Diesel used to be a big deal. A couple of decades ago, some governmental authorities and plenty of automakers thought that, one day, we’d all be driving diesel vehicles fueled by sustainable biofuel. Such a future was nearly made a reality in Europe, where diesel was the dominant fuel for passenger vehicles. There were breathless press releases from multiple automakers about how clean and good diesel was. Diesel’s future was indeed bright – but ten years ago today, that all changed. The Dieselgate scandal burst the bubble. As we remember this event, this Autopian is asking: what is the best diesel car?
In the post-Dieselgate world, diesel has retreated back to where it works best: fueling locomotives, heavy trucks, construction equipment, and more. Even in Europe, diesel isn’t nearly where it used to be. Now, the world is focused on just finding its way out of internal combustion, for a future powered by batteries and, sometimes, maybe hydrogen.
But car enthusiasts are a weird breed. We don’t always do what’s logical, and we don’t always follow the pack. “Diesel” might be a swear word in many regions, but some folks still cling to their compression ignition-powered cars. There’s good reason to: Historically, diesels have been capable of covering epic miles between overhauls while providing hybrid-like fuel economy. Then there’s the torque and the lovely clatter.
Choosing the best diesel would be hard for me. An easy pick would be a legend like the Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI, the Audi Q7 V12 TDI, or the Volkswagen Phaeton V10 TDI. All of these diesels were designed during the craziest period of the Volkswagen Group’s history, when engineers got to flex their muscles, punching out mechanical works of art with pumped-up power figures for their day. Another great pick from this era would be Audi’s diesel racecars, which didn’t just go fast, but dominated the field for years. Audi proved that diesel didn’t have to be slow and unsophisticated. And then there was the time Opel made a diesel sportscar …
But I’m going to take my modern fangirl hat off and go in a different direction. I think the best diesel car is one that gets great fuel economy and will continue to drive upwards of a million miles with minimal futzing around. For that, I’m turning to the iconic Mercedes-Benz W123, which was built in the millions between late 1975 and 1986. Specifically, I’m going to choose a Mercedes-Benz 300CD Turbodiesel from the 1980s.
In their day, the diesel engines in these cars were an engineering marvel. The OM617 A 3.0-liter straight-five diesel was a pioneer in turbocharging, and it took Benz’s already nearly bulletproof powerplant and gave it an extra dose of power. These engines, at least here in the States, made 123 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque. That’s not a ton of juice today, but back in the 1980s, it was enough to slice an entire 8 seconds off of the 60 mph acceleration speeds of Mercedes-Benz’s naturally aspirated diesels.
This meant taking only 12 to 15 seconds or so to hit 60 rather than over 20 seconds. Yet, these cars still got over 20 mpg, even with aggressive driving, and sometimes above 30 mpg with really careful drivers. I also love how these engines were served up in some fun body styles, including a coupe! Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to see these still driving around with a crazy number of miles, and since they’re so simple compared to the diesels of today, they’re relatively easy for an enthusiast to keep around.
So, that’s my answer, the Mercedes diesels of the 1980s are the GOATs of oil-burning automobiles. What do you think is the best diesel car?
Top graphic image: Mercedes-Benz
I gotta go with a W123 or W124 just because they were so well-engineered and designed. And, to my eye, looked perfect.
But, I didn’t realize how slow they were. My ’01 Jetta TDI would get to 60 in about 10 seconds. That was probably after getting it chipped to add 20 more HP and I don’t know how much more torque.
This site says stock it was a little over 11 seconds to 60.
2001 Volkswagen Jetta GLS TDI 0-60 Time, Quarter Mile, & Specs
I did love the sound the 5 cylinder ones made at idle.
I don’t know much about the Peugeot diesels, other than they were probably slower than the Mercedes of that day. I drove a 504 diesel wagon once and its acceleration was glacial.
And perhaps I’m uninformed, but it seems interesting to me how diesel was much more of Europe thing than an Asia thing.
As a former owner of VW diesels and the current owner of a 240D, I would pick the Mercedes diesel
Easy. Citroen CX TurboDiesel 2
I have to pick the one we had when I was a kid: the 1980 VW Dasher diesel 2-door hatchback. The whole family loved that car, and it served us well for three years until I got too tall to ride in the back seat comfortably.
48 horsepower may not sound like a lot, and it isn’t, but don’t sell it short; that car made it to the top of Pike’s Peak more than once (in second gear, but still). And my mom commuted a hundred miles a day through Chicago traffic in it for a couple of years, rocking 40 MPG the whole time.
Several years later, when I was painting houses for a summer job during college, I spotted a white 2-door Dasher with a for sale sign on it down the block from the house we were working on. I walked over to look on my lunch break – it was our old car. Same JC Whitney sunroof my dad put in, same damaged side trim from Bear Country, USA in Wyoming. And not even all that rusty. They wanted $1,500 for it, and I was sorely tempted.
