A Cartoday.com road test of a 1980 South African 240D gave this data:

Acceleration 0-60 22.9 seconds
Max speed 84.9 mph
FUEL ECONOMY @ 50 mph - 41.2 mpg
@ 60 mph - 32.9 mpg

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Diesel-guy

I must have been Driving 55mph with a tailwind most of the way to get 44.

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83 240D four bagger stick diesel 276K

Note that there is NO WAY you can get an accurate MPG number on such a short trip. You need to burn through an entire tank that was topped up completely, and then fill up compeltely again & crunch the numbers. There's way too high a margin of error on 2.5 gallons!

I fill up top the top every time, and run each tank down to the reserve light almost EVERY time. I keep track of it all in an Excel spreadsheet. Oh, using a GPS to verify the speedo accuracy, and mile markers (over 10+ miles) to verify odometer accuracy, helps a lot. I checked my odo over 100 miles on a long trip via the posted markers, and it was within 1% (one mile out of 100).

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Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

There are medications for this problem. ''

Must be an engineer!

M.

Busted. (What gave me away?)

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Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

An insane attention to minute detail. (takes one to know one )

M.

I topped up completely after both legs, further up in the neck than before the trip if anything, and the distance was right by the mile markers and by the odometer reading on every car my parents have driven on that exact route. Even if I was off somehow I got at the very least 40mpg, rollin' along at 55.

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83 240D four bagger stick diesel 276K

>>>I fill up top the top every time, and run each tank down to the reserve light almost EVERY time.


And you dont worry about running sediment and sludge through the fuel lines??

Nope. I hear that fairy tale a lot. If you run the tank out every time, and have a clean tank, there's never sediment or sludge to get pulled into the filters! My clear pre-filters stay squeaky clean for tens of thousands of miles, to the point where I wonder if I'm wasting money changing them at all. I decided I really should do the main canister (spin-on) filter every 30kmi like MB says, because it's also the water separator, and there is no drain. But sediment/sludge has been a non-issue in all of my cars, and I typically run them down to having 1.0-1.5 gallons left before I fill up (that meant 500-525 miles per tank on my 1987 300D!)

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Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

That is what RLeo was trying to do and had to coast into a supermarket and put Crisco Vegetable oil into his tank....

I usually get 22mpg highway (16 if I have I have a heavy foot) and 19mpg city.

I was using a speedometer/odometer from a different car, a 300D

That is great... so much better than it being an engine problem... so about what are you really getting for mileage ?

it needs another transmission, i cant downshift from 4th to 3rd, and sometimes the thing just binds up and I cant shift even though all the shift linkages are adjusted properly..

someone said that the synchro is gone...the transmission was never good when i bought the car used and it just gets worse and worse..

but I love the car, I even used it to move, I strapped a queen size bed and a sofa and a dresser on top of it..I keep the car in a high state of reliability--I just replaced the front shocks, upper control arms, shocks and ball joints

tank...has since I've owned it.