Ever since the mid-1990s, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class has been an especially handsome car. The W210 from the late 1990s employed the usual three box design, but with its broad shoulder line and clean sheetmetal, it sure is a looker, especially in AMG guise with deep-dish five-spoke AMG Monoblock IIs. Much like it was the W211 E-Class, yet with a more curvaceous body and sleeker profile. Far more elegant than the W210, the W211 is a design that will go recognized for years to come. It’s just so well put together that even—dare I say—the Italians couldn’t have done any better. Although a little more conservative when compared to the BMW 5-Series, it remained loyal to Mercedes’ design roots. The same can’t exactly be said however for the W212.
At first glance, yes, the new E-Class does seem rather elegant and there’s no denying it. Mercedes-Benz has always maintained that on their resume under quality attributes, of course without the brash and rankness, and of course the astronomical pricing of a Bentley or Rolls. On top of being elegant it also maintains the typical German Teutonic look, with its high rolling shoulder line, side panel creases, and that bulge at the rear wheel well. But this has probably got to be the ugly bastard child of in the family of redesigned Mercedes-Benzes, most specifically the W221 S-Class, W216 CL, and the W204 C-Class.
The front is where the car looks best as the inherited cues from the S-Class, such as the high rolling shoulder line, roofline, and sloping C-Pillar; and the C-Class with the hood following the shoulder line and stopping at the bottom of the A-Pillar. And of course the front is complimented with the usual large chrome grill, a hood ornament, and four-eyed headlights which are traditional to the E-Class as of the late 1990s E-Class, to be speaking in modern terms. All looks proper from the front and through the passenger compartment, but from there it goes completely all wrong. It’s almost as if Lexus, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz all had a threesome and Mercedes was the one to end up with the STD of complete and utter blandness in the rear. Those taillights look like something off of a cheap wannabe luxomobile. The idea behind the E-Class and C-Class was that they were always supposed to look like the big daddy S-Class, except in smaller proportions and while the new W204 C-Class maintains that, it just doesn’t with the E. And what’s with those foglights on the lower front fascia…It’s like the designer came up with a group of unique fixtures to the car—the foglights being the most important to him/her/them—and ran out of places to put them, so impulsively he just plopped them in the place where they should be by generic design tradition. And then the wheels just look way too small for the car, especially with the way the body is shaped.
The interior on the other hand doesn't look as bad as the exterior does. Control layout and ergonomics are once again traditional Mercedes Benz, and the center stack remains to be as vertical as the Berlin Wall. But it some how manages to come across as something from Vauxhall, control layout, and center storage bins and cupholders included. The gauge cluster keeps up with Mercedes' large speedometer with a large—but smaller in comparison to the speedo—clock to the left, and a tachometer to the right with the fuel and temperature gauges at the sides respectively; all back lit in a cool blue and embedded into what looks to be machined aluminum trim. It all looks inspiring with great visibility of the clusters. The steering wheel on the other hand is uglier than a troll, but the AMG Sport Packaged sport steering wheel looks like something from their arch rivals at BMW with a beefy rim, and shaped grips at the 10 and 2 positions. I of course reserve complete judgment until I see the car in the flesh but just by photos, I can say this is the ugliest E-Class since well, forever. It will probably grow on me in the same way controversial styles such as the BMW 7-Series have. But until then, no props to the Three-Pointed Star.
Growing up, I’ve always had a love for cars of all sorts and kinds—for example my all-time favorite back in the day was a 1999 GMC Suburban, thanks to the Hollywood action flick Volcano, don’t ask. But of course, I’ve always had a special spot in my heart for those Germans, more specifically das volks from Stuttgart, Mercedes-Benz. So naturally, you can guess at which automobiles I was looking for my first car.
For just about everyone, the one of the biggest and most memorable moments in one’s life is their first car; unless you care so little about cars that you’ve managed some way to avoid suicide from being verbally and physically harassed by your classmates from riding your childhood bicycle with tassels all of your life.
After months of searching and test driving numerous old Mercedes’, mostly W126 420SEL or 560SELs—or the S-Class from the late 1980s for you nomenclature followers— and several BMWs, Infinitis, Lexuses, I stumbled upon this one-owner, very mint condition 1994, black-on-black W124 E320 Coupe’s with only 76k miles on it. So after having it inspected by a specialized Benz mechie, we (being my mother and I) pulled the trigger.
