E Class Diesel Blue Efficiency, any good for a short commute??

[Reggie-rock]

I am in the market soon (once I have sold my Porsche) to buy a Mercedes CL but like to keep an open mind and look at alternatives, my budget is something like up to £16,000.
The E Class coupe Blue Efficiency diesels look tempting while not in the same league as the CL's, they seem good value and cheap to run.
I can accept the expense of running a CL 500 which is of course petrol but wonder if a diesel engine would suit me as my commute to work is only 9 miles, but with a diesel engine it just has not enough time in a 20 minute drive to work to reach it's full operating temperature which has been an issue I have encountered before.
I don't really know what this Blue Efficiency thing is I must confess, so can you please educate me and advise if an E class coupe with these engines would serve my purpose and which one is best.
Many thanks.

 

[Reggie-rock]

Can anyone please reply to my post as I am sure there must be someone knows about these Blue Efficiency diesels fitted to the E Class and maybe even own one who does a short commute?
Maybe this is such a silly idea which is why I have had not had any response, but still want to know what this BLUE thing is?

 

[geraldrobins]

You need to do a certain amount of 60mph plus driving every few 100 miles to maintain the dpf. This should be explained in the manual.
If your mileage is low a petrol is probably a better choice due to dpf issues and the fact that fuel savings wont outweigh the additional cost over the petrol.
Blue Efficiency just means it has lower emissions than the previous model and may include features such as stop start etc.
Unfortunately there is limited choice for used petrol engine cars.

just my opinion of course.

 

[Borys]

My opinion diesel or not doesn't matter rgds to short journeys. Cars are meant to be driven short or long distance and for obvious reason why force yourself to buy a petrol if diesel would be cheaper option to run. We have audi 2.7tdi for last 4 year and its only being driven for not more then 10miles daily.....never a dpf problem and car has 110k on the clock. My opinion dpf is a filter as any other, if its playing up need to be change. Lets don't forget if its filled with dirt car will force regen anyways. Only downside short distances may shorten its life. So if you like e class go fir it and last thing you should worry about is short distance. Newer cars are fitted with preheaters, electric matrix for heating, aux heating etc. For example I rented 2015 audi a3 1.6 diesel - heating came on in no more then 30s....cause its fitted with electric matrix.
Think about it, why all manufactures have mostly diesels these days in their line ups? Ohhh MR Z do not buy a diesel if you do short journeys you will definitely have a dpf problem....

 

[renault12ts]

Your choice of E Class may be driven more by the lack of petrol models on the used market than by what is actually the best for you. Though I do agree that with small mileage it really doesn't matter which.

 

[sjhalstead]

Diesel E class

Just bought an E350 estate S212 2011 plate 60K on clock foer £15K it Avantgarde which I feel is the best for equipment and ride comfort but still goes like hell when you want it to. On a long journey I will return around 45mpg (with millers additive) short journeys around 35 mpg. hope that helps. E class is a great car.

 

[gIzzE]

I had a 2010 E350 blueffciency estate, not the later E350 blutec with adblue, and used to get around 33mpg average.

I could get 40mpg on a long run if I was really steady. Mostly though it was 36/38mpg.

On the school run on 6 miles it was however only 26mpg.

But no matter what I did it was always ended up back at 33mpg average, sometimes after a tank, sometimes after 2000 miles, but in the end it would settle at 33mpg average, OBC showed nearly 36mpg, calculated figures were 33mpg.



I now have a MY12 E350cgi Sport estate, it is the later M276 engine with 306hp.

On a run it struggles to get better than 34mpg, the diesel is far better in this regard.

On the school run however, it seems to get 26/27mpg, which is slightly better than the e350cdi.

As an average however it is doing just over 30mpg compared with the CDIs 33mpg.

Strangely the OBC is actually under reading, it says 29mpg and calculated is 30.5mpg.



I would expect the coupe to get around 10-15% better mpg than the estate.


I think you need to drive both, both have their merits, both very different, the cdi is probably more exciting all the time, instant shove from the moment you start moving, the petrol is really, really refined from the off and nothing much happens till 3000rpm, and it changes up at around 2500rpm if you leave it in C on the gearbox.
But then it comes alive from 3000rpm through to 7000rpm, feels quicker than the diesel and sounds lovely.

Both great, but both very different and makes the car feel completely different too.

I decided if running a car out of warranty I would much prefer the NA petrol, also with me doing more sub 10 mile journeys now the petrol makes more sense financially.
I am down to 15,000 miles a year, it is costing me around £43 a week at the pump in the petrol compared to £39 a week in the diesel.


Both great cars, I would say it comes down to which you prefer, and even then, it may be as simple as which car is specced the best.

 

[st13phil]

I now have a MY12 E350cgi Sport estate, it is the later M276 engine with 306hp.

But how do you find the steering?



Sorry, I couldn't resist

 

[gIzzE]

Haha, this car has sports direct steering and Avantgarde suspension.

The day it came on the market I get the vin to see what options were on it. I wasn't really in the market, but the 350 petrol is rare, so wanted to see what colour it was, no pics on autotrader. When it came back with those options I went straight over to test and gave him a deposit.

 

[derektrotter]

I get on average 40mpg with my W212 E250, this is mixed 60mph single carriageway and smaller roads with not much traffic, I was expecting a bit more to be honest, next time will probably go petrol, older accord diesel did 50mpg on same roads and that was 6 years older.

 

[Rory]

You need to do a certain amount of 60mph plus driving every few 100 miles to maintain the dpf. This should be explained in the manual.

Is that generally still the case? On the latest VWs (we have a Tiguan) the dpf doesn't get anywhere near hot enough to passive regen.

 

[optimusprime]

You need to do a certain amount of 60mph plus driving every few 100 miles to maintain the dpf. This should be explained in the manual.
If your mileage is low a petrol is probably a better choice due to dpf issues and the fact that fuel savings wont outweigh the additional cost over the petrol.
Blue Efficiency just means it has lower emissions than the previous model and may include features such as stop start etc.
Unfortunately there is limited choice for used petrol engine cars.

just my opinion of course.

Gerald
I read this some place, that low miles play up with this type of engine .The gent on the forum took it back for a problem .It cost £1000 and they said they would replace it this time . But he was told he was not uesing it enough .And this problem was due to small trips..

 

[Doodle]

Think about it, why all manufactures have mostly diesels these days in their line ups?

Because of the prior decade of legislation making them favourable, until the EU decide to do an about face.

 

[gIzzE]

My opinion diesel or not doesn't matter rgds to short journeys. Cars are meant to be driven short or long distance and for obvious reason why force yourself to buy a petrol if diesel would be cheaper option to run. We have audi 2.7tdi for last 4 year and its only being driven for not more then 10miles daily.....never a dpf problem and car has 110k on the clock. My opinion dpf is a filter as any other, if its playing up need to be change. Lets don't forget if its filled with dirt car will force regen anyways. Only downside short distances may shorten its life. So if you like e class go fir it and last thing you should worry about is short distance. Newer cars are fitted with preheaters, electric matrix for heating, aux heating etc. For example I rented 2015 audi a3 1.6 diesel - heating came on in no more then 30s....cause its fitted with electric matrix.
Think about it, why all manufactures have mostly diesels these days in their line ups? Ohhh MR Z do not buy a diesel if you do short journeys you will definitely have a dpf problem....

Mate works for Audi and they have all been told to push people doing less than 12k miles a year into the 1.4tfsi now instead of the 2.0tdi, especially those that do lots of sub 20 mile journeys.

The DPF issues they are getting shows how modern diesels are not cut out for short journeys all the time.

 

[flango]

That 1.4 tfsi is a cracking engine I have the twin turbo version in my Golf.

 

[geraldrobins]

Is that generally still the case? On the latest VWs (we have a Tiguan) the dpf doesn't get anywhere near hot enough to passive regen.

Just an opinion really but it says it my manual, although my car is now nearly 5 years old, but worth considering depending on what model.
Versions with Adblue like the latest models may be different.

 

[geraldrobins]

My opinion diesel or not doesn't matter rgds to short journeys. Cars are meant to be driven short or long distance and for obvious reason why force yourself to buy a petrol if diesel would be cheaper option to run. We have audi 2.7tdi for last 4 year and its only being driven for not more then 10miles daily.....never a dpf problem and car has 110k on the clock. My opinion dpf is a filter as any other, if its playing up need to be change. Lets don't forget if its filled with dirt car will force regen anyways. Only downside short distances may shorten its life. So if you like e class go fir it and last thing you should worry about is short distance. Newer cars are fitted with preheaters, electric matrix for heating, aux heating etc. For example I rented 2015 audi a3 1.6 diesel - heating came on in no more then 30s....cause its fitted with electric matrix.
Think about it, why all manufactures have mostly diesels these days in their line ups? Ohhh MR Z do not buy a diesel if you do short journeys you will definitely have a dpf problem....

There are other factors though like diesels cost more to buy offsetting partly fuel and tax savings, depending on mileage. Higher residuals maybe with diesels. The latest petrol models are very efficient so each to their own, but if cost is a main consideration do your sums based on real life costs not just fuel costs.

 

[st13phil]

I can accept the expense of running a CL 500 which is of course petrol but wonder if a diesel engine would suit me as my commute to work is only 9 miles, but with a diesel engine it just has not enough time in a 20 minute drive to work to reach it's full operating temperature which has been an issue I have encountered before.

I know you only asked about the diesel, but there's no way a CL500's engine will get up to operating temperature on a 9 mile commute either. The water will get up to temperature, but the oil won't.

 

[Borys]

Yes it will
I have a cls500 now and its up to operating temp after 2 miles

 

[st13phil]

Read carefully what I said. The oil will not be up to operating temperature, and that's what's important.