That’s a great story. I almost wish you had bought it, but maybe you saved yourself a lot of pain by not. It was a German car, after all.
While I’m a big fan of VW diesels, I have to agree with the author and most of the comments: It’s one of the older Mercedes diesels, partly because the cars are beautiful, but MOSTLY because, all over the world, you’ll find taxi versions of those beauties, beaten, ragged, banged up and still running.
If you line up every car that’s gone a million miles or more, the most common will be a Mercedes diesel.
Chevy Cruze hatchback.
Na. GM made some dumb decisions when they brought it to the US on top of it being new enough it’s burdened with modern emissions stuff. At least on early ones, there wasn’t a way to know that it was in the middle of a regen cycle, so there was a decent chance you’d turn the car off in the middle of one. That would then cause a check engine light and you’d have to go to the dealer for a manual clean cycle.
Don’t get me wrong, I like clean air and appreciate not allowing people to just ruin it – we are just passed the point of diesels being a good idea for cars like that.
Right answer is Mercedes, but rather than W123 I’d say W124 with either OM601 (2 liter 4 banger diesel) if you want extreme mileage and are not in a hurry or OM603 (six cylinder 3 liter) if you want a bit more oomph. W124 is anything it’s predecessor is; W124 is still as stout, reliable and mechanical as W123 is but it is only more comfortable and economical. I’ve managed to get regularly 5 l / 100 km (nearly 50 mpg) with W124 and OM601, 4 speed manual.
“Not in a hurry” equals, as one of my friends said whose parents had one, “you can run faster than it.”
I very much second this. We only got the diesel sixes in the US, and only with automatics, and not very many of them. A few later generation e-class had the turbo diesel fours here. Virtually all w123s sold here were diesels though. Gas was only sold the first couple years of them in small numbers.
Though honorable mention has to go to the *stupidly* rapid multi-turbo BMW diesels of the 2010s and up. Not anything like as reliable, but a whole heck of a lot faster.
Don’t forget the OM602. My dream DD would have one with a 5-speed in my W124.
I don’t think people give the 2.4 diesel enough credit. It’s got great low down grunt and does wonders in stop and go traffic.
Mercedes were so elegant in those days. The W123 and W124 were both incredible looking cars. With some great wheels to match on some.
A neighbor bought a 220D W115 (the difference from the W114 eludes me) with a 4M transmission and let me drive it after I got my learner’s permit. The stick was a dream and it certainly went around corners better than my parents’ Oldsmobile and shifted better than my dad’s three-on-the-tree pickup.
Username checks out
My old 1998 E300 with the turbocharged 3.0 OM606. Such a gem.
Found some pics of the one time I had to change the glow plugs:
https://flic.kr/p/8Pr2t
https://flic.kr/p/8Ps6G
https://flic.kr/p/8Pr2s
Can confirm, nailed it on the Merc. Basically, everything on a W123 diesel will absolutely rot and dissolve to pieces around the engine and the upholstery, eventually leaving nothing but a running engine and a collapsed but still smooth driver seat and fairly ok passenger seats. Eventually, even the MB-Tex will start to crack and fall apart (this takes extreme temperatures and at least a quarter million miles of butt friction) but the engine will just. keep. going.
…Mercedes has since proceeded to entirely forget how to build a diesel with above average longevity…
The former BMW tech who hates BMW is going to surprise everyone and say ANY BMW with the N57 diesel engine. I absolutely loved them, as they were surprisingly easier to work on than their gasoline engines, super reliable in comparison, smooth and high revving for a diesel, and had a surprisingly throaty and sexy exhaust note.
They were not made to run the coolant constantly at 105 Celsius and didn’t make the engine bay hot as the Sun like their gasoline brethren, did they ? I suspect that’s where the magic lies…
Five years ago, the answer was easy- it was easy to find a low mile e70 x5 with an m57 powerplant. 2011-2013 was the ideal year range, examples under 100k miles were $15k and under all day long
i bought a 2012 X5 xDrive35d in 2019 with 70k miles on it for $15k. its 2025 and that same car now has 191k. full disclosure- i blew the turbos and then the engine in pursuit of whooshy noises and freeway pulls at 189k, but beyond that it’s been the perfect daily driver. big enough for two adults and a 5yo, enough towing capacity for anything i’ll come home with, enough power to be fun on the road but not look like it, enough space in the wheel wells for squared 315/35-20s
in 2025? the correct answer is still ‘any m57 powered BMW with recorded service history,’ but a close second would be ‘any n57 powered BMW with overly cautious service history’
speaking only from experience here, next on the list would be any OM642 powered Mercedes with a timing chain service, dpf replaced under warranty or deleted, with oil cooler service
A lot of modern diesels come with a lot of caveats (thanks, EPA. thanks, timing chains at the back of the engine. thanks, oil cooler in the asscrack of the valley) but once the achille’s heels are addressed, they will not fail with regular maintenance. Obviously this is all anecdotal but I have enough clients with the same vehicles who will swear by them so I’ll ride out the oil burners until i can’t anymore
Number 1 must be the Porsche Cayenne 4.2 TDI, a towing beast but sold only for a short period of time.