Just to give you some history, the Mercedes E-Class has been the bread and butter model ever since the wedged three-box W114 from the 1960s. As the years progressed to present day with the current W211 (2003-2009) and the 2010 W212 E-Class on the way, the story remains the same. But of course, the E320 Coupe has aged quite a bit since it rolled off its home turf in Sindelfingen, Stuttgart, Germany: fifteen years and four months to be precise. Let’s not forget though that the company to always be the leader in automobile inventions and innovation is Mercedes-Benz, holding the record amount of patents in all of automotive history; so many of which are safety patents that it makes Volvo look like a poser. The W124 in particular was a car that was way ahead of its time, something those Germans tend to do quite often. It was the first car to offer a passenger side front-airbag worldwide, as an example, and has plenty of pedigree following it. But altogether, how do those fifteen years of use stack up to the Teutonic Spartan once built to a “cost-no-object” engineering ideology of durability, build quality, reliability and longevity?
Staring at the slightly road-rashed and swirled paint from the many well-maintained miles and countless brushless car washes it’s been through and to, the body and paint have held up pretty well. Employing a typical three-box design, the E320 Coupe looks much like its sister sedan, only better. While the sedan looks fairly edgy and stodgy at several angles (Porsche-tuned 500E aside with the flared wheel arches), there’s no angle at which the Coupe looks miles better as its proportions are complemented by the sleeker profile of two-less doors. While the Coupe may look aged next to your current BMW 6er or Mercedes CLK with its two-tone under cladding, it’s still a car that’s elegant and classy in its presence as it ages gracefully in the era of the Bangle-butt. Designed to be aerodynamic—being the car to have the lowest drag coefficient of 0.28 for any vehicle at the time—there’s not one bit of the car that faults form following function. The taillights and front corner indicators are rippled to keep dirt and debris build-up from inhibiting their luminescence. Headlight wipers were standard to perform the same function. The passenger side rear-view is squared for better short-distance visibility where as the driver-side is rectangular for better long-distance visibility (coming from a country where you will be penalized for not staying right unless passing).
With a 106.9 in. wheelbase, an overall length of 183.9 in. (both about four inches shorter than the sedan), an overhall height of 54.9 in. (2 inches off of the sedan), and a curb weight of 3525 lbs, it’s size and proportions are just about bang on with the late E46 BMW 3er Coupe (1999-2006), though about 100 lbs heavier.
A quick tug and swing to the driver side door and the long, hefty coupe door glides open; step inside to a properly broken-in yet mint condition leather seat and you’re immediately surrounded by an interior that came from that aforementioned “cost-no-object” solidity with burl walnut wood trim; real I might add versus the faux wood trim that plagues many automobiles of comparable mediocrity. Big leather-wrapped four-spoke steering wheel in front, boxy center console, dash and gauge cluster behind and to the sides. Everything has the solidity and sure-footedness of a brick house, with a solid tank-like thunk following the closing of the door.Besides less-than stellar climate and radio control ergonomics, the same form-following-function design continues on the inside as the interior was designed entirely for driver orientation and for nothing other than the sole practice of driving: the lack of cup holders, driving position, and exterior visibility are several examples of that. There are even dividers between the seats and the center console which keep pocketed items from getting caught, in the most untouchable spots inside a vehicle; just evidence that the engineers in Stuttgart thought about nearly everything. The plastics and materials are all high-grade, and are as high-quality and durable as the car’s original sticker price of $66k suggests. All buttons have a tactile and firm feel so that it was all built to last and withstand daily use. Everything just screams quality, quality, quality, more so than the average infomercial announcer trying to get you to pay that $19.99 for that kitchen appliance that’ll find its way into the basement, labeled “junk.”
However, even though this was a $66k luxury car, don’t expect to find options like radar-guided cruise control, suspension adjustment, navigation, even a trip computer (though a very rare option in Europe only). Single-zone automatic climate control is standard along with an exterior temperature gauge, and optional heated front seats, all uncommon in mainstream automobiles at the time…but that’s basically it. This particular Coupe back in the day was optioned with the Bose premium sound system, which paired up with the standard Becker 1492 head unit sounds crystal clear with no distortion and proper balance of highs, mids and lows.
Passenger compartment space is plentiful for two people, but just adequate for four people as the back seat has no middle hump, which is instead replaced by a center console and storage box by Mercedes Coupe tradition. Proper move though since the car is not very space efficient in interior design. Adults would have no trouble going for some medium trips to the in-laws for the holidays, as long as the front occupants are no taller than six feet. But of course in the 1990s, you were either a freak of nature or an NBA player if you were taller than the latter. Trunk capacity is a reasonable 14.4 sq. ft., a little more than a square foot shorter than the current E-Class.
The therapeutic leather seats are very supportive with lots of lumbar support, though thigh support could be a shade better. Comfort is no issue with these seats as this car is designed for long-distance travelling on the Autobahn. Rear seats are equally as comfortable but with the better thigh support needed up front. Why didn’t they just swap the seats or just give the front an equal treatment? Regardless, although they may not offer the same sporty support as the La-Z-Boys offered in BMWs, they still are plenty adequate without sacrificing any long distance comfort.
Inserting the skeleton-like laser-cut key into the tumbler, and firing up the car only brings a slight shutter to the car as the engine warms up at a high idle just above 1k RPM. I could’ve sworn I started the darn thing…but before tumbling the key once more, a quick glance at the tachometer to see the car was running relaxed my emotions. Even at its current mileage of 117k miles, the car is still as refined as its Germanic build quality suggests (oh how I would’ve loved to have driven and owned this car brand new). The 3.2-Liter, 3,199cc, 195 cu. in. displacement dual overhead camshaft Inline-6 with four valves per cylinder, dubbed M104.992, settles down to quiet, operating temperature 600 RPM idle. Step outside and all you hear is a slight hiss from the fuel pump and the whoosh of the vacuum produced from the primary viscous fan cooling the engine.
Putting the at-the-time normal, four-speed automatic into drive, and mashing the pedal, the 3.2L six produced 217bhp at 5,500 RPM and about 229 lb-ft of torque at 3,750. From a standstill, the second iteration of the world’s first traction control system (optional on all but the 500E, where it was standard) avoids wheel spin as you ride a wave of torque all the way to the engine’s top speed of 6400 RPM. With a stopwatch in hand and a fellow mate riding shotgun, naught-to-60 was clocked in at a very respectable 8.29 seconds, just a hundredth of a second off of the official factory time of 8.3 seconds. Though with that flat torque curve, it feels far faster than its numbers suggest. A true testimony to the precision engineering that has paid off by keeping the car still very fresh in its operation.
Overtaking is nothing but a breeze with all that torque available so quickly. Gear changes are sports car-like quick, and smooth. Programmed with electronic overdrive so it could reach the highest gear possible as soon as possible for fuel economy and winter start purposes, just either give the pedal ¾ for a next-gear downshift, mash the pedal and hit the kick-down switch for the lowest possible downshift, and be ready to feel the pull and see the horizon catapult towards you. You can even manage the gears yourself by pulling down the shift gate to “3” or “2” but be sure to observe your speed as the speedometer is specifically labeled with each gears’ top speed so as to avoid over revving the engine. Make no mistake, while you won’t have a chance in winning stoplight drags with the latest and greatest AMG models, the E320 is a very powerful car. Be careful because you can easily find yourself doing speeds screaming immediate jailtime. "Wow 110 MPH? I could've sworn we were doing only 80, officer!"
The ratios are set just about perfectly as all four gears take full advantage of the engine’s power band. Although obsolete with only four gears, back in the day this setup and combination is just about as perfect as H2 and O because of how versatile it is in nearly every situation; even today its combination is very hard to flummox. Power delivery is never interrupted from a downshift or upshift, all the way to the car’s limited top speed of 134 MPH. An extra gear would have been nicer but 5-speeds were still in the development stage for the most part. And response via throttle input can be a little dimwitted, but of no major concern if you know how to position the pedal and/or use the shift gate.
Handling is just as equally as impressive. With a modified MacPherson strut up front with coils springs separate from the shock absorbers and a fully independent five-way multilink rear suspension (only employed by Ferrari and professional race cars at the time) from the earlier developed W201 190E, father to the current C-Class, the suspension was very ahead of its time as many mainstream automobiles haven’t utilized these suspension designs until the late 1990s and even still don’t utilize such designs entirely.
With a near-50/50 weight distribution, 53/47 front and rear to be exact, and the modern suspension setup handling is very balanced and neutral with understeer and oversteer both kept in check, making for very confident turn-in with the rear following nicely. Only if you purposely plow the car heavily into a corner will you result in understeer (but that’s basically the story with anything on wheels). Otherwise the car is pretty nimble for its cumbersome weight. Settle down on the highway and the car trucks down straight and true like a bat out of hell.
