I would love to know what the different class designation letters mean. For example, why would a gas vehicle and a diesel vehicle both be "E" class cars. What does the "E", "M", "S", etc. stand for? I thought "S" was sedan, and "E" was fuel injection, but in class designation it must mean something different.

The letter designations differ for where they appear in sequence, and are not always the same. Also the letter are abbreviations for German words. The E in E class means Executive (for Executive Class) The S in S class means Supra, or supreme or something. The E in SEL is an abbriviation for fuel injections and the L in SEL is for long (long wheelbase). The K in SLK was for kompressor, but now there are SLKs without superchargers and they just kept the name. I don't know what the C in C Class or CLK stand for. The SL stands for sports light (but in German of course) even though they really aren't that light a car. T either designates a station wagon or a turbo. D usually diesel. M must be German for something just like the G wagons Galendan (sorry for spelling) means off road in German. Since 93 (I think) they have dropped the EL from the SELs and now the trunk badge doesn't designate a vehichle lenght. Also they have had fuel injection for so long that maybe they thought it was redundant to put it on the badge. That's all I know. Anybody please feel free to correct me if I am wrong or add some insight if you have it.

__________________
Jason Priest
1999 E430
1995 E420 - retired
1986 420SEL - retired

Some older "E" designations meant "Einspritzen" or fuel injected, while lack of the "E" meant carburetor.

Our 96 is an E class 300 Diesel (W210 chassis), while the late, great 85 was a 300 S class Diesel (W126 chassis)

Then, there is the 500E and the E500... Super cars, different years. Letters used to follow numbers, now they lead. This really doesn't make a lot of sense, does it!

Try a search as this subject has also been covered before.

BCingU, Jim

Now I am really confused. I can understand why a 300 SD is an "S" class, but what makes a 300 CD, 300 D, 300 TD all "E" class?

I think before they changed the model designations, the letters were designators for vehicle options.

I think the S in SEL was for Sedan, E for Fuel injection, and L for long wheelbase.

The E in the 190E/300E was for fuel injection and did not designate the vehicle class itself.

In 1994 I believe is when they changed it to actually designate Vehicle Model.

C for The Small Benz, E for the mid size, S for the large size.

When they start getting into SLK, SL, CL, CLK, etc its to differentiate models. and thats why the designation was changed.

People instantly know what size a 3 series, 5 series, or 7 seires BMW is. Before mercedes changed its model designations, it was not easy to determine.

Alon

__________________
'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

I'm going out further on a limb here, guess like crazy and give you MY understanding! The real truth is out there somewhere...

'Way back when, numbers like 170, 180, 190, 200, 220, etc. were models. All gasoline cars had carburetors, so there is nothing else worth putting on the trunk. Hmm, well, a diesel is different, so it is logical to add a D. Ja, und higher performance of any kind is special, so we add an "S"

Then comes fuel injection, E for Einspritzen. Most engines used carburetors, but injection was cool, high performance and different so we add an E. 220SE means special with fuel injection!

As fuel injection became common and carburetors disappeared, the E was also in danger of losing a job. Aha! Let's make it, and the S, separate classes and use numbers for models.

Ja, but our model numbers are beginning to correspond, only roughly, to displacement. Will that be a problem?

Of course not! Nobody will have trouble with 190E, 260E and 300E models with the same engine displacement!. No worries if a 300D has a 2.5 or 3.0 litre engine, mit 5 or 6 zylinders. If T means station wagon, it can also mean turbocharged diesel! Ve either have sold too few station wagons or we ordered too many Ts.

380SE, 400E, 420SEL, 500E and 560E start to make sense, and correspond better to engine displacement.

OK, everyone comfortable? Gut! Lets make some more changes.

E, S, SL, SLK, CLK and M solidify as classes, but we must reverse the order so class is first and the number is engine displacement and everyone will know this is the newer MB model. E320, E430, S320, ML320, etc. are born.


Please flame me gently if I've gotten it too far wrong.

"You can always tell a German, but you can't tell him much"


BCingU, Jim

Jim, that is brilliant! I am still laughing! Ashman, so when Cars.com calls an early eighties 300 TD an "E" class, they are making a mistake? Perhaps they are just trying to give the early Mercedes even more "class"! Cars.com is what prompted my question in the first place.

Well It hink when they do that its because that car as far as car size and where it was in the mercedes model lineup would be the equivalent to the e-class.

I would think they do this to provide people with familiarity as to the vehicle size.

Most people recognize S Class as being the big benz, the E-class as the mid size, and the C class as the baby benz. so to have cars.com use E-class in reference to an older mid size mercedes, is to provide people with familiarity I think.

I may be wrong here, but that is how I see it. I have seen places refer to a 190E as an E-class, when in actual fact it is more along the lines of a C Class as far as vehicle size.

Everyone has no problem with the SL designation whether its an older SL or a newer one because everyone sees them as an SL.

I think more people are confised when they see an 94-95 E320 in coupe, convertible, and 4 door versions witht he same model badge, with no variation to designate the different cars.

