Mercedes-Benz E320 CDI sets world record

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Stuttgart, Germany – The new Mercedes-Benz V6 CDI diesel engine has marked the start of its career with a string of world records. Fitted in three standard-production E320 CDI models, the cars covered 100,000 km, 50,000 miles (80,467 km) and 100,000 miles (160,934 km) in world-record time, and without any technical problems, at a high-speed circuit in Laredo, Texas. Despite the extreme stresses, the maintenance-free diesel particulate filters held up over the entire distances without any deterioration in performance. The 100,000 mile run was made at an average of 224.823 km/h.

In total, the three cars covered 482,802 km, or one-and-a-quarter times the distance from the Earth to the Moon, over 30 days. The vehicles were driven by three teams of six drivers, with each driver taking the wheel for about two hours. In total, the drivers had to stop 966 times in the pits for refueling and visual checks; maintenance was performed using the customary service interval indicator in the cockpit. Each vehicle required servicing ten times over the run, changing oil, air and diesel filters.