In the Netherlands the Mercedes-Benz 190 D (W201-series) was one of the older rural professionals’ favorite set of wheels. It lasted as long as the average farm tractor and they also shared some other characteristics.
All kidding aside, in our maritime climate a W201 diesel and its bigger W124 brother with an oil burner simply outlived everything else on our roads. And yes indeed, throughout the years a countless number of both models ended up in the hands of farmers and other agribusiness professionals.
I caught this prime example, plain white with a trailer hitch, in its natural habitat. No tight parking spots here.
The 190 D is powered by the 72 DIN-hp (75 DIN-hp from 1989 onwards) 2.0 liter version of the 4-cylinder OM 601 diesel engine, introduced in 1983. The bigger OM 601 engines had a displacement of 2.2 and 2.3 liter, the latter was never offered in the W201 though.
For sale: another plain white 1986 190 D with an obligatory trailer hitch. Feeling at home, and enjoying the view. Almost 403,000 km (251,875 miles) on the clock, asking price € 3,250 (photo courtesy of Autobedrijf Frans Munsterhuis).
The W201 performance diesel, so to speak, was the 190 D 2.5 Turbo, introduced in 1988. Under its hood the 5-cylinder OM 602 D25A engine, initially with 122 DIN-hp. From June 1989 onwards its maximum power output was 126 DIN-hp. Pictured a 1992 190 D 2.5 Turbo Sportline with an automatic transmission (photo courtesy of Klaas de Poel Mercedes-Benz Youngtimers & Oldtimers).
From 1982 to 1993 a total of 1,879,629 W201s were built, one third of them were diesels. The W201 Baby-Benz was a thunderous success. In Europe that is. Across the pond? Not so much…
Oh yes, Mercedes-Benz has actually built a proper farm tractor model, the 1973-1991 MB Trac. Above the 1800 intercooler, the 1990-1991 top model with a 180 DIN-hp OM 366 LA engine. Diesel powered, but that speaks for itself.
Related reading:
Curbside Classic: Mercedes 190 E (W201) – Das Beste Oder….Baby!
The crisp, taut lines on the 201 still look great to these eyes. Timeless. The pinnacle of Mercedes design (plus 124, 129).
I’d guess the crisp lines on the tractor were probably not also penned by Bruno Sacco.
The W201 was actually a pretty common sight in the USA. Mostly gas powered, but you did see diesels now and then.
Here’s a nice one on eBay, no reserve, about 13 hours to go! Someone buy it before I do! Cut and paste into your browser if this doesn’t work as a link:
http://r.ebay.com/OcEXoz
In Eugene, where old MB diesels come to die, there were a number of these around, but that has really declined lately. There’s still a healthy number of W124s though, as well as W123s.
That black 6-cylinder 190 E is looking good! Here’s a 190 2.2 D from California, imported into the Netherlands. It has 367,000 miles on the odometer, the ad says there’s something wrong with the engine though…
https://www.autowereld.nl/mercedes-benz/190-serie/190-2-2-d-19224336/details.html
A really good W201 190 D easily does around € 7,500 to € 10,000 here.
In the San Francisco area, these were the aspirational cars for Asian yuppies as they outgrew their archetypal BMW 3-series.
Being related to a few such…
I may be wrong, but when the 190 first hit the U. S. market, there seemed to be slightly more women than men driving them. For whatever reason, Mercedes smallest/cheapest (seem?) to attract a lot of female buyers…even when they are headed to 2nd, and sometimes 3rd owners.
Here in the “Frack Belt”, a (former) farmer is VERY unlikely to buy a small, diesel, Mercedes sedan. But will instead buy a large Mercedes SUV/CUV, or a large diesel pickup truck.
Even now, that seems to be true about the female demographic liking the smaller/cheaper Mercedes… the CLA250 comes to mind as a modern example.
In about 1990, I went on a couple of dates with a girl who drove the gas version of the 190. I owned a 240d manual at the time. I didn’t get her car. She did’t get my car… or me.
Back in the 70s and 80s, German farmers bought MB diesels like mad, because they would often fuel them with their untaxed farm-use diesel. The government eventually put a dye in road diesel (or the other way around), and would stop and check the fuel in these cars, and a heavy fine was the result of using tractor diesel.
Does this practice still exist? It certainly would be tempting, given how high taxes are on fuel in Europe.
As I recall, the “English Red” on the color charts back then (a sort of brick red) matched the color of the dye they put in the diesel.
Till January 1, 2013 we had the untaxed “red diesel” for farm machinery, among other things. Since then only ships, pleasure crafts excluded, are allowed to use it.
The fines were heavy indeed, but many just took the risk and filled their car (often a W115-W123-W201-W124) with the tractor diesel.
Since 2013 the diesel for on-road vehicles and everything else with wheels (or tracks) is the same and there is no price difference anymore.
The car-landscape among farmers has become more divers, yet diesel is still the preferred fuel choice. The diesel powered double cab panel van has gained popularity. You can use it as a family car and it gets a registration as a commercial vehicle, which means much cheaper to buy and less road tax.
We pay RUC charges based on mileage and the weight of your vehicle unfortunately the minimum rate is 3 tonne both my diesel Citroens weigh less than that combined, my older car has run nearly seven years without a speedo being purely mechanical injection its replacement cant do that but its still more economic to run that its petrol driven equivalent, Theres quite a number of old diesel Benz cars here, they arent expensive except for parts and seem to last fairly well at least the engines do.
If we’re strictly looking at the road tax for passenger cars (everything not registered as a commercial vehicle) then a diesel car costs much more than a gasoline car.
The heavier the car, the more pricey it gets. Mileage, engine displacement, number of cylinders, etc. don’t matter.
We still have this system in BC at the card lock style stations. Permitted use of marked fuel is for farming plated vehicles, stationary equipment (lawn mowers and forestry equipment) and boats. Anything not using public roads basically. I have never seen them testing cars but they do check big trucks at the scales sometimes. The govt even made me fill out a form a couple of years back so I could still used makes gas for my lawn mower and chain saw at the card lock. The price is about 10-12 cents a litre cheaper than regular and is mid grade (89 octane) at least where I buy it.
Forgot to add that we also have marked diesel at the card lock as well. There usually is a diesel pick up without farm plates breaking the rules and filling up with the marked fuel.
Yes. In the UK known as red diesel – because of the dye. Illegal to use in normal road-going vehicles – for farm, boat or similar use only.
Had the Matchbox version of that MB Trac tractor, right down to the tu-tone green. Interesting that it appears to be 4wd but is not articulated.
Never been one much for the w201 but the w124 is in my top ten, would love to own one someday.
It’s 4WD alright, and based on the Unimog. Also used in other branches, like logging.
Rugged, but you’d need an amputation to be comfy in the back.
What looks odd to me is a farm driveway that’s paved.
Around here if I did that, folks would think I was getting all uppity!
Standard. Dutch farmyards and -driveways are paved. Clean and efficient, example below. You should have known by now, Doug de G. 🙂
The days that big trucks, like bulk- and milk haulers, get stuck in the mud are long gone. Although I still remember them…
I had two of the 2.6 powered 190s.
Nifty little cars of very high build quality.
Crazy expensive back in 1982 when they were introduced.
But the interior….what where they thinking back in Stuttgart? So cramped…and then the horrible flat seats….the ridiculous rear bench with ZERO leg room…
No wonder this car appealed to single Yuppies and senior citizens the most.