My car is a 300CE, you could tell it was a coupe vs a sedan because of the C in it, so from behind you could instantly tell my car was a coupe and not a sedan. but on the 94-95 if you saw two same color and all sedan next to coupe with the e320 badges, you would not know they were different until you saw the sides of the cars.

Now they have different classes for each type of car, an E class coupe is a CLK. an S Class coupe is a CL. and so on. this is just to make it easier for people to see a car driving and see the numbers and know its a coupe or convertible or sedan.

S500 is a sedan, we all know that. CL 500 is a coupe, we all know that. There will be no mistaking a CL for an S and vice versa.

I originally thought when they changed it that they were out of their minds, and now I wonder why it wasn't like it is now way back then.

Alon

__________________
'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

This thread got me intereztedt in finding out vhat elze dere vas on der zubjecht in der forums archives. (enough Katzenjammer Kidz Deutsch?)

There is a 14 post thread (search under "designations") that has a lot of additional information, and even includes a link to a website that breaks down the mercedes models.

Unfortunately, that website, http://fly.hiwaay.net/~gbf/mbmodels.html, does not help to demiztify der letter dezignation.

As far as the "T" designation for the station wagen, I always thought it was for "transporter".

__________________

Scott Longston
Northern California Wine Country...
"Turbos whistle, grapes wine..."

Several years ago I had time to kill at an airport so I went to the book store. I recall reading a book about Mercedes Benz car history and at that time (before M class)Mercedes had three classifications of cars: S - Super class, E - Executive class, and C - Compact class. According to the book the C class is Mercedes economy class, the E class is Mercedes mid class, and the S class is Mercedes high end class of cars.

Hope this helps.

__________________
Ray
1998 Mercedes E320, 200K Miles
2001 Acura 3.2TL, 178K Miles
1992 Chevy Astro, 205K Miles

SLK, CLK etc might mean Coupe, or convertible. Kabriolet in German means Convertible. However K also means Kompressor. Oh well I guess this sytem is better than determining what IS means or IL, or ES. In refrence to BMW and Lexus.

__________________
"Damn the torpedos, four bells full speed ahead"
-Admiral Farragut




-1987 300E Smoke Silver
-1997 S320 Black on Black
-Soon To be E55 AMG
-27 foot Grady White Offshore Sportfish.

SLK, CLK etc might mean Coupe, or convertible. Kabriolet in German means Convertible. However K also means Kompressor. Oh well I guess this system is better than determining what IS means or IL, or ES. In reference to BMW and Lexus.

__________________
"Damn the torpedos, four bells full speed ahead"
-Admiral Farragut




-1987 300E Smoke Silver
-1997 S320 Black on Black
-Soon To be E55 AMG
-27 foot Grady White Offshore Sportfish.

Actually the K with SLK and CLK is not for Kompressor nor Kabriolet, but "Kompact"(any one speaks German here??).

As for all the designations, the name change happens in late 1993, which have C, E, S...etc in the front of the numbers(displacement of the engine), rather than have letters after numbers.

Here is the general definition for designations...

C - C-Class(1993+)
E - E-Class(1993+)
S - S-Class(1993+)
TE - E-Class Wagon with Gasoline engine(pre-1993 only)
TD - E-Class Wagon with Desiel(pre-1993 only)
CE - E-Class Coupe and Convertable(pre-1993)

There are even sub-designation which usually doesn't show on brochures, but with the invoice and/or stickers(those stick on the windows when the new car is in show room).

One example would be S320 and S320L. Notice the "L" at the end of S320, which it's all shown as S320 in brochures, but S320 is a SWB(Short-Wheel-Base), and S320L is a LWB(Long-Wheel-Base).

Another example would be ML320...though all shown as ML320 in brochures, looking at invoice(or sticker), a ML320 can be either ML320, or ML320E(with Elegance package)...

Hope it clears up some questions...

Andy Kuo

__________________
1992 Mercedes-Benz 400SE
http://members.shaw.ca/AKRY/W140_Side.gif

2002 Acura TL Type S
http://members.shaw.ca/AKRY/type_s_side.gif

The "K" in SLK and CLK is NOT derived from nor stands for "Kompact" or "Kompressor"; it comes from the German word "Kurz", meaning "short". Daimler-Benz employed this designation to differentiate short wheel base vehicles from their standard wheel base siblings (i.e., SL vs. SLK; CL vs. CLK).

The SLK, initially offered Stateside with only the "Kompressor" engine, has always been available in Europe with a choice of normally aspirated or "Kompressor" engines. Again, the "K" referred to the wheel base, not the engine.

[Edited by jgl1 on 12-30-2000 at 12:42 AM]

jgl1,

Thnx, that's what I was looking for!!!

Andy Kuo

__________________
1992 Mercedes-Benz 400SE
http://members.shaw.ca/AKRY/W140_Side.gif

2002 Acura TL Type S
http://members.shaw.ca/AKRY/type_s_side.gif