Mercedes E300 BlueTEC Hybrid Economy Challenge

Mercedes E300 BlueTEC Hybrid took up a rather unusual challenge,as to prove the point to Britians that the Mercedes E300 BlueTEC HYbrid, is actually an economical vehicle in its class, and for that they travelled 830 miles distance covering between the most southern and most northern airports in Britain on a single tank, and doing high speed runs on the runways.

Fo this task they hired the Ex-Rally champ Mick Linford, and It started at Newquay airport in Cornwall, the UK’s most southerly active airport, with a full tank of fuel on board, ex-rally driver Mick Linford accelerated on the runway from a stand still to a peak speed of 136mph.

From then he drove 830 miles from Cornwall up to Wick Airport in Scotland, the most northerly airport on the UK mainland. Despite encountering heavy traffic, diversions and challenging weather they went ahead and on arrival at Wick, Mick Linford again did a speed test from a standing start, and this time achieving a maximum speed of 120mph down the runway, which is 911 metres shorter than the one at Newquay. The aim of the test was to prove how efficient the Mercedes E300 BlueTEC hybrid is in real-world driving. Over a distance of 830 miles and two days, the car achieved a peak speed of 136mph and returned economy of 67.3mpg.

The entire trip was carried out on a single tank of fuel – of which a quarter remained on arrival in Wick. Had the car carried on driving it would have achieved a theoretical range in excess of 1,100 miles. The new E300 BlueTEC HYBRID is now available to order in both saloon and estate form. It produces a total of 201bhp, can accelerate from 0-62mph in 7.5-seconds andcan achieve a maximum speed of 150mph. It will also return 67mpg while emitting as little as 109 g/km of CO2.

Mercedes’s first hybrid model is capable of this level of performance and economy, thanks to its combination of a four-cylinder diesel engine and an electric motor mounted within the 7G-TRONIC PLUS automatic transmission. The gearbox substitutes a torque converter for a wet clutch system, therefore allowing for the internal combustion engine to be disengaged entirely via the clutch and for electric-only drive for short periods, boosting economy.

Talking about the Prices, the Mercedes E300 BlueTech Hybrid starts at £39,645.00 for the saloon and £41,435.00 for the estate.