What kind of MPG do petrol owners of W210s get?

[Shamaz Majid]

Apologies if this has already been posted before, but I was wondering...

...I own a W210 E280 Tiptronic which I have had for the last 7 years.

It's now done 178,000 miles, and I get an average of 30mpg on the motorway and around 15-16 on short runs. This has been consistent for the last 100,000 miles.

The best I've ever had on a tank is 33mpg, and even got 31 only 2 weeks ago, so the engine and injectors etc. are hopefully still in good condition.

I never trust the computer estimate, and always measure manually and have found the computer to be approximately 2mpg more than reality, which isn't too bad as far as accuracy is concerned.

The 15mpg horrified me in the beginning but I soon got used to it, mainly because the majority of my mileage is done on the motorway. 30 is quite impressive in my opinion for such a big and heavy car, although who wouldn't want more?

What kind of mpg do other petrol owners get?

 

[Peter DLM]

I had an E320 Estate a while ago, and that produced very good MPG figures, the best being 37mpg over a long run averaging 63mph.

Sadly I was a little tardy in getting the camera out, 5 mins stationary in Central London killed it slightly.

 

[jeffwebb]

I'd love to get 30 mpg from mine

 

[gIzzE]

I used to get 21mpg on short journeys round town, and averaged 24mpg in my E320 S210.
However it would easily do 30+ on a run, 35mpg if you didn't hammer it, which is pretty impressive.

There isn't that much between the E320 petrol and the E320 diesel as far as I am concerned, and when you take into account the premium you pay for a 2 year old diesel over the petrol I would guess the diesel is the more expensive car to run for the used buyer, if buying new the diesel makes far more sense, well...financially anyway.


The petrol sixes are so, so, so much more refined than the diesels.

 

[Shamaz Majid]

For partial journeys (i.e. say those that use up a portion of a full tank) I've had up to 39 according to the computer, which I would equate to around 37, which is quite phenomenal IMO.

Unfortunately the remaining tank was spent on short journeys, thus ruining the overall figures. :-(

I had an E320 Estate a while ago, and that produced very good MPG figures, the best being 37mpg over a long run averaging 63mph.

Sadly I was a little tardy in getting the camera out, 5 mins stationary in Central London killed it slightly.

 

[Shamaz Majid]

The petrol sixes are so, so, so much more refined than the diesels.

An interesting point. Until recently, I was very hostile to diesels and would never consider buying one. The usual petrol arrogance; noisy, smelly, slow etc.

However, having been in a number recently and also seen the specs of some of the latest engines, I am quite stunned. There are a few that can do 0-60 in 6 secs or less and still give you 40mpg. Amazing!

However, was chatting to a colleague recently standing next to his new 3 series diesel, with the door open... the door frame was vibrating and shaking. When I pointed it out, he said it was normal! I was shocked and have to admit that any growing attraction towards diesels has vanished again.

 

[welland99]

I've had my E280 for about 18 months now. I find petrol consumption very good. If I go to work on country roads (15 miles), I can easily get over 30 MPG - up to 34 MPG in summer time. Just looked at the computer yesterday and it was showing an average of 34.9 over the last 1000 miles. This is mixed motoring.

 

[shorty]

My 210 was a 200 kompressor with a manual 6 speed box . I used to get 28 mpg on the raset menu and would see 31 / 32 mpg on longer runs . The best i ever saw was 34 ,this was after a 120 mile journey at high moter way speeds .

 

[kwakdonut]

I used to get 21mpg on short journeys round town, and averaged 24mpg in my E320 S210.
However it would easily do 30+ on a run, 35mpg if you didn't hammer it, which is pretty impressive.

There isn't that much between the E320 petrol and the E320 diesel as far as I am concerned, and when you take into account the premium you pay for a 2 year old diesel over the petrol I would guess the diesel is the more expensive car to run for the used buyer, if buying new the diesel makes far more sense, well...financially anyway.


The petrol sixes are so, so, so much more refined than the diesels.

Beg to differ there - although mine is a 211, 35mpg round town and 45 on a run is significantly better than the petrol versions! If you're doing greater-than-average mileage, the diesel makes sense almost all of the time

 

[welland99]

Beg to differ there - although mine is a 211, 35mpg round town and 45 on a run is significantly better than the petrol versions! If you're doing greater-than-average mileage, the diesel makes sense almost all of the time

I think if the benefit of diesel is only about 10 mpg, then to make a used diesel cost effective over 3 to 5 years would require a very large mileage. I can't do the maths at this time of night, but maybe somebody else can....

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[harrisonland]

I think if the benefit of diesel is only about 10 mpg, then to make a used diesel cost effective over 3 to 5 years would require a very large mileage. I can't do the maths at this time of night, but maybe somebody else can....

