E320 Cdi

I see where the new direct injection diesels are going to be imported into the US next year. Are there any European posters who could tell me about the reliability of these new engines. I guess eventually the straight six CDI engine will be replaced with a V6.

This is why I'm interested.

http://www.benzworld.org/news/news.asp?id=198

[albert champion]

i don't know about the reliability, but they sure are fun to drive. i rented one in france last year and it was wonderful in the alps. the compression braking and the slap-shifter allowed it to outrun one of the new masers on a very narrow bit of high altitude twisties. most driving fun i have had in a long time.

Am on my 2nd E320 CDi and found them almost totally reliable.

Only fault in a total of about 60k Miles on the 2 cars were:-

Passenger seat detector for child seat went U/S.

Diesel engine is a lot cheaper to service but on advice I do change Oil & Filter at about 8k miles between indicated services.

Finest car's I have owned in 40+ years of motoring.

I get 40 MPG (UK Gallon) on run and 30 MPG Day to Day.

Performance is better than the E320 Petrol due to Torque being more than a V8 5.0.

The biggest problem is driving it within the speed limits.

We will have a V8 4.2 available to us next year. That will make it to US soon as well.

Do a SEARCH on my name (Mike Stone) and you will find a number of posts with more info.

Regards

Mike

Thanks guys! We've been looking for a new car that is worth $45K more than our low mileage 300E. I think we've found it.

My wife had a 190D for 18 years and we only sold it because we retired and went to one car. I would have no problem convincing her that the new MB diesel is the car for us.

I suspect these new diesels are not going to be as bulletproof as the old ones but they sure will be more fun to drive.

BTW, what oil does Mercedes recommend in England? Over here in the US, the gasoline cars get 0W-40 Mobil 1 with 15W-50 as an alternative. I live in Arizona and use 15W-50 in my 300E.

M/B recommend 15W/40 Grade for UK.

Mind you we don't get extreams of temperature over here.

Mike