E350CDI fuel efficiency

[AngusM8]

Hi

I bought a (March 2010) W212 231bhp E350CDI auto estate from a mercedes main dealer last week after having looked at and driven several examples over a period of about 4 months. The car has done 38,500 miles.

Does any one have any up to date experience of what I should be getting fuel consumption wise? I average 30 - 33 in mixed driving - 35 if it's a constant 56mph - this seems low and is at least 10% lower than I achieved in similar engined cars (all from cold start up and with trip computer reset). In all other respects the engine / car drive as expected.

I know that official figures are not a great guide to real world driving conditions but there still appears to be some margin in the figures. The official mercedes consumption figures are:

Urban - 31mpg
Combined - 39.2mpg
Extra urban - 46.3 mpg

Before I bought the car, the mercedes dealer updated the car with the latest ECU software update and said that nothing (injector-wise) else showed up on the Star System as being faulty.

Any suggestions or advice would be welcomed - I have read several threads on here that have raised issues with the OM642 engine that might be related to fuel consumption.

Thanks in advance

 

[blue gnome123]

Your numbers do sound low. My S211 with the same engine could easily achieve +40mpg driven at up to 70mph on motorway journeys. The best I got out of mine was 45mpg for 150mph on a slow but moving motorway trip. The 265bhp E350 is 2-3mpg better than that for me.

 

[AngusM8]

Thanks for that. I will book the car into a dealer to get this checked again.

 

[steve333]

Hi,i have the 265bhp 2013 e350cdi sport saloon and average 38mpg over a tank[brim to brim calculated]in the 6,000 miles i've covered from new,i have had upto 51mpg on motorway runs.

 

[st13phil]

Daft question, but have you checked the tyre pressures?

FWIW my 265bhp W212 has averaged 38.18mpg (brim to brim) over 27,600 miles and the 232bhp cars are normally around 2mpg thirstier, so you may not be that far adrift.

 

[Satch]

What temperature does the engine get to when fully warmed up? (10+ miles)

Average trip length to get those figures?

 

[AngusM8]

Daft question, but have you checked the tyre pressures?

FWIW my 265bhp W212 has averaged 38.18mpg (brim to brim) over 27,600 miles and the 232bhp cars are normally around 2mpg thirstier, so you may not be that far adrift.

Yes, tyre pressures are spot on.

 

[AngusM8]

What temperature does the engine get to when fully warmed up? (10+ miles)

Average trip length to get those figures?

I haven't checked engine temperature but will do so later today. What should I expect to see after 10+ miles?

 

[gIzzE]

Exactly the same figures I got from mine.

30 round town, 33 was the average, and 38 on a very steady run.

I could hit the 46 extra urban figure sat at 40mph with no other traffic if the car was up to temp in summer (which is what the extra urban figure is) and there was no inclines.


But yeah, crap mpg from these things.


The facelift S211 I had before, Brabus tuned E320cdi was 32 round town, 37 average and up to 48 on a run.

 

[gIzzE]

Daft question, but have you checked the tyre pressures?

FWIW my 265bhp W212 has averaged 38.18mpg (brim to brim) over 27,600 miles and the 232bhp cars are normally around 2mpg thirstier, so you may not be that far adrift.

265bhp tuned car seems to be about 4mpg better in every driving situation.

Is yours one with the 7g + gearbox?
That seems to add another 4mpg again.

 

[wemorgan]

Overview: Mercedes-Benz - E-Klasse - Spritmonitor.de

32mpg average
38mpg max (average)
46mpg max

 

[st13phil]

Is yours one with the 7g + gearbox?
That seems to add another 4mpg again.

Yes, it's a 7g+

 

[bravo05]

I had a c350 with a DTUK tuning kit.......I done mainly urban driving and got around 25mpg. On a motorway run I got it upto 50mpg. Car was about 315bhp with tuning kit, definately improved fuel efficiency with tuning kit.

 

[boxbrownie]

Sounds low to me, when I had the CLS 350cdi D6 tuned I got around 37 on average driving, and up to 48 on a long run.....my ML350Cdi blueE averages in town about 30, on a long run I can easily get it to top 35 and more, and thats lugging a lot more mass around and another axle to drive!
I suggest you have another word with the dealer.

