I was driving home yesterday and say a MB with Pennsylvania plates that had "e300" written on the left side of the trunk and the word "diesel" written on the right side. Has anyone else ever heard of one of these? I've seen a 2.5 diesel and a 350 diesel, but never this. Are they decent cars? Are the motors and build quality as good as the 123 models? What years did they sell them in the US? Any info would be appreciated.

Greg

E300 Diesels are very common over here in the UK.
There are more of these than there are E320s in the UK because diesel is a bit cheaper, and genrally people who drive Mercedes over here drive loads of miles per day.

Oliver

Gregs, I am in Queens and I saw the same car except I can't remember where, was it silver? This is definately a Euro import. When I was in Europe this was a very common model. It was highly praised over there for durability.

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yal
88 230E (W124)
euroheadlights,
clearcorners,
smoke/red tailights
98 e420 sport replicas

If you go to Portugal and I think Spain, they are the standard taxis!

Oliver

GregS that is funny that you saw one yesterday because I saw one too! This one was 96' year or better because of the "google eyes". I know a diesel was made in 96' but I had never seen the badging on a U.S. spec. one before. It said E300 on the left and diesel on the right. Well I guess it was U.S. spec. It may have been imported?

Hey Greg, you didn't see wrong. As you will see in my signature line, an E300 Diesel is my wife's daily ride. It's the E class chassis with a normally-aspirated 3.0 liter diesel.

Turbocharging was available in '97, and I think '98, then no more diesel.

It's quite a nice car, if you don't mind the less-than-spectacular acceleration common to most diesels. I have read that the '97 turbodiesels can make up to 200 hp with the right coaxing.

BCingU, Jim

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'96 E300D 60k mi (wife's daily ride)
'95 Audi 90 118k mi (for sale)
'92 GMC Suburban 138k mi
'85 300SD 231k mi (my daily ride)

E300 turbodiesel is also common here in the Vancouver area. with the prices of gas these days, any diesel engine will be in demand.

I thought there was a '98 and '99 E300 turbo diesel. I'm pretty sure the '99 was the last year.
engatwork

The USA market received the "E 300 Diesel" non-turbo configuration in -

a) the W124 chassis (model 124.131, engine 606.910, trans 722.4) and

b) the W210 chassis (model 210.020, engine 606.912, trans 722.4, followed by 722.6)


The turbocharged version in the W210 was given the sales designation "E 300 DT" (model 210.025, engine 606.962, trans 722.6).

What you saw was a 94 or 95 124 diesel. In the past they were called 300D. The 124 E class started with the letter in front of the number for 1994. So instead of being a 300D, it is an E300 Diesel.

Trivia: my car ins, co. considers my
'79 300D a 300 E Diesel.
go figure!

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1979 300D
133K miles
1989 300SE
1995 C280

Funny you guys should bring it up. I saw my first E300 Turbo Diesel this morning. I passed it like it was standing still on Highway 1 by the coast. I think I need to look into one of those. What kind of mileage do you guys think they get?

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Kyle De Priest
1986 300e
1972 BMW R75/5 (Best there is)

Our '96 E300 Diesel (non-turbo) gets 30 mpg with highway driving (70-80 mph) and 25+ in combined driving.

The old '85 gets about the same.

BCingU, Jim

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'96 E300D 60k mi (wife's daily ride)
'95 Audi 90 118k mi (for sale)
'92 GMC Suburban 138k mi
'85 300SD 231k mi (my daily ride)

My 97 E300D gets approx 27 mixed driving and 34 on the highway (approx 75mph). Strong car but a little slow w/o the turbo.

Try a K&N Air Filter - it raised my mileage from 25/32 and gave me a little more get up and go!!!

The E300 Diesel was introduced in 1995 with the old body style (124 I believe). It was the first diesel in a while to pass California emissions. In 1996 the E300 Diesel was brought back in the new body style (210). It continued through 1999 when it was dropped because of MB's restyling of the W210 chassis. In 1998 it received a turbo which added 40 more horsepower.

If you want to buy one, you will need to look hard.... I was looking for a 1999 in 1999 and had to settle for a low mileage 1997 because the car is not common - especially in CO (we only have 3 MB dealers)!!!