On the surface this makes sense but you're not recirculating enough burnt gasses to make a difference and by the time the piston is at TDC on the compression cycle the gases are all at pretty much the same temperature anyway. Remember that the exhaust gases cool considerably in the intake and the cool air upstream of the turbo is heated as it is compressed, first by the turbo and then by the piston. It's the fact the exhaust gases are inert and effectively dilute the oxygen that slows combustion and hense temps. It's a relatively minor difference but it can make a big deal in NOx production. You can read more about this at this site::D

http://www.xse.com/leres/efidiag/egr.html

There may be some truth to what you're saying, I'm not an EGR expert. I do know I don't like it to any degree though, and would love to bypass it, especially if it clogs E300 intakes. Anyone else have their intake off?

I have had my intake off on my '96 E300 while changing my glow plugs. The intake was significantly clogged and it took alot of effort to clean. I was surprised at the amount of build-up. The mileage was at approx 70k. I may have some pictures that I could post later.