"SE" Designation
 

Could someone tell me exactly what the "SE" designation represents? For example how would a 300SE differ from a 33E?
Tks in advance,
Chris

What is confusing is that the same letter can mean different things in different Mercedes models.

For instance the SE in your example is the short wheelbase fuel injected chassis, whereas an SEL is longer wheelbase model, but SL is for the super/sport light chassis.

It's meant different things over the years - and doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot today. They're just names for cars - S class, E class, C class. E was originally tacked on for fuel injection - einspritzun - or something like that. In other words a 280S was carburated while a 280SE was fuel injected. And then with an extended wheel base it became a 280SEL, for long. It's kind of a hodgepodge of stuff over the years.

Even the 300 is misleading. The 92-93 300SE has a 3.2 liter engine.

The only thing you can be sure of is D :)

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

The German word is Einspritzung. Some made sense, but only from a German model perspective. For an example the 124 gas wagons are TE. In Germany there were T's but without the E.

In 1994 Mercedes started their attempt to clear up the confusion, thus for an example an E320 (E body, 3.2 litre engine). But, now I just saw a 2005 C240, so that should be a C body with a 2.4 litre engine ..... but no, it is a 2.6 litre engine! Hmmm. Or a C230 Kompressor that has a 1.8 litre engine....

But the new E class and S class seem to follow the regular logic once again regarding engine litres ....

Haasman

S always ment Superlative , the best MB.

John

The W124 followed the designation quite well.

In Germany and MOST world markets there were 124s without the "E" because they were carburatted models: such as the 200. After the 124 facelift, all models were fitted with fuel injection, hence all designations had an E after the three digit (engine displacement ID) number.

Wagons had a "T" for touring/tourism, coupes sported a "C" and diesel models had a "D".

The S class sedans sported S, SE, SEL, SD and SDL lettering and SL basically means S-Class Light. The coupes obviously were SEC.

Newer models have a K for Kompressor, CDI for Direct Injection Diesel, and all the new ID lettering for class sorting, such as ML, G, C, E, S...

SL is not derived from "S-Class Light" at least not at its inception.

I've noticed some models with the E designation that are actually diesel.

Actually, way back in the late 50's to early 70's the S meant super. SE meant Super Einspritz (sp?). Cars like the 220S had carbs and the 220SE fuel injection. Then came the 230S, 250S, 280S, all with carbs. There were also 220SE, 250SE and 280SE as well as 300SEL, 280SEL which were the long chassis versions of the regular cars.

The designations change with body style too, such as the 50's 300S and 300SC for example, and the 220b which has dual single downdraft carbs.

Kinda confusing.

Then there were the V-8's, with 3.5, 4.5, 6.3 and 6.9 tacked on the end.

But never a D when it means gasser.

Yes. Prefix E is E-class. There are E-class Diesels.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

Yes, you are right. I made a slight mistake. Checked on my books and original German catalog of the SL from the 1970's and according to official M.B. literature on the SL:

"S" stands for "Sport"
"L" stands for "Leicht" (Light)

Model Designations
 

Nitske, in his book, states that S & L can mean different things in different models...S in SL means Sport and L means Light.....In the S series the S stood for Super and the L stood for Lang(long wheel base)...Sixto gave me the book....Jim

A D is not always a d
 

A "D" does not always stand for diesel. Some cars in the 50's and 60's used the "d" designation to indicate that they were of a like class but a slightly different body style in the evolution of that model. For instance a 190D in a car made in the 80's or 90's means that it's a diesel. But a 1950's 190d means that there have been 3 different versions of that model. :confused:

If you REALLY want to get confused try finding out what the i stands for in a 750iL BMW! :eek: