Are you looking for an SUV that gets great fuel mileage? The choices in the market for SUVs with good fuel economy keep growing which is great for you as a potential SUV buyer. Some of the market leaders are the German brands like Mercedes. The company entered the diesel SUV market with their ML model several years ago and has continued to develop the model in addition to recently adding a diesel engine to the smaller GLK SUV.
In the old days of diesel power in the United States companies like Mercedes didn't equip their diesel vehicles with turbochargers which led to vehicles like the 240D which might not have used that much fuel but also took so long to get up to highway speeds that it could be dangerous especially in today's driving environment.
Fortunately all the modern diesel SUVs come with turbocharged engines and they are actually really exciting power plants. A turbocharger can make a gasoline engine more exciting but it is absolutely essential for a enjoyable diesel driving experience. Today's turbo-diesels are so good they actually make more torque than most V8 gasoline fueled engines and get better fuel economy at the same time.
If you want a diesel Mercedes SUV you now have three choices depending on your needs. The smallest model is the newly refreshed GLK which is followed by the middle sized ML350 BlueTec. The largest diesel model is the GL350 BlueTec which can seat up to 7 passengers.
The ML350 is quite a powerful ride and features a 3.0L V6 that makes 240 horsepower and 455 lb-ft of torque thanks to the boost provided by its turbocharger. Fuel economy ratings are 20 MPG and 27 MPG for the city and highway respectively. The power output for the ML350 beats the competition from Volkswagen and Audi but the Mercedes doesn't do quite as well in the fuel economy department both in the EPA ratings and in real world driving as reported by owners of the model.
If you like the engine in the ML350 BlueTec but don't actually need an SUV you could consider the S350 BlueTec with 4Matic AWD. As long as you don't plan to do any off road driving the S class car should be able to provide all the slick weather traction of the ML model with better fuel economy.
The ML350 is designed to seat 5 people like a sedan so if maximum cargo and passenger space is your goal you should go for the GL350 model. One odd thing about the GL is that despite being a bigger vehicle and using the same 3.0L diesel engine it is tuned for a power output of only 210 HP and 400 lb-ft of torque. Perhaps Mercedes will remedy this discrepancy in the near future.
Whichever diesel SUV model you choose to go with one thing you can be sure of is that you will be getting a level of refinement and efficiency that was not available in the SUV market just five or ten years ago. Hopefully this trend towards the production of highly efficient SUVs continues for some time to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment