How underpowered is a car considered undrivable? The only new car Americans can buy with double-digit horsepower today is Mitsubishi Mirage 78 horsepowerwidely is said to be pathetically slowbut 62 horsepower today Junkyard gem So many, much slower than that car. It was also one of the most reliable motor vehicles ever built, and its long career ended in winter in a snowy car cemetery in Colorado.
This is W114 (technically W115 thanks to the four-cylinder engine, but today most people apply the W114 designation to both) the proto-E-Class, the direct predecessor of the Legendary W123. The W114/W115 was produced from 1968 to 1976 and sold well in North America.
No major automaker could match Mercedes-Benz for build quality in the mid-1970s, except perhaps Toyota with its century (produced by hand in small quantities with Emperor Hirohito as the target customer).
With gasoline shortages and increasingly high fuel prices in the wake of OPEC oil embargo in late 1973, a well-built sedan with excellent fuel economy thanks to a cheap and fairly easy-to-find diesel engine that appears to be a smart long-term purchase for American car buyers who can afford it. money. The US market 1975 240 D engine was a 2.4-liter SOHC inline four-cylinder oil-burner rated at 62 horsepower and 97 pound-feet.
That gives the 3,205-pound vehicle a power-to-weight ratio of 51.7 pounds per horsepower, making the 2024 Mirage with 28 pounds per horsepower accelerate like a car. Saturn V rocket by comparison. Back in 1982, i took my driver training manual in a 48 horsepower 1979 Volkswagen Rabbit Dieselwhich I consider to be horribly slow even though Late period of instability standard, and it boasts a mighty power 40.7 pounds per horsepower (yes, diesel torque helps, but not enough). In 1982 and 1983, the lowest power-to-weight levels for vehicles on the U.S. market in the modern era appear to have been achieved thanks to the Volkswagen Vanagon The diesel engine should pull an inspiring 67.3 pounds per horsepower.
US market 1975 240D was available with four-speed manual transmissionbut the original buyer of this one purchased a four-speed automatic transmission.
Yes, it’s extremely slow. So what? These cars run very smoothly and rarely have mechanical problems.
MSRP for the car with an automatic transmission and air conditioning (which it has) would be $10,257, or about $61,729 in 2024 dollars, not too far off the mark. Current E-Class car price. Meanwhile, a new brand 1975 Cadillac Sedan DeVille with the 500-inch (8.3-liter) V8 listed at just $8,601 ($51,763 after inflation). The Cadillac is bigger, more comfortable, more powerful… and a lot thirstier than the 240 D.
Unfortunately, Mercedes-Benz didn’t install a six-digit odometer for the W114 in 1975, which means we can’t know what its final mileage was. I’ve found Diesel Mercedes-Benzes have traveled more than half a million milesand this car may have covered similar miles over its lifetime.
With so many of these cars still on the road, we can expect to find them in scrapyards for decades to come.
You get what you paid for with the W114.