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Don't want to start a petrol vs diesel war here, but I get 35mpg regularly for short distances - just returned from a 2500 mile trip with an indicated average of 39.8mpg despite travelling at *ehem*, ...I mean despite "making good progress".

Bought my 2001 E320 CDI Estate for around the same price as a petrol one of similar age, so the only issue is the UK's punitive tax on diesel. (In most of Europe, diesel is at least 10 euro cents cheaper than petrol.)

This is my first diesel, but it pulls like a train up those hills around the Rheingebiet.

 

[gIzzE]

I buy far too many cars, I have had probably 35 over the last 12 years and out of all of those only one has been brand new, the rest have ranged from £50k cars at 6 months old to a W210 E320 that was 10 years old, 82k miles and £3200, oh and an E30 325i that was £900.

There is definitely a pattern with pricing on diesel vs petrol.

From new they are pretty much the same price, at 6 months old there is very little in it with the diesel doing slightly better at holding its value, but not enough to make it a buying no brainer.
However, get to 3 years old and the diesels hold their money far better, by year 6 that gap has narrowed again with them being pretty similar once more, by the time they are 10 years old most marques actually see a premium for the petrol, not sure why this is, maybe people get scared off with diesels as they get older as more to go wrong with turbos etc.?

So if you are buying and want to make it as cheap as possible you need to buy at the right point on the depreciation curve. You also need to consider petrol vs diesel prices at the time of buying, and think whether these prices are sustainable over the long haul, it was amazing how prices of petrol cars shot up 2 years ago when petrol was nearly 20p cheaper than diesel, it only lasted a couple of months but people who were buying their cars for 3 years still looked at the fuel prices on the day they bought the car and factored that into their decision.


Now, I have bought an E320cdi and it was 3 years old with 60k miles on it, but it was £3000 cheaper than the next one out there with the same mileage and age, there is no way I would have paid the £3k more for it from anywhere else, and the dealers were asking £6k more, £5k after haggling. To put this into perspective I could have bought an E350 petrol with 10k miles less on it and still saved £1800, but I decided £1800 was not worth it for resale ease, not value but ease, as at 6 years old there would be sod all difference in price, plus it was a colour I wasn't mad about.

I do 45k miles a year and in the E350 I average nearly 5mpg less than the diesel, so this is a saving of £20 a week in fuel, 29mpg vs 34mpg.
For someone only doing 15k miles a year that is a saving of......£6!!

My car is depreciating at £70 a week still, servicing and tyres are costing me £20 a week, insurance is £20 a week, I spend more than £6 a week on chocolate and coffee when I fill up the bloody thing.
Oh, and then we have the £1800 I would have saved and lost over the next 3 years, well probably lost £1300 of it, may still be a £500 premium? That is £8 a week.

So in actual fact, the petrol would have probably cost me less over the 3 year period, however............

We notice money that we spend on a daily basis, I notice going to the pump every 450 miles rather than every 550 miles, I don't notice the money I spent paying the premium in the first place as that was in the past. So I buy the diesel, as I am just like everyone else in Europe. And I tell myself that 'I bought it for the torque!!'

 

[gIzzE]

Beg to differ there - although mine is a 211, 35mpg round town and 45 on a run is significantly better than the petrol versions! If you're doing greater-than-average mileage, the diesel makes sense almost all of the time

Everyones idea of round town is different though, my round town why I am now sees 31mpg in the diesel, where I used to live it was 25mpg, loads more jucntions, lights, and generally much shorter roads.
Now, on a cold winters morning where it is sub 5°c and I am only doing 6 miles the diesel doesn't even get to proper temperature, and the petrol used to better it for economy, the diesel was struggling to get 24mpg the petrol was showing just over 25mpg, on a run the differences stretched, but you never buy a diesel if you do loads of short runs, and specially not if you have a Diesel Particle Filter.

 

[gkerr4]

do they still make the petrol ones? - i can't think the last time I saw a petrol C or E class on the road (AMG models excluded, of course).

 

[harrisonland]

So I buy the diesel, as I am just like everyone else in Europe. And I tell myself that 'I bought it for the torque!!'

With my kind of driving I regularly get a 39mile return on each gallon of fuel. This equates to £590 saving annually.

Being different is all very nice, but working out what's best for you personally is cleverer. If it pays to be like "every one else" I don't mind so doing. I don't need to "tell myself" anything, thanks.

Tim

 

[gIzzE]

With my kind of driving I regularly get a 39mile return on each gallon of fuel. This equates to £590 saving annually.

Being different is all very nice, but working out what's best for you personally is cleverer. If it pays to be like "every one else" I don't mind so doing. I don't need to "tell myself" anything, thanks.

Tim

The point is, if you are getting 39mpg from your diesel you would be seeing around 34mpg from the petrol.