The recirculating ball type steering, although on the slower side with 3.0 turns lock-to-lock, is accurate and adequate for point and shoot steering. It’s very well weighted, has linear and natural progression as well as plenty of feedback. Although the steering may not offer the same amount of road feel as a BMW or Honda tiller, enthusiasts won’t be upset having this car as a daily duty.
Ride quality is superb with the Mercedes-traditional firm-yet-compliant tuning. Bumps are absorbed very well but without the wallowing of say, a barge from Cadillac. A well-tuned stiff chassis, long suspension travel and low spring rates allow for mid-corner composure perfection. Hit any bump or imperfection of any nature while corner carving and it’ll be absorbed instantaneously without upsetting the chassis. In any case of driving you can always feel and read every move the car makes, every grab and slip all four tires make. There's so much driver feedback that you'd think that BMW or Porsche got their hands on the design. The only gripe that should be mentioned here is a considerable amount of body roll at which to make you and your passengers and their contents upset if you decide to quicken the pace. Otherwise handling is poised, predictable, balanced and neutral all while making long-distance cruises a breeze. A fabulous blend of the best of both worlds.
It’s very difficult to express how nearly perfect the W124 is because it does nearly everything perfectly. It handles well, rides great, has plenty of power, is well built, reliable. Although it could use one more gear, thicker anti-roll bars, it’s hard to find a fault in a car engineered by the guys who were the best in the business. Even over fifteen years later, the car is still as fresh as its engineers intended it to be. It’s no wonder that the W124 is the benchmark and has been critically acclaimed to be the best modern mid-sized luxury sedan ever produced.
I have to say, one of the most annoying feelings to be had next to failing to make a move on that wonderful woman you met at the local pub, is going to the gas station, knowing that your car averages a not-so-spectacular 23 miles per gallon, sometimes less, and that you have to shell out about $50 to fill‘er up with premium, almost once a week or every two weeks. That’s when some random person comes forward to me with the solution...and they point with a nice big grin and an “I told you so” expression…and belittle my standard premium petrol consumerism by saying: Get a hybrid! Only in that person’s attempt to turn my frown upside down does nothing but completely and utterly fail. Is it because I don’t like hybrids…yes but with good reason and I’ll show you why.
This was the story of my life in the summer of 2008, when gas prices hovered well over the $4 mark. While gas is cheaper however, it does not rid of the still existent fear of higher gas prices and the struggle to find automobiles with the best fuel economy is one of the top three pursuits in the developed world next to fighting off obesity. If you thought it was worth waiting a year or so and paying a very large dealer premium for that Toyota Prius hybrid, you are very wrong.
As the future dawns on us, we are confronted by ridiculous gas prices with predictions suggesting prices will once again jump up from their year 2000-esque prices. Rather you like it or not, this is a prevailing issue that will be with us for years to come. So…what cars should interest you in the realm of saving money, time, and even the planet? I’ll tell you downright straight up, hybrids are far from being the answer. Ethanol 85? That's like putting your money on the Expos when they verse the Yankees. How about hydrogen fuel cells? Too early to tell because it’s extremely complicated and expensive and will take years to be standardized, tested and proven. That leaves us with gasoline and diesel…well, we all know we’re trying to avoid gasoline cars since they don’t produce the best fuel economy…so, that all being said let’s talk about diesels.
So why diesels? Or for starters, why haven’t we been using diesel passenger cars? Because for many many years, people in countries outside the states have been indulging in the beneficial fuel economy from diesel passenger cars. Two thirds of the world's automobile sales in fact, has the viscous, smelly stuff standardized as the fuel and engine for choice. While us Americans wallowed around in our gas-sucking SUVs, these diesel-passenger-car motorists have been consuming on average 30% less than comparable gasoline-powered automobiles. And the reason why we didn’t get the handful of diesels offered everywhere in the world was due to the poor quality of diesel that was available in this country, which was too poorly refined to run in the newly developed engines. We live on a continent where our gasoline is very high in sulfur content, and the poor quality diesel is why we have this vision and perspective of diesels and a big black plume of smoke. You rarely see this in Europe or elsewhere in the world.