 

[AngusM8]

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

I wanted to add that in my search for a car earlier in the year, I had initially been looking for a E250 but was put off by the injector issues and the fact that none of the dealers I contacted had any of these cars with the spec I was after. So I test drove (and loved!!) several E350's - two of these, both 231 bhp (both from cold / early morning starts) achieved 39 - 41 on similar test routes (mainly 40mph / 50 mph dual carriageways and some light town traffic). One of the dealers actually commented when asked, that the average fuel consumption wouldn't be far off a 250cdi (45mpg -47mpg) and that, in light of the trip computers' read-outs, sounded absolutely correct.

The dealer I have bought from in Brighton have been fantastic and took the trouble to road test the car over about 90 miles before I agreed to buy it. Much of that test was on dual carriageways at a constant 50mph. They averaged 34.5mpg, but got it up to 37mpg in a 40mph restricted speed zone for some miles

Auto express had one on a Long term test (Mercedes E350 CDI Estate Fourth report | Long-term test | Auto Express) over about a year and only managed 30.7 as an average and came to a similar conclusion that the official and actual figures are quite far apart.

So.... I am still wondering if there is some unknown variance in each car or whether it is worth pursuing with the dealer. The car is now outside the three year warranty but I understand that if there is a problem that can be proven, any costs will be paid for by MB. Proving a slightly higher consumption than expected may be difficult.....

 

[cp3377]

Have you undertaken a brim-brim test? Usually trip computers are optimistic but occasionally they can be the other way.

Not having been fortunate enough to drive a 212 350 I don't have personal experience but I did drive the 219 CLS (first gen) on severL occasions and this did around 39-40, and I think this car is a similar weight to the 212- both heavier than the 211.

The dealer comparing it to a 250 was being disingenuous - 250's have stop-start which gives a couple of mpg improvement and clearly are going to be more economic due to having less cylinders but being more than capable of hauling the car around without undue strain. However, when you take into account fuel consumption and refinement your E350 is the ultimate version of the range - apart, perhaps, for an E500 with an LPG conversion. I hope, consumption aside, you're enjoying the car.

 

[AngusM8]

Thanks, I will do a brim- to brim check and report back.

And yes, I am loving the car in every other respect.

 

[gIzzE]

I test drove (and loved!!) several E350's - two of these, both 231 bhp (both from cold / early morning starts) achieved 39 - 41 on similar test routes (mainly 40mph / 50 mph dual carriageways and some light town traffic).

Are you 100% sure they were the same early 231bhp cars?
I took out a 60 plate E350cdi estate and on my test drive it was showing 38mpg across town and crept up to 44mpg on the run out to the coast, and was still showing 40mpg when we got back to the dealership again.

After I bought my E350cdi, which was a 10 plate, it turned out the demo sport I had tried was actually a 265bhp car, it was a very early one with the non 'plus' 7G 'box and old style non colour cluster, but it was a 265 car.

Does seem to make a difference.

Auto express had one on a Long term test (Mercedes E350 CDI Estate Fourth report | Long-term test | Auto Express) over about a year and only managed 30.7 as an average and came to a similar conclusion that the official and actual figures are quite far apart.

Are they that far off the official figures though?

Urban - 31mpg
Combined - 39.2mpg
Extra urban - 46.3 mpg

Mine did 31 round town, and it would do 46mpg sat at 39mph (which is the extra urban figure).
Combined is the one that gets most people, but that is just a mean average of the two figures, problem is, no one ever drives on the motorway at 39mph.


I do however think some cars just have better mpg than the same model made on a different day. Probably a lot is how they are run in, cars I know have been driven hard from day 1 have much better mpg than the same models where the owner has feathered it.

 

[AngusM8]

Thanks gIzze - I will double check with the dealer who took me out in it tomorrow, but yes,it was on a 10 plate and I am pretty it sure was the earlier 231bhp car. Here's one of the pictures I got of the car that day.

31mpg around town sounds familiar - I have not got anywhere near 46mpg however / wherever I drive it though...

 

[gIzzE]

46 I managed over 5 miles after resetting the obc while pulling onto the main road, I replicated the test as best I could, accelerating to 70 and then slowing to 33mph, to average 39mph.
This was with a car fully up to temperature and ambient temperature was 28ºc as well.

But as soon as I had to slow down for a car pulling out and then speed up again, it dropped to sub 40, and then over a roundabout it was down to 37, then when I gave up and headed home it kept dropping, finished at 34mpg.

It is possible to get the extra urban figure, just not in the real world.