DSinger,

can you pls comment on the top gear ratios of the 86-88 300e vs those after 1988? When you say "fast", do you mean "quick?".

what i'm after is relaxed highway cruising, rather than acceleration. If the car is "quick", then in top gear the engine might be revving too high for my tastes at what should be relaxed highway speeds.

could you pls put it in terms of mph/1000rpm in top gear?

i guess i'm spoiled, because my 5spd 190e2.6 does 27.5mph/1000rpm in 5th. What i've been reading about is that the 300e does about 23mph/1000rpm in 4th, for the auto (i dunno which model year that is). And this is one of those things keeping me from considering the 300e.

(someone on this forum also said that the earlier 300Es had a more agressive cam profile. if this is so then it is also a factor)

thanks.