Number 2 is an interesting hot hatch: Old Audi A3 2.0 TDI with 170 HP and lots of torque. Nimble but planted on the road. Was st a time when Volkswagen went after unit injectors instead of common rail. Could you do a feature on that?
Peugeot 504 Wagon.
YES !
I absolutely love them. Owned two wagons and a particularly lovely 504D sedan (that I DEEPLY regret selling) – but the w123 Mercedes was massively better in every way but ride quality and interior space. If you could afford the massively higher price, which I could not at the time. Which was how I got into Peugeots in the first place, and ultimately owned seven of them in total. Nicest cheapest used cars you could buy in the US.
It’s your lucky day. Needs a wash, tho!
https://www.facebook.com/share/1B81tRZr7D/?mibextid=79PoIi
What a deal… Mine was a tad nicer than those:
https://flic.kr/p/ptcNSb
https://flic.kr/p/pbJLGs
I don’t have any pics of my 504 wagons, but here is my 505 SW8, which was the very last one imported into the US in 1992, and the only SW8 sold in the US with a manual. A VERY special order by a very long-time multiple serial Peugeot owner in Rhode Island. This was at a Peugeot meet at the French Embassy in DC in 2001:
https://flic.kr/p/pbKiH3
This is like the prototypical brown station wagon with the manual trans and diesel engine!
When I was younger, a buddy of mine’s parents used to drive an earlier 80s Rabbit Diesel with a 5 speed. I always admired that little car and they said it cost basically peanuts to keep fueled.
An 80s Olds Cutlass that’s had a gas engine swapped in, but doesn’t require emissions testing because the VIN shows it’s a diesel. At least that’s what I thought at the time. A friend had a Golf diesel with a manual and it seemed like a great little car. Spunky enough to be fun, roomy enough to be practical and really efficient.
Close… a diesel Cutlass with the diesel V8 converted to run on gas is even better. They may not have been great diesel engines due to being based on a gasoline engine and not reinforced enough, but they were still significantly beefed up compared to their gas counterparts, which means they can become absolute monsters once hot-rodded.
A strong contender has to be the Mercedes-Benz C111-III Diesel Concept from 1977
I’m going to try to avoid the usual suspects here and propose some quirky choices that I’ve driven, and that are modern enough to be dailies (or beaters) rather than classics in 2025:
If you want something fun: The DW10TD-powered Peugeot 206. Big, understressed engine (90 HP out of 2 liters) that also powered the Xsara, the Xantia, the 306, the 406, various Fiats, Suzukis, and also formed the basis for the equally ubiquitous Duratorq. In the little 206, it’s got enough punch to even feel somewhat sporty.
If you’re a cheap bastard (at the pump, anyway): Either of the VW Group’s 3Ls is a technological marvel, whether you go for the Audi A2 or the VW Lupo. I learned to drive on the former and had no complaints outside of it being monstrously stiff, which, combined with the short wheelbase, made every speed bump rearrange my internal organs a bit.
If you are really not in a hurry: Anything SDI (1.7, 1.9, or 2.5; the 2.0 was a dumpster fire). Lupo/Arosa, Fabia/Polo/Ibiza, Octavia/Golf/Leon, or the LT van, with the Fabia being my personal favorite in terms of appearance and overall feel. These will chug along for a million miles, while burning practically no fuel but being significantly less agricultural than the old EA827 (or the MB OM61x for that matter). They are, however, slow.
Honorable mentions: The XUD9 Lada Niva has a special place in my heart despite being, well, a Lada. Similarly, the 2.4 JTDm Brera is utterly gorgeous and so bloody fun that I am willing to live with all of its Alfa-ness.
The 2.4JTDm was not that great, it was heavy, felt not that fast and it was pretty thirsty.
I chose 1.9 JTDm for my 159 wagon (150hp version) in 2008. it was much lighter unit and with Q2 system in the front, it was really fun even in winter. Got really good fuel mileage and acceptable performance. And dang it had fantastic steering, and it was both super fun on corners and most stable car I’ve had on slush snow. But the visibility out was atrocious, overhang even with standard springs was way too much and it had a turning circle of tanker. And damn it was pretty. The red wine metallic paint and teledial wheels…
And it was even reliable. I had it for 3 years and 90tkm without too much fuss. Actuall saw the second owner couple years a go and it had over 300tkm without issues.
