Dedicated Diesels: #1 High Rev Rave (Mercedes W124 E-Class 300D) Rate it in the comments below.

Intro:

I decided to do this thing i said i’ll be doing a while ago, so here it is.
Many car-guys consider diesels as not being sporty and only meant for utility applications, but some of them were more than that.
It’s true that most diesels are used for their high amounts of torque, but at the same time there are a few models that were designed for performance, and i’m not talking about Audi’s V10 TDI Le Mans car, the R10.

The Engine: Mercedes-Benz OM606

This engine had a rather interesting development process.
Not only was derived from derived from the gasoline-based M104 engine, but it retained most characteristics like the almost square design, which is barely oversquare at a 1.03 Bore/Stroke ratio.
The similarities don’t end there, since it kept a high redline.
It’s capable of revving up to 5150RPM in stock form, achieving the N/A diesel superlative title of having the highest Power/Liter ratio at 45.3HP/L.
The only difference between the OM606 and M104, besides the compression ratio, was the modified crankshaft which was later used in the AMG version of the M104.
If that wasn’t enough to ping your interest, some people replaced the stock pump, stock valve springs and stock injectors, while also supercharging it. But what’s interesting about that?
That part comes when to see that they managed to run the engine at over 8000RPM.
A Stage 1 chiptune also brings it up to 160HP, which totals to a 53.3HP/L ratio in complete stock N/A form.

The Car: Mercedes W124 E-Class 300D

Back in 1984 when it was released, it was a proper luxury sedan.
It had features that we’ll later see in modern cars, like self-leveling suspensions with pressurized gas spheres for dapening, soft closing doors, O2 sensor in the exhaust system for emission management and lower fuel consumption through the semi-electrionic injection system, and finally, the first model to come with Mercedes’ all wheel drive system, the 4Matic.
Another breakthrough was the low drag coefficient, at only 0.28.
AMG Japan was so fond of this model that they converted a few units from all body styles to AMG, except the limousine.
A manufacturer from Indonesia even continued production all the way to the year 2000.

Scores:

Nope. None yet.