mercedes 190d auto

jerryg

Hi to all,
I was just wondering what a 190d auto is like,I know they are slow but are they that bad.How would one fare on a commute of 46 miles /day with some motorway driving.I was thinking (dreaming)of running on veg oil.Any responses gratefully received.
Thanks,
Jerry

Anan1

Do you mean a 2.0 or a 2.5? The standard 2.0 was painfully slow, even more so in auto. That said, it should be fine if you're not overtaking on back roads. From memory, they were the first car to have a fully encapsulated engine bay to counter engine noise.

8~)

Do your research on veg oil; you'll either have to pay to do a proper conversion or use a mix of veg oil and road diesel, varying the % of the mix depending on weather conditions (temperature, basically).

I haven't run a 190 diesel but reckon that it would average high 30s MPG (based on running averages of other Merc diesels). It would feel slow compared to a more modern TD.

Personally, unless you've an overwhelming desire for a 190, for cheap diesel motoring commuting I would get a 90s 1.9 TD Peugeot or Citroen.

jerryg

I was looking at a 2.0L one.

RobAMerc

my dad had a carb'd 190 and 2 days after he got it traded it in for a 190E - it was absolutely dog slow ( not that the E was much better ).

I can imagine the 190D auto is unreal.

People who have only ever driven modern diesels seem to have no idea how much they have improved in the last 10 years. Anything before that ( and less ) is positively agricultural.

shawnee

Hard to get a good one and my friend has just that. A 190D 2.5 AUTO. Still I drove it for a week and compared to my focus diesel it was painfully slow. Slow at lights , dangerous at crossroads and dead when overtaking. Nice car but I wouldn't have one for a daily drive :D

gn3dr

shawnee wrote: »

Hard to get a good one and my friend has just that. A 190D 2.5 AUTO. Still I drove it for a week and compared to my focus diesel it was painfully slow. Slow at lights , dangerous at crossroads and dead when overtaking. Nice car but I wouldn't have one for a daily drive :D

Simple answer then - stick a turbo on it:D or else just throw in a more modern Merc Turbodiesel

hoodie6029

I'd imagine that there'd be plenty of modern Merc diesels going cheap with the new taxi regulations. On second thoughts they might be best avoided...

Max_Damage

Stick in a 300D engine, a manual 'box, and a few big aul dirty turba's on her, and away you go!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gVUwDJ1QyY

jerryg

Would it pass an emissions test?

shawnee

shawnee wrote: »

Hard to get a good one and my friend has just that. A 190D 2.5 AUTO. Still I drove it for a week and compared to my focus diesel it was painfully slow. Slow at lights , dangerous at crossroads and dead when overtaking. Nice car but I wouldn't have one for a daily drive :D

Much the same as my old W124 250d, unbelievably slow, the sort of slow that you can't get used to. Can't imagine how anyone who bought one new was remotely happy with their purchase. A 1.1 Fiesta would have left them for dead.

Seweryn

jerryg wrote: »

Hi to all,
I was just wondering what a 190d auto is like,I know they are slow but are they that bad.How would one fare on a commute of 46 miles /day with some motorway driving.I was thinking (dreaming)of running on veg oil.Any responses gratefully received.
Thanks,
Jerry

Hi Jerry,

We have two 190D at home and they both are manuals. The auto box is as good, however you get lower fuel economy figures (down by say 20-ish %) with the auto, but that is the only downside in my opinion, as the transmission itself is fine, reliable and smooth.

The first 190D I bought about 18 months ago and I moved from a BMW 523iA, which I sold to buy the 190D. I have been very happy with the 190D. We covered 52,000 km in it since and the car has been extremely reliable. I only do a basic service and whatever is needed. The car returns at present 49.91 mpg (this is my total average since the purchase).

The car itself is light enough (about 300kg lighter than the W124), so it is not that slow and will easily do 160 km/h (see the photo below). It handles very well (better that its bigger brother, the 124-series), is comfortable, very well made and the engine will usually overlast the body, if serviced.

The other great advantage, which you mentioned, is the fact that the car runs happily on PPO (Pure Plant Oil) mixed with Diesel without the need of any conversion and that makes the car even more economical. Parts are cheap and the car is very easy to work on. Great for everyday commuting.

Bearcat

as a bove, 190d's are bullet proof.....easily serviced. Just have a good go thought the one your looking at as parts can be expensive.

Seweryn

Bearcat wrote: »

as a bove, 190d's are bullet proof.....easily serviced. Just have a good go thought the one your looking at as parts can be expensive.

Regarding the parts, I can't think of any expensive parts for the 190D (especially if you can source a good second hand stuff). All service parts, like filters, plugs, oils, bulbs, brake discs and pads, tyres, etc. are cheap really...

Seweryn

Bearcat wrote: »

as a bove, 190d's are bullet proof...

I think they really are .

Just an update... I went for the test this morning with my 190D and now I am back home having my tea. The Baby-Benz sailed through the NCT with no faults . NCT valid until February 2013. This car really puts a huge smile on my face, when it comes to reliability and low cost, comfortable motoring .

unkel

RoverJames wrote: »

Much the same as my old W124 250d, unbelievably slow, the sort of slow that you can't get used to. Can't imagine how anyone who bought one new was remotely happy with their purchase. A 1.1 Fiesta would have left them for dead.

