Being the owner of a now defunct 280 SE 4.5L and never having had the
pleasure of driving one in new condition, I find the review pretty
snarky, especially the "looking down the nose at" comments on
replacing the overhead cams with pushrods.
The American competitors for a Benz in those days had 450 to 460 cubic
inch pushrod engines and got 8 miles per gallon -- my neighbors had
an Olds 98. Got six mpg if you got heavy with the foot. Driven
lightly and set for milage rather than performace (the lean end of the
spec) the Benz will get 14 every day, 17 on the highway. I know, I did.
The 3.5L is 214 cu in. The 4.5L is 276 cu in, far smaller than even a
Chevy 350, and has similar hp output when you measure it at the
transmission output shaft (hp rating from the US in those days were
grossly exaggerated). 232 hp in a 3200 lb car (not two tons, but the
way) is plenty. The Benz turns out 1.3 hp/cu in, the American iron
struggles to generate 0.7, and the 3.5L M117 turns 6200 rpm. A Caddy
will toss a rod if you try to go over 4500 rpm.
The fluid coupling and 4-speed tranny was a problem, and my 4.5L has
the three speed with torque converter, a better combination, and while
it might not beat a Caddy coupe off the line, it will spank it at 70.
Germans require passing power, and that Benz has it in spades. It's
difficult to maintain speed on the interstate, it always wants to run,
and normal country driving is a problem, mine always wanted to go 60
mph at light throttle.
The handling comments are just silly, a Caddy of that vintage (or
Lincoln) had enough understeer for three cars and plowed like a
wounded whale. You do get some roll oversteer out of the Benz, but
nothing like what you get once one of those land yachts gets into a
turn and lifts the inside rear tire off the road as the door handles
dig into the asphalt. Butt backwards into the ditch, I've seen it
time and again. The swing axle rear end can also jack on you in hard
cornering, but it's predictable and controllable. The Benz will
simply outdrive any American car of that vintage, except maybe a Super
B or a Shelby, but neither of those are luxury sedans.
And they miss the main point, as far as I'm concerned. If you have
your seat belts on, you can walk away from a very severe accident in
that Benz. You wouldn't in a contemporary American luxury car, they
were tin cans.
We will politely overlook the fact that the American sedans would
usually be junk by 100,000 miles while the Benz would look and run
like new, eh?
Peter
_______________________________________
http://www.okiebenz.com
To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those
individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no
control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
