Doomsday car
 

Whenever I get the feeling things might be going south, I always tend to look for a 82 or 83 240d to run. Others might hoard water and food, not to mention ammo and guns but for me the comfort blanket is a 240d like the one I bought from Joe. Stick, crank windows.....I'd prefer no sunroof but I think it has one.

What is the real world based on experience MPG expectation on those things?

People report anywhere from 25-31. It all depends on how much city v. highway you drive and how much of a lead foot you have, I think.

For example, JB3 says he gets 25-27 MPG but drives with a lead foot; on the other end of the spectrum, there is a dude in VT with a five-speed who gets 34 MPG running at 50 MPH in 5th (most main roads in VT are one-lane-each-way & 50 MPH). I think the most that a light foot will get you is probably 31 MPG.

Our Corolla has been getting 38-40 MPG the whole summer :D.

Except for some sellers on C/L know it really gets 40mpg.

Oh, I guess your CL flippers have lead foots.. around here, it's 45, minimum :D.

There was a dude who was trying to sell a '60s Econoline pickup with an OM617... 72 MPG at 70 MPH, he said...

That 72mpg is easily achieved. Going down hill, down a long hill.

In my experience a good running 240 with a four speed will get around 20 in all town driving and under good conditions will top 30 highway if not driven too fast.

Very true, when I had a W115 240D I could squeeze 375 miles out of the tank every time. I miss that car, and when diesel was quite bit less than regular unleaded. I remember paying 16 dollars to fill the tank every two weeks, then again minimum wage was around 3.00 or so.