I'm so impressed I could pop!
 

I've just got to tell someone (or maybe a couple of thousand someones...)
I've got an '89 300E with 116k miles on it. I've had it for about a year and a half, most of my driving was in town with some short highway driving. Gas mileage was around 20mpg combined. Not too bad for a 6 I thought.
About 6 weeks ago I took a job that causes me to drive 108 miles round trip every day, most of my driving now on the freeway at 70mph on cruise control. I was thinking that my gasoline bill was gonna kill me (always using Premium at avg. $2.05/gallon) but two things are improving.
The cost of gas is going down (now paying $1.83/gal for premium) and my mileage is up to between 25 & 26 mpg! On one tank I actually got 26.4mpg. YES!
Sorry, don't mean to brag or make anyone else feel bad, just had to share my "economy car" story. :cool:

Hey Jay,
I was suprised and pleased several years ago when we got our 89 300E. We took it on a trip to Michigan and the car got 27 mpg through Ohio. This was with 4 people and a trunk full of luggage. I have pushed the car to 400 miles from one tank of fuel.

I guess this is merely stating the obvious, but I get the same gas mileage on my 204K 300E. Just gotta love these W124 M103 cars. Probably some of the finest ever built.
With the A/C off I get similar gas milage in my 400E.
F.J.

You guys are pretty lucky, in my 1990 300te 4-matic I average 16-17 mpg. And on the freeway 19-20mpg. I just had the valves redone, and noticed a increase in mpg, but I haven't had it out on the freeway yet to see what I can get out of it.

I don't want to stir up the "top end cleaner" debate again, but after using GM's top end cleaner and changing my Bosch copper plugs, then changing the oil, it added about 3-4 miles per to a gallon on my 197k 300E.

I now get 23 on avg, city/hwy mixed driving.

~Paul

I hate to brag, but on a trip from Minnesota through North Dakota to Montana at an average speed of 80 miles per hour, our 1994 E420 (V8) got 24 mpg! Gotta love that high gearing:)

I do lots of 400 km runs up and down our little country with wide expressways.

On average, I get about 400 km on 28 to 30 litres of fuel.

1:13.

despite its rectangular stance, the w124's have a low friction coefficiency; i think its rated at .39 - ill check the auto encyclopaedia for the actual figure and comparisons, but that partially accounts for its great gas mileage.

My friend told me that his 1996 E300D (diesel) can go from Los Angeles to San Francisco and back (900 miles ?) with one tank of fuel.

David

I keep a log book in all my cars. Every time I fill up, change oil, anything I enter it. Every fill up I calculate fuel mileage. My commute is 89 miles one way. 20 miles of winding, hilly farm to market road, 49 miles of wide, fast two lane road with a few stops, and 20 miles of wide, nice freeway. It is very rare indeed to see my mileage fall below 26 MPG for my commute.

There is something additional to some of the efficiency comments above, that I don't think most people would think about. I'm a stick shift driver. There are several places where I come to a stop sign at highway speed. I have my points where I simply put it in neutral and coast a ways before stopping for the sign. I have noticed that my MB's will coast MUCH further than my '88 stick shift Vette. If drivetrain and tire friction were the same on these cars, the Vette should coast further and faster. It has much less frontal area and decent aerodynamics. I believe that this is due to less drivetrain friction, imbalance and other mechanical losses from the poorly engineered GM POS. The MB's are a much better engineered and produced piece of machinery.

This is my opinion from my highly unscientific research.

Have a great day,

Larry, you might want to check your brake pad clearance on the vette. Sounds like one might be dragging. My '96 LT4 coasts very well. It coasts so well in fact that every time I get a beep on my escort detector I have to remember to hit the brakes with authority in order to get it to slow down. And, FWIW, it coasts a lot better than our '01 S430.:)

I've been real happy with the MPG on my 98 E320. I'm averaging 25-27mpg with mixed driving. A recent trip from Dallas to KC was 510 miles (7hrs). I used just over 3/4 tank. 32MPG. The slight tail wind might of helped ;)
The car has 85k. And to think I was going to buy a diesel.
Jim