The Mercedes-Benz 190 D is the essence of motoring. Everything else is marketing nonsense and or of inferior quality.
It’s the Mercedes-Benz 190’s birthday! Mercedes-Benz celebrates one big party, because the model designed by Bruno Sacco is already forty years old. You wouldn’t say that if you saw it like that. This is of course also due to the fact that the car has been in production for a very long time.
The model was only replaced in the spring of 1993 by the Mercedes-Benz C-Class of the W202 generation. The 190 is the ‘W201’ and in that respect the first ‘C-Class’. It was the first small Mercedes to be called the Baby-Benz for many years until the A-Class brought the moose trial to the news.
Driving safes
The great thing is that the Mercedes-Benz 190 is a real Mercedes from the time when the cars from Bremen and Sindelfingen were still really moving safes. The rear axle alone costs millions to develop. The 190 had rear-wheel drive and a huge choice of engines and versions.
Normally we focus on the 2.3 – 16 ‘Cosworth’ and the faster Evolutions, but not today. Because if you were a successful manager in the 1980s (and early 1990s), you could lease a 190 diesel.
The simplest version was the Mercedes Benz 190 D. This is equipped with the OM601.911 and that is perhaps the best engine ever built. They are incredible runners. The blocks are simple and built with few parts, but everything that was used was just a little too good. Thanks to a low specific power, the internal wear was very low.
‘performance’ of the Mercedes-Benz 190 D
That does mean that you had to be patient in the 190 D. The 1,997 cc measuring four-cylinder delivered a maximum of 72 hp (at 4,600 rpm). But you buy a diesel for the couple, right? Um, yes, it is with one turbo-diesel and this block has no turbo. So you will have to do with 123 Nm (at 2,800 rpm). At that time there were 1.6 four-cylinder eight-valves with more torque than this two-liter.
So you shouldn’t have high expectations in terms of performance. You had a four-speed gearbox as standard, a five-speed gearbox was optional on the four-cylinder (only standard on the five-cylinder 2.5). Sprinting from 0-100 km/h took 18.1 seconds. 18.1! That is looooong. There is currently no new car on the market that is this slow! The top speed was 160 km/h, also thanks to the very favorable aerodynamics of the car. Consumption was about 1 in 15 that you could also keep with a little self-control.
Long-range cruiser
The Mercedes 190 D is a bit at odds with the cars we welcome today. Of course, diesel is no longer salonfähig, despite very favorable CO2 emissions. What the Mercedes-Benz 190 D gave you was comfort, reliability and freedom. The 190 D drove from the art, they were very pleasant long-distance cruisers.
Thanks to a high-quality chassis and (5-multilink rear axle!) and an ideal distribution of the weight, the balance was majestic. On a full tank you could easily reach 800 km (the tank was not very large with 55 liters). So you could zip through Europe in a comfortable jerk.
Model care
In 1988 the Mercedes-Benz 190 D received a light facelift, Model carelike @bart1976 so beautiful (and anyone who knows about Mercedes). You can recognize them by the color-painted bumpers. The 190 received new furniture with adjustable height belts.
Also, a right mirror was now standard, as was ABS. The latter was a special thing around that time. In 1991 the model was very slightly revised to last until 1993. After that, the 190 went out of production, but it certainly did not disappear from the streets.
Even after 1993, 190s continued to drive around. The Mercedes-Benz 190 D was in fact carved out of granite. The car proved indestructible, just like the large E and S-Classes. They simply did not break and were excellent to repair. These cars were given a third, fourth and fifth life.
Astronomical mileages were the rule, not the exception. If you took good care of your Benz you could easily drive 5 to 7 tons with it. With a little preventative care and love, a million was possible.
Mercedes-Benz 190 D is the essence of a car
The Mercedes-Benz 190 D is a car that will make you love cars. An honest device without nonsense with a lot of character and quality. Modern cars could learn something from that. Cars that only have to last a few years due to all kinds of environmental measures and short maturities. A Mercedes-Benz 190 D is simple, but not simple. It is the essence of what a car stands for. Nothing anymore.
Actually, everyone should do a road trip in a 190 D. Just record some cassettes in advance, take a paper route map with you, Punica Oasis in one of those plastic cups with a cap and freshly spread sandwiches. You don’t need that much to be happy, as long as what you have is very good. And that was the Mercedes-Benz 190 D.
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