Why are the new diesels called E300D? Doesn't the E refer to the gasoline, and the D to diesel. Or have I confused things?

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In 1995, MB decided to change the naming nomenclature of their cars. So, the "E" went from previously meaning fuel injected gasoline engine equipped mid-classed MBs ex: 260E, 300E, to "E-class" including the E320 gasser, E500, and the diesel E300D.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

This confuses me as well.

I don't believe the "e" in "300e" designates a mid-classed vehicle. Use the "190e" as an example. This does not designate a mid-class. The "e" is a "fuel injected" vehicle AFAIK.

You would need some additional info, not available on the model designation, to know that the "300e" is a W124 and a "190e" is a W201.

To add to the confusion, in 1987 MB labelled the W124 line as the 300 class, even though there was a 260E in the mix...

Until 1994 "E" indicated fuel injection, that's the year MB rationalized it's class strategy C-E-S by switching the class letter to the front and introducing the C Class (W202) to replace the 190. Since that time they've been pretty consistent.

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81 300SD
08 MDX Tech
93 525i

05 F650GS

I've just done some research. The "xxxE" designation wasn't used until the introduction of the W123 in 1976. So, it's safe to say that the "xxxE" designation is used to identify all non "s-class", non wagon, non sportster fuel injected gasser MBs, namely the fuel injected W123 sedans, all gasser W201s, and all gasser W124 sedans until the nomenclature change in 1995.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

Yes the letter before the number indicates the class. Any letters after the number indicates engine information.

C = Compact
E = Executive
S = Spensive

I guess everyone was deciphering their code so they had to change it.

Have a great day,

So what is a 230TE? what is a 280TE? both are w123 wagons produced from 79 to 85.... Plus the w126 and w126C had a "E" and the R107's which were all injected gassers did not have a "E". Pre 85 non "S" seemed to mean just that- non "S" as in todays terms. There was no "C" class. It evolved into "C", "E" and "S" class. "D" seems to always mean diesel. "E" sometime post 87 could mean a class or a engine designation.

I said nothing about the "xxxTE" designation, only the "xxxE" designation. Read my post again, it's clearly stated right there. In the future, please read throughly before you come through quoting and bolding text.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

In the w123 non USA world the non injected gassers were called "XXX-X" no "E". for example the 250C or the 200. Gassers without an "E". Got research for this? The "T" in a TE stated touring, the "S" stated bigger, the "C" stated coupe- the "E" stood for injected. What is clear is that it's not clear and you have not done enough research to clear it up. "E" is universal in these years to mean gas injected, regardless of the preceding T or S or C. After the W123 it's muddy. Besides there were only two w123's called "xxxE"- the 230E and the 280E.

Listen, you're just making this harder than it is. GO BACK AND READ. I've already explained it fully and throughly. You keep bringing MB gassers with carburetors and other models I SPECIFICALLY did not mention into the equation, I know I made it clear that I was referring to fuel injection equipped W123 SEDANS, all W201s, and pre-1995 W124 SEDANS, no wagons, no coupes. I'm not responding to you any more. If you didn't get it the first few times, well, that's just tough.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

Easy answer, SL's are special.

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Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

Wasnt "E" Fuel INjected on most W123 Series that came here legally? if there wasnt an "E" I fiugred it was a "grey market" car

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91 350SD
14 F150 Eco
19 Fusion Hybrid
11 GT500

Well now that we are all completely clear on this my bet is that there will be no more discussion or posts on this gin clear subject.

Actually, this topic has been covered a number of times before.

The "E" stood for "Einspritzung" which is German for "injection" meaning fuel injection vs. the use of carburetors, which was the base model equipment for gasoline powered vehicles. It applied to all fuel injected engine equipped cars except the sport models, the SL series. It is not used on Diesels because they are all fuel injected. Diesels are designated by the "D" after the displacement numbers and the chassis designator in the old models, just like the "E" designation was back then.

In the MB line up for quite some time there was an "S" class which was a different body from the "non-S class" car. The "S" stood for "Sonder" which translates into "Special" loosely, but " 'Spensive" was pretty close too. So your choices for the sedans was an "S" and "not an S" class. If the S class was fuel injected it was called an "SE" to let everyone know you had the latest technology in your 'spensive car.

In general the nomenclature model was to distinguish those things that were different in terms of the chassis or the engine, or the transmission from the base model car with letters. In the '60's an automatic transmission got you a chome "automatic" designator on the trunklid. Like you get today with "4-Matic" for the all wheel drive designator.

"SL" was "Sportlich, Leicht" or "sporty, light" meaning a lighter weight, higher performance, two door. "SL" models generally came with the higher performing engine as standard, so they did not need to have an "E" to identify they had the higher performing engine.

The "T" is the designator for station wagon model. The "D" is the Diesel. The numbers used to be the engine displacement until the 190 series came out, which was given the designation "190" to reflect the engine displacement of the base model. Other engine sizes were so noted on the other corner of the trunk. This trend continued with the W124 body when smaller engines were offered to avoid confusion over which chassis you had. A 300E 2.6 turned out to be a W124 with the same 2.6 liter, 6 cylinder that the 190E 2.6 had in it.

While it made sense to those who grew up with it, it apparently did not make sense to some marketing guy with an MBA. So, since all the W124 models were equipped with fuel injection in the US, the W124 became the "E" class. I like Larry's "Executive" designator, but am not sure the marketing guy came up with that. I would credit Larry with that.

The numbers are much more loosely tied to engine displacement now, but generally follow the logic of 500E or now E500 was mid size, not "S" Class car, with a 5 liter engine. There are now "SLK" and "CLK" and so on designations, and AMG engine displacement distinguishing numbers (E55 vs. E550, for example).

The base models apparently were all gasoline engine equipped models and therefore the engine designator "D" for Diesels. Pretty soon all Diesels will be turbocharged, if not already, and the "TurboDiesel" or "Turbo" will fall away as it no longer designates a unique engine feature.

Jim

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Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)