I’m 100% with you – I should’ve renamed the “honorable mentions” category the “guilty pleasures” category, since they don’t really come close to answering the question in the article.
The 1.9 is objectively the better engine; I’m just a sucker for a 5-cylinder 🙂
Damn the 3.2 GM v6 was a turd. My biggest automotive disappointment was when I test drove that in wagon form and with manual. It was priced very nicely and I was fully prepared that it’s my next car. And damn, weighted like 2 tons. It didn’t feel fast, it sounded like shit next to busso (only at idle it was OKis), the AWD made it feel like a train in a bad way. And I think the gas needle moved faster than the speedo.
I love these too, and they’re likely the only reason I’d ever consider buying a Mercedes again, or really any ‘fancy’ German car for that matter. It’s my understanding that in real life, they only see maybe 23-4 MPG combined, so while that’s good for a heavyish car of that era, it’s bested by most everything efficient made since then. Not an apples-to-appels https://duckduckgo.com/?q=appel+canned+fish&t=opera&ia=images&iax=images comparison of course, but something to keep in mind. I’ve got a ‘right of first refusal’ for a 300 CD couple down the hill, but I don’t expect the owner to actually ever sell it.
A couple of diesel vehicles I’ve driven and loved: BMW M550d xDrive (B57D30S0 straight-six with four turbochargers) and Audi Q7 V12 TDI.
I still have the fondness for the Mercedes-Benz 300 TD estate with turbocharged engine.
V12. Diesel. German. Hold on to your wallet
So?
You don’t want to admit how much Ford and General Motors screwed the F-150/F-250 and Silverado/Sierra owners with badly designed V8 engines, do you? GM still hasn’t figured out the permanent fix. Geesh…
Don’t you have anything better to do than trolling with idiotic comments?
Three nominees:
Mercedes already nailed my first pick: Early-80’s Mercedes turbodiesel. You still see these in various parts of Mexico, Africa, and probably other parts of the world I haven’t been to. All rocking the OM61x powerplant, all serviceable pretty easily roadside. Leather seats plus ice-cold AC and bombproof mechanical reliability made every venture in one of these a joy.
Second runner-up: BMW 740LD. Mostly because I have one in my garage, and the N57 powerplant has been dumbly reliable for the whole of that time. 130,000 miles, change the oil every 10k with proper turbodiesel oil, runs great. Still can do 30+MPG and almost 700 miles on a tank, won’t complain at all going up to 140MPH (which is largely thanks to BMW having been an early adopter and proper tuner of the ZF8HP transmission), no weird BMW electrical/tech issues.
Third runner-up: Another nostalgia pick, but the VW Rabbit / Golf Mk1 Cabriolet. GF in high school had one. Woefully underpowered, it still represented a pretty neat niche (convertible? diesel? fun? Why, yes indeed) while still getting 40+MPG and thus being a decent road trip car, provided one didn’t mind not going too far above the 55MPH universal limit at the time.
As a true believer in the redeeming power of spark plugs, I’ll never knowingly or willingly buy a diesel-powered car. So, which one is best?
How about Bertha Benz’s husband’s car that she drove across Germany to visit her mother?
For comfort and longevity probably the w212 with the om606. The om606 is good enough they are swapping them in to things now. And the w212 holds up really well. I had a 2013 Jetta TDI that was very comfortable and drove like a go cart I haven’t driven one of the “fixed” ones but I assume its not as good. Also had a mk4 TDI for a while, it was decent things didn’t hold up as well as they probably should have. People swap those 1.9 tdi too but I think that’s more about avaliblity and cost though it’s not bad. A 5.9 cumins is hard to beat in a truck but the 6.7 and the gen 4 ram is a great combo feels more like driving a car then a truck and you can feel all that torque. The diesel land cruisers are like cockroachs but don’t have that much power. You can get the same maybe better cockroach energy from the 6.9 idi or a 7.3 power stroke.
It’s gotta be the W123 for me too, especially the wagon. Probably 99% of the 80s Mercs I still see on the roads are turbodiesel W123s, and while I see more sedans than anything else, I really like that wagon
In the spirit of:
I’d submit the Toyota 1HD-T engine as found in 80 series Land Cruisers. I have almost 120k miles on mine (bought it with ~73k) and expect ~500+. Has required no maintenance save replacing the turbo.
You know all the stuff about not having any connection etc: well
. My adult self is embarrassed, my inner three year old? He is giggling;embarrassed;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrcRXmVwjBo&t=198s