Poor fuel consumption in W203 C220cdi

[Johncarr]

I have recently changed from a 2002 C220cdi to a 2005 C220cdi. I expected to find the new car as good or better than the old one. Instead, I find that fuel consumption is at least 10% poorer ( average 36mpg ). At service, dealer tells me this is normal. The injection system has been changed on the newer cars. I can find no statistics to say that the newer ones return poorer mpg.
Have they altered the settings on the cars to conform with emission legislation?[
EMAIL="johncarr@thinkpositive.co.uk"]johncarr@thinkpositive.co.uk[/EMAIL]

 

[jberks]

The only thing I can think of is the EU4 emissions and the particle filter. This sapped performance so I guess they tuned it up to compensate. I remember people complaining when the first EU4s came out as the MPG was worse than before.

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

that figure does seem very low. My Audi never got less than 48 mpg average and typically got around 54mpg. The best I ever got out of it (on a 200 mile run) was 67mpg. The Audi was a much bigger car than a C-Class too.

When I went from Hungerford to Heathrow the other day in my C240 I averaged 38mpg. Admittedly that's exceptionally high, I normally get around 30 to 32 mpg but your figures seem very low. What does the sales blurb reckon is the average?

 

[Phil D]

mine is a 54 plate & has averaged 37mpg since I got it in July 05 (over all sorts of journey)
on a trip from Yorkshire to Glasgow I get about 43-44 mpg - neither really clogging it (honest officer) nor particularly trying to save fuel either
this is exactly what I used to get in an old 1.9 golf turbodiesel - I know which car I'd rather do the journey in !
Phil

 

[citroennut]

i've just changed to an '04 220 and a tank to tank got 31mpg and after a new turbo- last one whistleing, got slightly more. this is 50-50 through town but not stop start and dual carraigeway. i'm not pleased as i changed from e240 (neil - don't know how you managed it) 22mpg but had gas conversion so cost me £27 for 300 miles. sales blurb combined is 40mpg ok i've got sports pack with wider tyres but!
simon

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

i've just changed to an '04 220 and a tank to tank got 31mpg and after a new turbo- last one whistleing, got slightly more. this is 50-50 through town but not stop start and dual carraigeway. i'm not pleased as i changed from e240 (neil - don't know how you managed it) 22mpg but had gas conversion so cost me £27 for 300 miles. sales blurb combined is 40mpg ok i've got sports pack with wider tyres but!
simon

the 38mpg was exceptional (even took a picture of the dash to keep it for posterity) but 30-34mpg is the norm. I tend to do quite long journeys though, seldom under 50 miles. The round trip to the office is 150 mils. I'm not exactly light footed either, although where possible I tend to use cruise.

 

[jberks]

31 from a C220 does sound poor. Trickling along urban roads in my E270 I can see 30-32. Admittedly throw in a few hills and hold ups and I can also see 23 but on the other side, I regularly see 41+ on a motorway at 75-95 and I once got 48 but that was driving like a pensioner. (and I have silly wide tyres which can't help).
The problem is that so many factors affect it, from driving style to hills and traffic and even the weather.
The best I got from my E240 was 37 (once, driving the same way my 270 gave me 48 ), it would do 33 on a run normally but I also saw 13 a fair few times!!

All I can suggest is to view it logically. The fuel has to go somewhere. Assuming the car is performing ok, then it's either dropping it on the road (should be visible), throwing it, unburned, down the exhaust (black clouds under acceleration) or needing too much in the first place (under inflated tyres, tugging a trailer, binding brakes etc).

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

The best I got from my E240 was 37 (once, driving the same way my 270 gave me 48 ), it would do 33 on a run normally but I also saw 13 a fair few times!!

sounds about the same as my C240, as you'd expect.

 

[niva441]

My 06 C220 cdi manages about 42+ mpg in normal running, however if I do a lot of short runs and round town that drops to 35.

 

[rio678]

Just a thought but sometimes a faulty thermostat can cause poor fuel consumption as it won't adjust the right mixture if not maintaining a steady temperature when warm. This happened on my Audi before.

 

[citroennut]

i've noticed that when driving at a steady speed the rev needle is fluctuating by about 100rpm. air con is off. temp sitting at what i would expect
simon

 

[Johncarr]

Chipping

Is it worthwhile to look into changing the engine management chip?

 

[psmart]

Heres a picture of the mpg I get on our C220 two up with a boot full of luggage, driving from North Leeds to South Shields for the Ferry. The journey was a mix of roads, going up to Harrogate, across to the A1 (old) then the A19 to the Tyne Tunnel!

When the cars driven like a Pensioner.... by a pensioner... 66 has been achieved!!!

 

[John Kerr]

P S Smart is that the outside temp displayed in bottom left.How did you do it,I can only get MPH or KPH on my 220CDI.

 

[Matt_EClass]

I drive from Orpington, to Brentford on the A4 everyday and back again, some 57 miles (one way) of mixed driving, motorway, dual carriageway, minor roads, and some stop/start stuff. A couple of months ago, for approx 2 weeks I did the trip in a C220 cdi Auto Evo Coupe (06) model. I mainly got approx 49 / 50mpg out of it, that was without really trying to save fuel or booting it. I now have a 2001 E220 cdi Auto and I can see up to 58/59 mpg doing exactly the same trip and driving in the same way. Either the computer is incorrect or the W210 is more economical?? wierd!

 

[psmart]

P S Smart is that the outside temp displayed in bottom left.How did you do it,I can only get MPH or KPH on my 220CDI.

I selected the Primary display as MPH and the status display as Temperature in the settings menu. I need the MPH as KMH in Europe hence its left in that state.

 

[psmart]

I drive from Orpington, to Brentford on the A4 everyday and back again, some 57 miles (one way) of mixed driving, motorway, dual carriageway, minor roads, and some stop/start stuff. A couple of months ago, for approx 2 weeks I did the trip in a C220 cdi Auto Evo Coupe (06) model. I mainly got approx 49 / 50mpg out of it, that was without really trying to save fuel or booting it. I now have a 2001 E220 cdi Auto and I can see up to 58/59 mpg doing exactly the same trip and driving in the same way. Either the computer is incorrect or the W210 is more economical?? wierd!

I've verified the C and the figure shown is quite accurate. The 220 engine has various states of ECU 'tune' as well as slightly different injectors etc. I drove a brand new E220 Elegance to Hamburg a few weeks ago and I was around 40mpg, but that was booting it and it was new.

 

[HJHPH]

P S Smart is that the outside temp displayed in bottom left.How did you do it,I can only get MPH or KPH on my 220CDI.

I was informed that only European models can display temperature in lower left corner of the dash, UK models have to access through settings at the scarifice of trip/radio/nav display etc is this information correct?
Paul.

 

[HJHPH]

I was informed that only European models can display temperature in lower left corner of the dash, UK models have to access through settings at the scarifice of trip/radio/nav display etc is this information correct?
Paul.

Thinking about this a bit more, I believe it's European legislation for all cars to display KMH, given that the UK cars main display is in MPH, the bottom left hand display is always KMH this is the reason we cannot have the temp display on in the corner of the dash. I believe it can be changed only through Star Diagnosis.
Paul.

 

[psmart]

Very good point, Paul.

Ours is a C220 specifically specified to order, it has all of the UK spec plus many extras which werent available to the UK. As it wasnt a specific UK vehicle, but a generic RHD exceeding UK spec, they probably didnt disable the option on the computer to allow changes in what you want viewed on the Status and Primary display. You can also choose MPH/KMH as well.