1987 190dt vs another 98-99 e300

[courtney]

i am very happy with the 99 e300 i bought and was considering picking up another mercedes diesel

maybe a 87 190dt if i can find one
i consistently get 32-34mpg in my e300 and at first was under the impression the 190dt was a smaller, lighter car with maybe a smaller more efficient motor and would get 35-40mpg

but after reading lots of 190 posts the last few hours i am not sure that it true

for dependability and mpg is the 190dt as good a car?

i am somewhat concerned with getting into the various vacuum issues with the 190 that i dont seem to have on the e300

anybody with experience with the 190dt i would appreciate your input

[KarTek]

I think it would be cool to have t 190d 2.5 turbo. Same engine as the w124 in a smaller package. Surely it would boast some decent MPG numbers.

I think the MPG champ is the 2.0 NA car.

[raysorenson]

The 190 will have a 4 speed automatic trans without overdrive and no torque converter clutch compared to the W210 that has a 5 speed auto with overdrive and a lockup torque converter.

[courtney]

ahh, this is good to know

so at best it might do as good as the e300 but probably will not do better?

this may not be the way to go for me, i will have to think on it some more

the 5spd conversions some people did sound interesting but i dont want a 5speed

so if the trans does not have overdrive etc why do you hear a lot about the earlier n/a models getting such good mileage? seems they would not do much better either

[t walgamuth]

The turbo model should be able to get mid thirties pretty consistently I would think. I had a 92 300d which is slightly larger and heavier but with the same motor and got right around 30 highway consistantly and topped it occasionally.

Final gearing is all that matters. If you have a taller diff but no overdrive you could have a taller final gear ratio than someone with an od transmission.

...how many revolutions of the engine per mile.

[courtney]

thanks for that info on the taller gear ratios, i have one i am going to check over this weekend and might buy, we will see