Harsh!

A 1.1 Fiesta is a lot slower even compared to the auto W124 250d

unkel

unkel wrote: »

Harsh!

A 1.1 Fiesta is a lot slower even compared to the auto W124 250d

I dunno, two seconds quicker to 60 and the W124 doesn't get much better above 60. The fiesta will do better mpg too :pac: I'd sooner have the Merc though obviously

Seweryn

RoverJames wrote: »

I dunno, two seconds quicker to 60 and the W124 doesn't get much better above 60. The fiesta will do better mpg too :pac: I'd sooner have the Merc though obviously

You are wrong actually.

Fiesta 1.1 manual: 0-100 km/h 18.1 s (max speed 143 km/h).
W124 250D Automatic: 0-100 km/h 17.0s (max speed 170 km/h).

Not sure about the fuel consumption (I am not going to compare the official figures, as they are usually not accurate), but they are comparable between these two cars.

unkel

Seweryn wrote: »

Fiesta 1.1 manual: 0-100 km/h 18.1 s (max speed 143 km/h).
W124 250D Automatic: 0-100 km/h 17.0s (max speed 170 km/h).

And to put things into perspective, a brand new Skoda Octavia 1.4 does 0-100km/h in about 14s, so 17s isn't that slow.

Now the W123 200d, that was proper slow. 60BHP and 1,400KG so >30s

Seweryn

unkel wrote: »

Now the W123 200d, that was proper slow. 60BHP and 1,400KG so >30s

Yeah, the 200D W123 was properly slow and the automatic version was even slower than properly slow .

There were two power ratings and the earlier one (before 02.79) had only 55HP and the slowest of them all (the automatic) does 0-100 km/h in 33s, the later 200D manual was a lot quicker - 27s from 0 to 100 km/h.

Seweryn

Seweryn wrote: »

You are wrong actually.

Fiesta 1.1 manual: 0-100 km/h 18.1 s (max speed 143 km/h).
W124 250D Automatic: 0-100 km/h 17.0s (max speed 170 km/h).

Not sure about the fuel consumption (I am not going to compare the official figures, as they are usually not accurate), but they are comparable between these two cars.

Am I ?
Depends where you look I suppose No way is a Fiesta as slow as that. An ole issue of Autocar I have here (29 Dec 1993) reveals they got their 1.1 Fiesta to 60 in 15.3 seconds, they don't have a 250d listed in their road test results but list a time to 60 of 15.5 secs for the 300D auto

MPG 28/38 for the Fiesta and 29/35 for the Merc, (overall/touring)

I averaged 37mpg from my Merc when I had it, most of that was Cork to Galway and back again runs

Seweryn

RoverJames wrote: »

Am I ?
Depends where you look I suppose No way is a Fiesta as slow as that. An ole issue of Autocar I have here (29 Dec 1993) reveals they got their 1.1 Fiesta to 60 in 15.3 seconds, they don't have a 250d listed in their road test results but list a time to 60 of 15.5 secs for the 300D auto

MPG 28/38 for the Fiesta and 29/35 for the Merc, (overall/touring)

I averaged 37mpg from my Merc when I had it, most of that was Cork to Galway and back again runs

http://www.cars-data.com/en/ford-fiesta-11i-clx-50hp-9859/specs.html

According to this database, Fiesta is slower and that's official figures. I do not have real life tests and I never drove a Fiesta .

My 250TD (which is heavier and has 7% shorter gear ratios than 250D) does 43 mpg on average. So there are a lot of factors that determine all the figures...

Deminiman

Great car!! Cant go wrong,

http://mercedes-190.co.uk/index/

Check this for more :-)

Deminiman

I'm selling mine, Have a look :-)

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220804679292&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:IE:1123#ht_500wt_1156

_Conrad_

Deminiman wrote: »

I'm selling mine, Have a look :-)

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220804679292&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:IE:1123#ht_500wt_1156

That looks quite nice. I'd like another one but being a bit on the broke side will hinder that for another few months at least.
Great old cars.

I don't see everyone's fixation with them beineg "slow" of course they're slow but that's not why you buy one, you buy one because they're a big solid comfortable cruiser that will happily chug along for hundredes of thousands of miles once looked after, returning very good mpg for something big, old and heavy.
Sure my daily runaround at the moment is a passat b4 estate 1.9td with the 75hp non intercooled AAZ engine, now it's slow but it's great on diesel, runs on veg oil happily and can do 120km/h without hassle and that's the fastest you're supposed to go anyway. A 190d is also slow to accelerate but will do the speed limit without straining itself so what more do you need for a cheap daily cruiser to just tip around in?

those fixated on overtaking need to calm down, prepare earlier for your journey, plan your route and leave early, nice and relaxed. Tis better for the blood pressure hahaha

Deminiman

Here Here!! haha Slow and steady wins the race eh :-P

_Conrad_

Deminiman wrote: »

Here Here!! haha Slow and steady wins the race eh :-P

Or at least gets you there comfortably, without a heart attack, speeding fines or crashes. And with greater economy.