Since these newly developed and technologically advanced diesels operate quietly and extremely efficiently by injecting fuel in the cylinders at a very high pressure through tiny injectors with electronic precision, the sulfur in our fuel doesn’t react very nicely with the tiny fuel injectors because it clogs them. This isn’t an issue elsewhere because this sulfur doesn’t exist at such high amounts or is filtered out.
However, after 2006, we no longer have to worry about high-sulfur content in our diesel as new regulations require that ultra-low sulfur fuel be sold to the public. So that makes it possible for the foreign diesel passenger cars to start coming. In addition, that makes the diesels cleaner.
But let's also reflect on how the Big Three (Chrysler Group, General Motors, and Ford) had all destroyed America’s perspective of diesels back in the 1970s with their attempts to make diesel vehicles. They’re the ones who gave us all the idea of diesels and big black plumes of soot and smoke because their cars were awful to begin with next to their European counterparts (Anyone who lived to see the 1980s Oldsmobile and Cadillac diesel V8s would know what I'm on about).
Quite specifically, they just took a standard 350 small block Oldsmobile V8, took many cost-cutting steps in redesigning it by using the standard gasoline 350 as a template, and called it a day. This is like shoving a .50 caliber bullet into a .38 special and thinking it would work. Since diesels produce more pressure than a standard gasoline engine due to compression combustion (further described later), the engine block, crankcase, and head all have to be reinforced to be able to withstand the greater pressure and power that diesel engines produced. As a result, many people saw premature failure to many major engine components, leading to the smokey, black exhaust, and even to complete engine failure. But getting back on track...
You may also notice that diesel is very expensive stateside. But this all comes down to the economic level as well. A very large portion of America’s economy is dependent on the Big Three’s progress so the government would never allow them to become bankrupt for that reason, so they raise the price of diesel to deter interest. And it’s common knowledge that the Americans have been by far the most inferior with car technology in general and with their ideologies since the mid-1970s, which is very widely circulated and has been proven in history, brand loyalists aside (which is an interesting perspective since the General holds the second highest amount of patents in automotive history, next to Mercedes-Benz, who's first). If we were to allow more of these superior foreign diesels into this country, that would detract customers from buying domestic automobiles thus saturating the country with foreign automobiles, and giving the foreign manufacturers majority of our business (like this isn’t already happening), resulting in no business for the Big Three. Not to mention the Big Three have been producing less-than-stellar mainstream automobiles for the last three and a half decades, but that's an argument for another time.
Now, you may be thinking, aren’t diesels slow? Well, if this was 1975, in the midst of the oil crisis and one of the only diesels you could get was a W123 Mercedes-Benz 240D, which had a 0-60 time of, well, the time it took planet Earth to form, then yes. But not in this day and age. A couple of examples are as follows: a current generation Audi A8 4.2 TDI with a 4.2-liter V8 turbodiesel will get you from 0-60 in six seconds flat, while returning up to 35 MPG on average. Sure it’s not as fast as the 4.2-liter gasoline V8 but that penalty is very well rewarded with marginally better fuel economy than the normal V8 would ever manage; another is the current BMW E60 335d with a 3.0-liter straight-six twin-turbocharged diesel (an engine with very high praise), a car that can too do 0-60 in a shade under 6 seconds and can manage up to 45 MPG! Ok so maybe most can’t afford an A8. In the UK, you can get a Ford Mondeo 2.2 TDCi with a turbocharged straight-four diesel which will return on average of 46.3 MPG while getting from 0-60 in 7.9 seconds, and in a world where anything that has a 0-60 time of less than eight seconds is considered fast, that’s not terrible. And with Honda, Toyota and Volkswagen planning to bring more diesel cars into this country, we can see a growth in affordable diesel cars.
One story was shared with amongst some automobile magazine editors. One of the editors lost a race in the new BMW E92 M3 to a BMW E61 530d station wagon with an automatic transmission, and that’s not the most powerful diesel available in the 5-Series. At the traffic light, both cars took off and the editor was dusted by the man in the 530d and was unable to catch up until 60 MPH. I know, all of those cars cannot be had in the American market just yet. But it’s to give you an idea of what kind of diesels we’re missing out on with and with plans of companies such as Toyota, Honda, BMW and Audi as well as others bringing their diesel cars stateside, we can definitely see a larger pool of diesel options in this country.
