They may be holding the V-8 diesel back until the new S-Class is
introduced in '06 MY.

I'd buy one of those!

127.0.0.1 <jd@cs.com> haute in die Tasten:

When I visited the USA first in 1994, I remember a fuel price of about
one dollar per gallon, which back then was roughly one quarter of german
price. If my memory serves me right, fuel prices in the US have doubled
over the past few years. For somebody like me, who is used to expensive
fuel, US fuel still looks incredibly cheap, while someboody who lives in
the US today has to spend far more of his salary at the petrol station.
25 years ago there was a slight diesel boom, Even 20 years ago I saw lots
of W123 diesel cars in Florida. Mercedes even produced Diesel cars for
the US which were not officially available on the german market, the W123
300D coup? and the W126 300 SDL. These cars offered low fuel consumption
for the price of poor power output and a noisy and rattling engine (Had a
W123 240D automatic on my own, so I know how 72 HP feel in a 1,7 ton
car). In Germany these cars were only popular because Diesel fuel is
substantially cheaper, so taxicab drivers loved them.

Today's diesels are different. They offer the same power and usually far
more torque than gas engines of the same displacement. Smoothness and
sound level have by far improved. In Germany often it is a matter of
calculation, wether you buy a Diesel or not: Fuel is cheaper (roughly
20%), tax and insurance are higher, maintenance schedules are shorter,
resale value is higher. If you look for your money, it is hard to lose
with a Diesel Mercedes. Besides that today many people buy a Diesel for
sheer fun, because they love to have twice the torque of a gas engine, at
30% less fuel consumption. They love the long range (VW currently does TV
advertising on that topic) and they enjoy the feeling of saving money at
every tank stop, (while tax and insurance are withdrawn from your bank
account only once a year). My Citroen with 2.0-Litre gas engine needs a
new fill of 95 or 98 octane gas every 500 kilometres, which usually cost
me some 85 dollars - can you imagine how interestig I found my test ride
on a Toyota Prius, which simply cuts fuel cost by 50%?

For me it is obvious that the big diesel engines in the E- and S-clas are
very desireable for everyone who has to pay for his fuel himself. Just
imagine an S-class with a highway mileage of a Toyota Corolla! I think
that Mercedes is a little bit afraid of low quality diesel fuel and
untrained mechanics, whho could spoil the reputation of their current
diesel engines. But once these issues are solved, I do not see any reason
not to sell these cars successfully everywhere in the world.

Frank