mpg on E280 TE

[emmomerc]

Hi all
I need your help please.
I am looking to buy an E280 TE Merc 7 seats (1995, 1996) but I am concerned about the fuel usage.
What is the typical mpg on this car?
What should I be looking for?

Many thanks

 

[mjtray]

Realistically, I would say 26-28 on a run and early 20's around town.

 

[rallen]

Such an old car I would say you'd be lucky to get over 20 in town. Depends on driving style of course.

 

[PINBALL]

Much same as above ... 22-24 round town, & up to 30 on a run at 60-70 mph.

Lots of power in E mode on auto gearbox.

Ideal towing car.

 

[Pringles]

When new Mercedes quoted-
urban 20.8
56mph 31.7
75 mph 25.9

0-62.5 - 8.2secs.

 

[Mister Millions]

I recently put in 10 gallons and got about 350miles (35mpg) out of that in my 1983 230te... thats combined and using a feather to accelerate...average is about 25-28mpg in town (not in peak hour standstill) The owners manual says that its 22mpg around town and 33mpg at 56mph, its all up to how you drive .. avoid heavy acceleration if you dont thrash the cars and drive very economically you might be suprised. ive turned into a mpg nerd.... :mrgreen:

 

[rallen]

The manufacturers could easily add a feature for "normal" and "sports" driving. Not just the silly switch on the gearbox.

When you are in town and even outside, you do not necessarily need all the engine power. Why then not switch off 3 out of the 6 cylinders, so that the car drives slowly, yes, but with high MPG. When the car is fully laden or on the motorway etc then you switch to 6 cylinders.

I wonder how difficult that would be to implement.

 

[jberks]

Its pretty much how the US Hemmy V8s run - 4 cyl until you need power, then all 8.
I was astonished at my E240 yesterday. 140 mile run - M42,M1. When I got off the motorway the computer was showing average speed of 62 (so allowing for jams etc I was running well over 90 for a fair chunk of the way) and an average mpg of 37.8.-
I turned off the aircon at one point to see if I could eek it over 38 but no joy and I was starting to sweat so I put back on!

The trick on the motorways is just to leave a sensible gap (note to ford driving muppet in front of me near Sheffield yesterday - 'sensible' is not 1 mile!) and anticipate and coast rather than hug bumpers and brake (like the d..kheads in front of me were doing) that way you're using no fuel for part of the journey and don't need to slow down as much as they do either as they've picked up again by the time you get close.

Quite impressive for a gas guzzling V6 petrol I thought.

 

[rallen]

If this "technology" already exists, I wonder why car manufacturers have not introduced it already. The obvious reason is because they do not want you spending less fuel, they want you spending more.

How hard would it be to tweak an engine and manually switch the injectors off on a few cylinders ? Would the engine not run?

 

[jberks]

The hemmy does this for economy and also if it is overheating. By shutting down different cylinders at different times, allegedly it can run without coolant!

I would imagine that the manufacturer would love to do this with all engines if it were possible and steal a march on the competition by offering better mpg and good performance.

Anyway - I suspect that the V8 is the smallest engine you can get away with this process on, as it drops to a V4 which will still run ok. A v6 would need to drop to a 3 cylinder which would be lumpy as you can't balance the cycle with 2 pots running on one bank and 1 on the other. You could possibly drop from a v6 to a V4 but I doubt the saving would be worth it and you would still have an uneven firing cycle. As for a 4 cylinder - you'd end up with a lawnmower!

 

[Copiertech]

you would probably lose mpg due to pumping losses on the cylinders not doing any work. you would have to hold the valves open to stop the useless compression strokes sapping power.