Date:         Fri, 19 May 2000 12:20:47 -0600
Reply-To:     "Jon B. Kanas" <kanas@QUALITY.QADAS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Jon B. Kanas" <kanas@QUALITY.QADAS.COM>
Subject:      Gas Mileage Experience
Comments: To: peterduryea@earthlink.net
Comments: cc: mercedes@lister.privatei.com
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Peter and fellow listers,

Your post regarding come down from the mountains brings to mind a vacation
I took to Wyoming in my VW Syncro Camper.  Driving North on I-25 at 70+
MPH we were able to get over 40MPG due to incredible tailwinds.   When we
pulled off the freeway and our direction of travel became perpendicular to
the wind, we had a devil of a time keeping it on the road.

Wednesday of this week I drove Colorado 93 home in 70+MPH crosswinds in
the 300TE. It was actually difficult to keep it on the road.  I realize
that the wagon has more side surface area than the sedans, but I was still
surprised that the winds were that severe.  Lots of damaged roofs and
downed power lines reported in the paper.

Regards to all,
Jon



From: peterduryea@earthlink.net [mailto:peterduryea@earthlink.net]
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2000 9:53 AM
To: mercedes-digest@lister.privatei.com
Subject: Subject: [MB] 300TE Mileage


Greetings Listers,
Jon, every time I hurtle out from the barren plains to go to
Colorado for my annual summer trout-fishing expedition, I am
amazed at the increased mpgs I experience. I, too, used to log
every single tank of gas/diesel. That was BM (before marriage-how
do you like that complicated acronym Big Timmy), now I just have
trouble keeping the beasties filled with fuel. My wife has an
annoying habit of leaving them running on fumes for yours truly
to fill up. Anyway, I digress....
When I had my 240D in the mountains, I consistently got 35mpg.
And, upon hurtling back towards the plains, I sometimes got 40mpg!
And this was at top 240D speed of around 70mph. Once I hit the
thick air, mileage restabilized at around 30-33mpg.
My original sticker for the 300te has 16 city and 20 hwy. Is
this different than a non-4matic 300te? Anyone catch my message
about the codes from the MB dealers/can decipher?
PeterD in Bugaha