6.9 Driving Experience

[Styria]

In another thread, I related to the refurbishment of the multiple winning 6.9 concourse class winner. The owner very generously invited a drive in his 97K. kilometer car, and I was really curious to evaluate the driving characteristics of a brand spanking looking new car with this low mileage reading.

I can say from the outset that the engine is no quieter than the one in my Gleaming Beauty. In fact, ALL 6.9's have a fairly noisy engine, and none are as quiet or turbine smooth such as a 380 or 420. There is just no comparison. A sewing machine they are not.

Power delivery ? Very soft, fuss free and not particularly exciting. Quiet on the move, engine pretty well inaudible, but no go compared with my car - believe it or not. In fact, it reminded me very much of 6.9 forever's car when I first drove that after he purchased it. Nowadays, David's car (6.9 forever) is a somewhat more sprightly performer, yet he indicates that my car is about 10% more powerful or responsive than his. Interestingly, the owner of the Astral Silver car felt that it had as much power as mine (he did drive my car after I had driven his), although he conceded that for such a high mileage car it goes surprisingly well. I do think that the high compression engine has a 'harder edge' to it - when you put your foot down, it says let's go whereas the low compression engine says 'do you want me to go, do you' ?..ah, okay.

This probably sounds stupid, but it's the most appropriate way for me to describe the differences. The best performing 6.9 I have ever driven was an early model - 1976 - but boy, could it go...accompanied by huge clouds of blue smoke when you slowed down. Surprisingly, one of the nicest 6.9's I have driven (and it was cheap to buy) was the ex- Peter Walsh car from Melbourne - guess who owns it now ? None other than "quack quack" Jammer. Yeah, you've read right. Regards Styria

 

[Michel]

Where is Jammer???

Haven't heard from him in ages....

 

[John S]

I find it hard to believe the difference in power and torque quoted in the various books, as the difference in the HP shown for the 450 low compression and high compression 450 engine is only about 10%, while the feel in driving the car is at least 30% difference! The 9:1 engine gives the impression it wants to go right now (more torque low down?) while the 8:1 is much softer. I wonder if putting the wider angle cam shafts into the low compression engine would make much of a performance difference?

 

[WGB]

I think mercedes motors of all types give of their best when they are used a little - not necessarily abused.

The 6.9 motor is worse because many will never get much off the idle in normal driving and they will probably remain very tight.

The other variable, other than state of tune, is the state of the timing chain which after 97,000 km of short haul driving could potentially still be stretched enough to significantly hamper performance.

Bill

 

[6.9forever]

I drove the silver concours car in Jan 2005 and from memory it had 97,000 or thereabouts on it then (maybe 93,000, can't be quite sure but it was ninety something). Now over three years later and it's still sub-100K.

I cannot believe such lack of use is a good thing for a car or its performance. Cars are meant to be used, surely.

What do you all think?

 

[Des]

Some thoughts from my own 6.9 adventure......

When I first took delivery of my 6.9 I was expecting it to be like some hotted up Torana or falcon, idle rough, overheat, heavy steering, pig to drive, unable to be a useable, enjoyable car.
I didn't really have anything to base that on, other than what Australian's call "hot cars"

I found it extremely easy to drive, you could be 80, grandpa and potter around with your foot ever so slightly on the gas, doing 40 and you would be fine, you could use the car like that for your entire life.

however...

When you plant the foot the car becomes a different animal, it wants to surge forward, the dials all want to go from left to right. The 6.9 wants to go east, gobble up Poland and keep on moving east.


Even sitting on 100ish, plant your foot, the car wants to move forward like it is stopped.
I do recall after I picked my car up after the timing chain was done, I pulled out of the mechanics workshop, floored it, felt the rear want to go one way, the front another, straighten it up, it wanted to twist the other way. it was like an angry bull. There was a huge difference in the performance with the new timing chain. I guess, and it is only a guess it had never been done before.


In general Mercedes are very easy cars to drive, the steering is very predictable, thats how best I can describe it. It lets you know when it is on the limit, you feel the rear end start to give before it is going to snap you around in a circle.
I don't consider myself a good driver but I can drive a Mercedes well, makes you feel like a pro, turning into the corners, holding on, car performes as you expect.
A lot of cars, especally newer cars leave you feeling so disconnected from the front wheels, you just don't know whats happening, there is no feeling, no sense of being a part of the driving experience.

 

[SELfor50]

In general Mercedes are very easy cars to drive, the steering is very predictable, thats how best I can describe it. It lets you know when it is on the limit, you feel the rear end start to give before it is going to snap you around in a circle.
I don't consider myself a good driver but I can drive a Mercedes well, makes you feel like a pro, turning into the corners, holding on, car performes as you expect.
A lot of cars, especally newer cars leave you feeling so disconnected from the front wheels, you just don't know whats happening, there is no feeling, no sense of being a part of the driving experience.

And that's exactly why I enjoy racing an ol' beast like the 450.
Colin at MB spares and I were chatting the other week, and the young fella there was talking about his EVO 4 etc... And how it would eat the 450 on a track.
We both fired up and started yapping about 'feeling' the car, fighting through corners and the raw grunt / long legs etc..

Kids today, just don't get it..

 

[Andrew280SEL]

In general Mercedes are very easy cars to drive, the steering is very predictable, thats how best I can describe it. It lets you know when it is on the limit, you feel the rear end start to give before it is going to snap you around in a circle.
I don't consider myself a good driver but I can drive a Mercedes well, makes you feel like a pro, turning into the corners, holding on, car performes as you expect.
A lot of cars, especally newer cars leave you feeling so disconnected from the front wheels, you just don't know whats happening, there is no feeling, no sense of being a part of the driving experience.

I totally agree.

To this day when I'm driving a W116, I'm consistently amazed how this huge car I'm sitting behind the wheel of actually handles (I regularly have to drive on this tight twisty road near where I live).

 

[Styria]

I am only reviving this thread simply because I stumbled upon it. Having said that, I did wish to touch upon a recent driving experience with a 6.9, the car belonging to David (SEL69L). I am hoping he won't mind sharing my experience with others.

Michel some while ago posed the question of driving a 6.9 with raised suspension settings. Over the years, I had driven the cars on the higher setting, but had never really bothered to take note of any different driving behaviour or characteristics. Well, the other day I forgot that David's suspension (his 6.9) I had left in the raised position, and drove the car home, a distance of thirty two kilometers. I was quite surprised. Whilst the car was quite comfortable, there was definitely a tendency for the car to display a lack of precision and firm footing, and all this with a perfect wheel alignment set-up, and perfectly good, brand new tyres.

Slightly faster than normal cornering, easily accomplished on the normal setting, did produce a slight feeling of "wandering", and I also felt that the rear of the car did question what the front was doing. I mean, it wasn't bad or dangerous - it 's just that the behaviour was different from normal. Regards Styria