1997 C230 Fuel Economy...

[Michael K]

So I've always thought the C230 had decent fuel economy. The Consumer Reports Auto Issue came out today. On page 31 they list cars to purchase if "overall" fuel economy is import to you.

What surprised me is that the 1997 C230 has equal or better economy than the Honda Accord Hybrid (25 mpg), Toyota Matrix (26), Acura RSX (26), and Honda Civic (26) and has darn close economy compared to Mazda 3 (27), Toyota Celica (28) and Toyota Corolla (29). I think, though, that most of these run on regaular unleaded, rather than the high test, expensive stuff the Mercedes requires.

I drive the piss out of the C230, mostly in urban and suburban conditions with maybe 20% highway. Today, on Winter blend fuel, I put in 15.17 gallons to cover 395 miles. That's 26 miles per gallon. On Summer blend it's slightly better. On a pure highway, cruise set on 70, trip I once went almost 600 miles on just over 15 gallons. That's almost 40 mpg. (Keep in mind about this figure that, with the high final drive ratio, anything over about 70 really cuts into efficiency).

Not the smoothest bugger out there, but relatively powerful and DARN efficient!