 

[harrisonland]

The point is, if you are getting 39mpg from your diesel you would be seeing around 34mpg from the petrol.

The point is, it's horses for courses.

 

[gIzzE]

The point is, it's horses for courses.

Of course, that is always the case with everything in life, but we do seem to have a serious unjust fear of petrol cars these days, we all tend to follow like sheep and buy what everyone else is buying without doing the maths, and I included myself with that.

We do the maths in our head, adding 2+2 and coming up with 11, and then buy that car, but if everyone seriously sat down and worked it out properly I think more of us would buy petrol again.
For me doing 45k miles a year the savings are so small going diesel it really does make you wonder why I do it.

Hence my comment "I tell myself I bought it for the torque." The old diesel owners favourite. Closely followed by "the diesel goes from 40-70 in 5 seconds in 4th where as the petrol takes 7 seconds. It's all about in gear acceleration."
Problem with that is the petrol owner would be in third and would then do it in 4 seconds!!


look, I'm happy with my diesel, with an auto 'box and being a big wallowy car the diesel is fine, the only thing it looses out on is some refinement, other than that it is great, but I have quit convincing myself it is saving me any real money, that's all.

 

[harrisonland]

look, I'm happy with my diesel, with an auto 'box and being a big wallowy car the diesel is fine, the only thing it looses out on is some refinement, other than that it is great, but I have quit convincing myself it is saving me any real money, that's all.

Up to 4 months ago, I was happy with my Caravelle - a 2.5l petrol. Unfortunately, it only returned 19mpg at its *very* best. Now I don't need 7 seats any more, so downsizing and going from an average of 15mpg to almost 40 is a big bonus.

This is only my second diesel - the first was a 1.9l Citroen BX that I picked up for £600. When it was written off by a taxi driver reversing into me after 12 months the insurance co. paid £900. Me? Quids in.

This conversation has turned into the diesel vs petrol discussion that I wanted to avoid, however the savings of diesel vs petrol on this car pay for my insurance.

I must add that in my 25 year driving history I've now owned 11 different cars - some I've only had for a short time, but I tend to keep them until they are not worth repairing any more, so re-sale value isn't really an issue. Bangernomics aren't really appropriate at the moment as I do longer trips to Europe, but changing circumstances effect changing behaviours and attitudes.

Sorry if I've sounded a bit curt over the course of this exchange, but I sense we agree that it's pointless adopting a dogmatic view on this, and many other issues.

Tim

 

[gkerr4]

Of course, that is always the case with everything in life, but we do seem to have a serious unjust fear of petrol cars these days, we all tend to follow like sheep and buy what everyone else is buying without doing the maths, and I included myself with that.

We do the maths in our head, adding 2+2 and coming up with 11, and then buy that car, but if everyone seriously sat down and worked it out properly I think more of us would buy petrol again.
For me doing 45k miles a year the savings are so small going diesel it really does make you wonder why I do it.

Hence my comment "I tell myself I bought it for the torque." The old diesel owners favourite. Closely followed by "the diesel goes from 40-70 in 5 seconds in 4th where as the petrol takes 7 seconds. It's all about in gear acceleration."
Problem with that is the petrol owner would be in third and would then do it in 4 seconds!!


look, I'm happy with my diesel, with an auto 'box and being a big wallowy car the diesel is fine, the only thing it looses out on is some refinement, other than that it is great, but I have quit convincing myself it is saving me any real money, that's all.

Hi Gizze - I've read your posts on this as I was curious to know why you were no better off with a diesel than a petrol and you say the difference between an E350 and an E320cdi was 5mpg - I'm not doubting this, but I think this is an exception rather than "the norm"

When I changed cars earlier this year after changing jobs and going from doing about 4000 a year to doing about 25000 a year.

assuming of my 25,000 miles that 20,000 is motorway my new car regularly does 54 to the gallon which would cost me £2054 at todays pump price - the best I could get from the 325i was about 32mpg - which would cost £3402 at todays pump price - so the c class saves me £1400 a year in fuel costs - over £100 a month.

now agreed i had to buy a new car - but I was going to do that anyway - also agreed the latest 325i is probably more efficient than my last one and i know from looking around that i'd have paid about the same for a 325i and the c200cdi I bought, all things (age, mileage, condition etc) being equal - actually the 325 woukld possibly have been a bit more. but still - the c220 i have now is only 15bhp down on my old 325 and has a lot more torque, it isn't as refined but is easier to cover ground in as it's quieter and an auto box - for me the diesel thing is a no-brainer really. and as I said in my last comment - i wondered if they still made petrol 'c' and 'e' class cars as everyone buys diesels (same could be said for 3-series and 5-series bms of course) - cos the diesels are so good these days!