At this point, you may be wondering what the heck makes diesels so fast. In today’s world, diesels make just as much power as their gasoline counterparts if not more and all that power comes from all the torque that diesels have to offer. Think of a big, large displacement V8 with lots of low end grunt...and that wave of torque continues all the way up to the engine's redline, just without the consumption penalty of a gas V8.
But what about the black plumb of smoke and soot? With new emission and exhaust systems that are as technologically advanced as a particle accelerator, the smoke and soot is almost entirely nonexistent. And all of this technology is far from being experimental and is tested and proven in the real world. Over 40% of BMWs sold worldwide are with diesel engines and in France, over 80% of Audis are sold with diesels and as aforementioned, the US is late to the trend.
As an example of one of these new emission systems, some of you may heard of Blutec: pioneered by Mercedes in conjunction with Volkswagen AG, and Chrysler. It sa new kind of catalytic converter (a chamber connected to the exhaust manifold that contains a bunch of expensive and precious metals that break down toxic gases produced by engines) which contains a certain amount of urea extracted by naturally animals, which basically eliminate almost all toxic gases emitted from diesel engines, resulting in these diesel engines being cleaner than standard gasoline engines. This technology is recently available stateside via Mercedes-Benz and their diesel options. Volkswagen too offers a system similar to that of Blutec, with the new Jetta TDi.
The combination of the advancement in technology with the emission systems goes hand in hand with the fuel injection system, which are designed to burn fuel as thoroughly and precisely as technologically possible. So while gasoline cars too have become cleaner and more efficient, diesel vehicles have as well though with plenty better results.
Of course, there are also more questions regarding the livability and practicality of a diesel automobile. Many of you will know that older diesel were equipped with what are called glow plugs. Glow plugs were used to preheat the cylinders and fuel injectors as so to make a cold start easier, since diesel has a higher viscosity than gasoline. But modern diesels do not have glow plugs and anything above 50F they start normally. In temperatures below that they may take longer, but miniscule miliseconds as opposed to minutes in older diesels. The issue with diesel's viscosity in cold weather is that it gets thicker and milkier as it gets colder…however this is nearing -20F so majority of you need not to worry.
Following practicality, there's also longevity. While diesels do contain far less parts than a gasoline engine, diesels do tend to have the general reputation of being far more reliable than gasoline engines. Diesel engines are compression combustion engines and don’t need spark plugs meaning that the fuel combusts through compression and does not need a spark to be ignited. In the US, we’ve mainly had Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz diesels, with engines that were built so well that they would last for all eternity. It was very common to find these diesel cars with an excess of 250,000 miles on one engine, some nearing the half-million mile mark with no major trouble.
At this point, I've probably given you enough information to make your head explode and you might want to take a coffee break...because I'm far from finished. So now, one of the ultimate questions. Why a diesel over a hybrid? This is a very simple question with just an equally simple answer. If you want to save money, don’t buy a hybrid. Economic and statistical reports and studies have shown that people, who are buying hybrids, are actually buying them not to save money. While they do save little bits in fuel consumption, they don’t save money in the long run, especially after factoring all of the dealer premiums that they command.
Hybrids will never save enough fuel to equate, cover and exceed the initial cost premium that hybrids demand, so hybrids don’t pay for themselves. Not to mention that hybrids have extremely expensive battery packs that have more precious metals than your wealthy grandparents’ jewelry collection, will need to be replaced at some point. So that trumps the longevity aspect for hybrids.
Diesel cars also have far better resale values than hybrids and gas-vehicles. One example made in an automobile magazine was with a Mk4 2004 Volkswagen GL with 50k miles, and a 2.0-liter straight-4 with 115hp: it valued in at an auction for $8,850 while the same car with the same mileage, but with the turbodiesel engine with 90-hp valued in at $13,950. A similar story was with Volkswagen’s SUV, the Touareg: V6 and V8 models were valued in at $20,100 and $25,500 respectively, but the V10 TDI was valued in at a whopping $41,600. It’s the same astronomical difference with diesel pickups versus their gasoline siblings.
On top of this, diesels get their best fuel economy with the types of conditions that majority of Americans drive, which is on the highway. An automobile magazine editor drove his Mercedes-Benz W211 E320 CDI and received up to 40MPG, giving a Volkswagen GTi a damn good run for its money in both fuel economy and stoplight drags.
Hybrids offer no benefit on highway driving and unless you’re sitting in traffic running on solely the battery, you’re not saving squat.
