Mercedes diesel engines. Fast diesel engines

When you were thinking about a new diesel at 1990, you were in an exciting time. Once, 'diesels' were slow but reliable companions for many riders. For business travelers and representatives. For men who are now called Sales executives or something.

In a Mercdes 200 D you were not bad on the ladder socially. And truck drivers saw you as a better packed type of colleague. Because slow that those old diesels were!

But in 1990 diesels were different

Partly due to all sorts of environmental issues and technical developments, the good diesels - not only at Mercedes-Benz - had almost reached the same level in terms of performance as their petrol brothers. The era of De Snelle Diesels was born.

Mercedes-Benz also had a historic lead

And 'turbo' became the magic word that the diesels really learned to run. Diesels suddenly became 180 + km / h fast. And so came the Mercedes-Benz 190 D 2,5 Turbo. That 'W201'er' was one with a five-cylinder engine from the Mercedes 'construction set'. The blown diesel was ventilated with 0,9 bar overpressure and supplied 122 hp. At 4.600 rpm.

Lots of torque

That went together with an impressive couple of 225 Nm at 2.400 rpm. If those speeds were not there you would just think that it was about a gasoline engine. In the press there were already cautious questions about when real racing cars with diesel engines would come.

Preheat

In 1990 it still took a second or 10-15 before enough heat was generated to run the diesel. But after that the engine started silently and without emitting soot clouds. Then the serious enjoyment began. Mercedes-Benz supplied this car with a four-speed automatic transmission as standard. That approach suited the engine character with its high torque at low revs. And then you just had a diesel that ran from 0-100 in ten seconds.

In the old generations of 200Ds, the acceleration was measured not with a stopwatch, but with a calendar. The vehicle dynamic was in agreement with the block. The 190 D 2,5 Turbo was fast, comfortable and had an exemplary road holding. Even when it was about fast and curvy routes. The - certainly because of the heavy diesel engine in the necessary - power steering was effective, but continued to give a nice feedback to the driver.

The seats were what was then called 'German hard'

The passengers didn't really have much room behind the driver. The 190s were certainly not the most spacious cars in their class. The trunk was also not huge and also had a fairly serious lifting height. And all that little spectacularly designed quality and dynamics resulted in a brave use of such an 1 on 8. But 1 on 11 was also achievable.

Quality and range

Mercedes-Benz naturally has an exemplary quality reputation. The result is that an 2,5 TD from 1990 with more than six tons on the grower can still have an asking price of € 3.500. For a copy with only 160.000 kilometers on the counter, € 4.750 can be requested. Or almost € 9.000. That proves that 'almost two tons' is not much and that all prices are asking prices.

Great: The 2,5 TD had extra cooling slits in its right front screen. For 'lesser' diesels, the always-awake accessories supplied trade stickers with those cooling slots.

Thanks to Klaas de Poel, Surhuisterveen