After almost 2K miles of local area sea trials, I felt confident enough in my workmanship and health of the 560 to venture out to Las Vegas. Round trip was a shade over 700 miles, including a little cruising on the Strip.

What a highway cruiser the 560 is. We lit out of town on Friday afternoon. Would have preferred to leave early in the day, but the munchkins had school. By the time we left, traffic was building and the real idiots were out. Needless to say, on the way up I didn't get to use the freshly repaired cruise control, except for the first 30 miles . A/C works great, I mean really great, I like it cold, but it got too cold for me and I had to warm up the dial a bit.

Engine ran strong and smooth, pulled all of the killer grades with ease. Anyone who has driven to LV knows how demanding the Cajon pass and the two long grades east of Baker can be. Only required a little extra foot on the pedal to maintain speed, and never had to kick down to passing gear while climbing.

Not being able to use the CC, coupled with the heavy traffic and variable speeds (thanks to the idiots who like to change into your lane - then stomp the brakes) I only got about 15.5 MPG. Have no idea what to call an average speed for the run up, but had the A/C blasting the whole way.

While in LV we had the time to do a little cruise on the Strip. Wifey rode in the back on one leg of the cruise and pronounced the ride "smooth". Replacing the accumulators took care of the "harsh" ride that had been proclaimed just a week ago.

We ended up staying an extra day. OK, so it cost me a little extra cash at the tables , but the easy drive back more than made up for it.

On the trip home I set the cruise at 80MPH and left it there all the way home. Climbing the steep grades with the cruise on was sweet. The speed never dropped from where it was set, even during the steepest climb. I did notice on a couple of the downgrades that the CC surged just a little, but only a couple times while trying to keep the speed down to 80. The surge was almost imperceptable.

On the couple of times I had to disengage the CC, I found when reengaging the CC, you better have the speed close. A couple times I was more the 10 MPH below the set speed, and upon hitting resume, the car launched and immediately settled down at 80. I guess the Germans don't like to waste any time.

The best part of the trip was hitting the filling station near the house. The gauge had dropped just a shade past 1/2 a tank, I had driven about 290 miles on a tad over 14 gallons for a n amazing 20.24 MPG @ 80 with A/C. I'll wait for a couple more long drives to see if this was a fluke, or if it will be the norm.

The car used no oil, ATF, suspension fluid or coolant. The engine temp only went to about 82*C on one long grade, thest of the 700+ miles the gauge was locked on 80*C (enough so that I thought there might be something wrong with the gauge).

The only tools I took with me were - one set of open end/box combos 10-19mm, a pair of pliers, channels locks, vise grips and small needle nose plus one flat tip and one Phillips head screw driver. Also one set of jumper cables just in case, and never had to use any of them .

Nothing like the sense of adventure that comes with taking a trek across the desert a junkyard car. I can safely say that I now have a second Benz I would not hesitate to drive ANYWHERE.

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.