If not hybrids, what about Ethanol 85? That’s pretty much the biggest joke next to the Bush Administration's eight years in office. It takes about 1.7 gallons of Ethanol 85 to equal the amount of energy in a gallon of diesel and it takes more than 7% of the gallon itself to make a gallon of E85. In addition, with taxes it would make E85 at least a dollar more expensive than normal gasoline. And since Ethanol 85 burns far quicker than normal gasoline or diesel because it’s a very light hydrocarbon, fuel economy is basically shot to shrapnel. If anything, it gives benefits to the car companies and not the consumer: it gives manufactures a fuel economy CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) credit for reducing gasoline consumption even if the car is never run on E85, and most never are.
And what confuses me more is why Bob Lutz, Chairman and CEO of General Motors, said that all of GM’s work will now focus on the research and development of E85 vehicles and hybrids. And that’s not even considering what that would do to our agriculture.
Speaking of agriculture, don't plan on saving the planet by driving a hybrid. With the new emission control systems such as the aforementioned BlueTec technology being cleaner than normal gasoline cars, many of these diesels, such as Volkswagen Golf and Jetta, Ford Focus, Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Audi A2 and A3 diesels produce fewer grams per kilometer of carbon dioxide than a Toyota Prius. And did you know that acid rain created from the mining of nickel for Toyota hybrid batteries has destroyed the landscape in Sudbury, Ontario to such an extent that NASA now uses the area to test drive its latest lunar vehicles?
And even if you want to try your best at saving the planet, buy a diesel! Diesel engines are far more versatile with alternative fuels than gasoline engines. Bio-diesel and vegetable oil are just two extra fuels that diesel can burn, with no adverse side effects, and with cleaner exhaust. It may be more difficult to do so with these newer diesel engines but it has been experimented, tested and proven, as long as the bio-diesel and vegetable are clean enough for the injection system. In fact, bio-diesel and vegetable oil-powered diesels are a new trend, with people buying old Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen diesels left and right, with the sole purpose of converting them to such. And it's a very easy process. Buy an old Mercedes or VW diesel, buy the conversion kit for no more than a grand and have it retrofitted, drop by your local restaurant chains, offer to take their frying oil (since many francises and restaurants have to pay for their oil to be swept away), filter all the french fry crumbs out and just pour into the secondary tank provided by the conversion kits. Then flick a switch, save money and the planet!
So there you have it. If you want to save money in terms of fuel economy, don’t buy a hybrid. Because all you will be doing is giving into the social cliche and marketing ploy of auto manufacturers all while being tricked into thinking that you’re making a difference in the world and that you’re saving money. And it’s seen how poorly informed this country is with everyone flocking to buy Toyota’s/Lexus’s and Honda’s hybrid, companies rushing to develop competing hybrids to get a share of the good business, and now George Bush’s new law stating that all manufacturers now need to research and develop hybrid cars in their lineup. With the current unstable condition of the stock market and economy, could this be an economical ploy as well to boost the economy with the business attraction that hybrids are getting? Who knows…it’s our turn to make the smart decisions…everyone else has.
~Chris Chin
Source: Top Gear Magazine of UK, Automobile Magazine, EPA, DieselPowerMag
urse the astronomical pricing of a Bentley or Rolls. On top of being elegant it also maintains the typical German Teutonic look, with its high rolling shoulder line, side panel creases, and that bulge at the rear wheel well. But this has probably got to be the ugly bastard child of in the family of redesigned Mercedes-Benzes, most specifically the W221 S-Class, W216 CL, and the W204 C-Class.
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nd doesn't look as bad as the exterior does. Control layout and ergonomics are once again traditional Mercedes Benz, and the center stack remains to be as vertical as the Berlin Wall. But it some how manages to come across as something from Vauxhall, control layout, and center storage bins and cupholders included. The gauge cluster keeps up with Mercedes' large speedometer with a large—but smaller in comparison to the speedo—clock to the left, and a tachometer to the right with the fuel and temperature gauges at the sides respectively; all back lit in a cool blue and embedded into what looks to be machined aluminum trim. It all looks inspiring with great visibility of the clusters. The steering wheel on the other hand is uglier than a troll, but the AMG Sport Packaged sport steering wheel looks like something from their arch rivals at BMW with a beefy rim, and shaped grips at the 10 and 2 positions.
