I just read a great article on Motor Trend website in regards to our diesel technology. Back in 1959 Motor Trend wrote about our new diesel that was comming to America as the first diesel-powered mainstream automobile. They took a 5122 mile road trip across America in a 1960 190D “Ponton”.
50 years later they made the same trip. This time the 1960 190D was accompanied by our new 2009 ML320 BlueTEC. The trip was broken down into 4 legs. Irvine to Seattle, Seattle to Denver, Denver to St. Louis, and lastly St. Louis to New York.
Here is the numbers break down:
Diesel Across America By The Numbers
*HIGHEST FUEL ECONOMY: Leg 1, running slower speeds on flatter terrain: 33.1 mpg in the 190D, 27.8 mpg in the ML320 BlueTEC
*LOWEST FUEL ECONOMY: Leg 3 in the 190D, hoofing along at 60.7 mph for 27.6 mpg; Leg 4 climbing the Alleghenies in the ML320, for 26.4 mpg
*TOTAL GALLONS CONSUMED: 173.917 in the 190D, 192.390 in the ML320
*AVERAGE MPG: 29.7 mpg (190D), 27.2 mpg (ML320)
*HIGHEST FUEL PRICE: $5.30, Firebaugh, California
*LOWEST FUEL PRICE: $4.35, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
*TOTAL FUEL BILL: $816.42 for the 190D accounting for inflation, that’s 3.4 times the 1959 tab of $32.27. The ML took $907.54.
*LONGEST DAY: Chico, California, to Seattle, Washington; 680 miles, 12 hours 12 minutes
*SHORTEST DAY: Vernal, Utah, to Denver, Colorado; 448 miles, 8 hours 30 minutes
*LONGEST LEG: 2, Seattle, Washington, to Denver Colorado; 1511 miles, 27 hours 43 minutes
*FASTEST LEG: 3, Denver, Colorado, to St. Louis, Missouri; 60.7 mph average (making up for time lost while a faulty glow plug is repaired in Oklahoma City)
*SLOWEST LEG: 1, Irvine, California, to Seattle, Washington; 54.0 mph average
Those numbers are a great example of how fuel efficient our diesel’s really are. Great in 1959 and great in 2008. Feel free to read the article in its entirety below.
www.motortrend.com/features/travel/112_0812_mercedes_benz_diesel_road_trip/index.html