rusted out. = The motor is now "thumping along" in a homebrewed sawmill.)

yours, satx

1978 240D 4-speed manual, non-AC, US model. Hwy 34.5 mpg

Actual 240D Fuel Economy
 

Eric , are you still driving this car ? .

Back when I bought this car, 1982 240D Slushbox, it rarely got less than 27 MPG and easily got 30 ~ 32 on my long distance freeway jaunts, always fully loaded for those, drive to Nevada and back, AC on full, tootling along in the slow lane at 60 MPH .

A few times I got 34 MPG's coming back and once 36, I was well pleased .

In the last year or so it's dropped to 21 ~ 25/6 MPG and at nearly $5 / gallon I surely wish it was 27 ~ 30 .

I use to have a euro model 240D, manual trans, this was a plane jane with rollup windows, no ac or cruise. I would get 33~34mpg average all the time with it.

When I had my manual transmission 240D, careful highway driving at 60 mph or so could see 29 or 30 mpg. Once I got 32 mpg, but the very next fillup, after driving same route at same speed in similar weather, only calculated out to 28mpg. Led me to strongly suspect the attendant had short filled me on the previous tank which gave a high mileage. Just another downside to our progressive Oregon law.

1981 240D manual, 22 city with my kid driving a whopping 4 miles a day to school and back, about 27-28 highway when I take it somewhere. AC on most of the time.

I've tracked my 1979 240D over 7000+ miles since I bought it. In the winter it gets 18-20 mpg; in the summer, 20-22 mpg. A mix of about 75% stop-and-go driving and and 25% freeways at 70-80 mph.

Years ago there were posters that could not get more than 25mpg no matter how they drove. One poster Had even purchased his 240d new and claimed it had always been that way.

At the same time many got 30mpg or a little better. I never established the reason for this differential.

I do suspect that the poor quality of the diesel fuel sold in north America does cost about 5 miles per gallon. Compared to the diesel sold in Europe. At the same time our fuel is a lot cheaper than theirs.

Your mileage will be better if you only drive downhill.

I got 23/33 with mine but I drove it like it was on its deathbed. I never pushed it hard which is probably the most unhealthy way to treat those engines.