ML diesels for very short journeys

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ab9758

Active Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2012
Messages
85
Location
Central London
Car
CL500 (W216) ex-ML500 ML63 AMG and ML55
No greater love hath a man than he is selling his ML63 AMG to pay bloody school fees.

Anyway, I'm loyal to ML range and will downgrade to a basic ML from about 2006-07 with hopefully under 100k.

My problem is that I'm only looking at petrol versions and that means the Ml350 or ML500 from 2006+. As scarce as can be.

The question I would value input on is whether a diesel ML can even be contemplated? My daily useage is 2-3 miles as most in Central London and all rush hour traffic. Every month (at most) I may do a 15-20 mile round trip on the Westway.

And that's it. Not even a motorway blast for school holidays.

All the advice seems to be that a diesel would be utter madness. Is that the general feeling? Are there any tricks or precautionary measures that could help? I know there won't be many occasions when I could clean the DPF with a hard drive so I need to be realistic.

The second part of this question is that at the moment I get from 4-7mpg at best. Would a diesel ML be able to get 15-20mpg+ even with the short journeys? It's the difference currently from a full tank (90l) with a maximum range of 149 miles to anything better.
 
My daily commute is 2.5 miles each way in stop / start traffic , no (DPF) issues so far with my CLS 350d.

I have been doing the above for the last 3.5 years and average 19 mpg in the winter and around 23 mpg in the summer with an average speed of 15mph.

Kenny
 
Got to be the 350 petrol out of that list, the 500 won't be far off the '63 for fuel economy and before long there'll be roadblocks around Greater London where death squads will be bumping off diesel owners so I'd swerve them too (even though the V8 twin-turbo diesel is the pick of the entire range imo)
 
The question I would value input on is whether a diesel ML can even be contemplated? My daily useage is 2-3 miles as most in Central London and all rush hour traffic.

Whether or not its going to break that's so not what a diesel is designed to do. It won't warm up properly and will be pumping out maximum emissions.

Can't you just get a small petrol run-around for the urban stuff?
 
Keep the AMG. Your kids will never thank you for your sacrifice, at public school they'll more than likely team up with some entitled to$$ers and be drawn into a world of drugs and apres-ski fondue.

Send them to a state school and fund some after hours kick boxing lessons. In the end they'll turn out as better people and as an added benefit, won't drink your best wine when left alone in the house.

.
 
I don't think you'll save any money on running costs by switching, although you might release some capital depending upon what you buy. In your position, I think I'd be leasing a cheap EV, like a Leaf or a Zoe.
 
Londonscottish said:
I think that applies to any diesel that Euro V or below - so anything before 2014-ish or whenever it came out.
I think Euro 5 is ok but it will be anything below Euro 5 otherwise that would put the majority of the country out of business. That's my take on it, obviously fast forward to 2022 and Euro 6 will be the cut off. As much as I think they'd love to scrap diesel it just isn't economically viable for anyone at the moment. Says he who just bought a Euro 5... GULP
 
I think Euro 5 is ok but it will be anything below Euro 5 otherwise that would put the majority of the country out of business. That's my take on it, obviously fast forward to 2022 and Euro 6 will be the cut off. As much as I think they'd love to scrap diesel it just isn't economically viable for anyone at the moment. Says he who just bought a Euro 5... GULP

If I'm reading it right a Euro V petrol is OK (which is why I've just bought one).

But a Euro V diesel isn't OK - for the ULEZ only Euro VI diesels will survive the cut (which is why I swerved a CDI of the same 2010/11 vintage - it's only Euro V).

The ULEZ is a London Mayoral thing but apparently Westminster and Islington councils have decieded to target the same cars via parking charges.

And it's a serious problem for small business van owners too.
 
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I think Euro 5 is ok but it will be anything below Euro 5 otherwise that would put the majority of the country out of business. That's my take on it, obviously fast forward to 2022 and Euro 6 will be the cut off. As much as I think they'd love to scrap diesel it just isn't economically viable for anyone at the moment. Says he who just bought a Euro 5... GULP

Call me a cynic but I think anything less than Euro 6 will get hit if its a diesel. They will look at the revenue potential and the rest will be history. For the state its just another opportunity to make a withdrawal from the ATM knows as the motorist.
 
Londonscottish said:
If I'm reading it right a Euro V petrol is OK (which is why I've just bought one). But a Euro V diesel isn't OK - for the ULEZ only Euro VI diesels will survive the cut (which is why I swerved a CDI of the same 2010/11 vintage - it's only Euro V). The ULEZ is a London Mayoral thing but apparently Westminster and Islington councils have decieded to target the same cars via parking charges. And it's a serious problem for small business van owners too.

Holy camel poo your right. I live in rural west Wales and only perhaps go as far as Heathrow and plan to keep my Euro 5 for at least 5 years from now so I hope I'm ok. :/
 
Holy camel poo your right. I live in rural west Wales and only perhaps go as far as Heathrow and plan to keep my Euro 5 for at least 5 years from now so I hope I'm ok. :/

You know Heathrow is to be included in the next roll out of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone and will part of the Toxic Tax £10 a day. It's due to start with the 8,500 vehicles that work airside at the moment, and then extend to visitors/drop-offs/taxis etc etc.

It'll happen whether or not the new runway gets the go-ahead, as Heathrow has its own micro-climate of mega-pollution,
 
£10 a visit is fine £100 a visit would finish me though I only go 6 times a year.
 
Holy camel poo your right. I live in rural west Wales and only perhaps go as far as Heathrow and plan to keep my Euro 5 for at least 5 years from now so I hope I'm ok. :/

Yeah but watch out - it will no doubt quickly roll out to other cities across the UK.

Having said that it worked out just fine for me - I live in London Zone 2 and all the hoo ha meant that I was able to persuade my wife that a 5.5 V8 petrol was definitely the most the sensible option for our next car.

:)
 
At the end of the day the motorist, fag smoker and beer drinkers are nothing more than government cash cows. Wether you have this or that or whatever they will always find a way to get more wonga from us albeit emissions,too big,too heavy,wrong shape whatever. It's called life as we know it, so all the overpaid fat cats sat behind huge desks claiming God knows how much in pay and expenses will keep coming up with something new to make us pay more. I run two diesel cars and they are going nowhere, now where's me fags cos i'm off to the pub for a pint................Cheers.
 

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