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This Unicorn Diesel Manual Slicktop Wagon Is One of Sacco’s Best — Carmudgeon Ep 240 w Jason Cammisa

The Carmudgeon Show

This Unicorn Diesel Manual Slicktop Wagon Is One of Sacco’s Best — Carmudgeon Ep 240 w Jason Cammisa

207 annotations

A long-roof diesel manual wagon gets dissected as a contrarian “unicorn” spec—“being a station wagon, manual, five cylinder, turbo diesel”—and the hosts connect that appeal to Europe’s “hot diesel” culture. They compare rental wagons and mix-ups, then zoom into Mercedes OM605/OM606 engine families, torque feel, and why diesels don’t chase high RPM. The conversation widens into tuning, rust/maintenance realities, and even how turning radius and ground clearance shape daily usability.

0:00 --:--

00:29

Term

station wagon

A station wagon is a car with extra cargo space behind the back seats. The roofline keeps going back, so you can haul bigger items than in a typical sedan.

00:31

Term

manual

“Manual” here means you shift gears yourself using a clutch pedal and a stick. It gives the driver more control over how the car drives.

00:34

Term

five cylinder

A “five cylinder” engine has five cylinders arranged to produce power in a specific firing order. Compared with four- and six-cylinder engines, it often feels smoother than a typical four, while being more compact than a straight six.

00:34

Term

turbo diesel

A turbo diesel is a diesel engine with a turbocharger. The turbo helps the engine make more pulling power and can be more efficient than a non-turbo diesel.

00:41

Term

slick top

“Slick top” means the car has a solid roof and no sunroof. Enthusiasts sometimes prefer it because it looks simpler and more factory.

02:23

S class

Car

S class

The S-Class is Mercedes’ top-tier luxury sedan. They offered it to the speaker as an alternative, but they didn’t want it.

02:43

E 400 D

Car

E 400 D

This is a Mercedes-Benz E-Class diesel. The big deal is that the engine makes strong pulling power (torque), so it feels quick and effortless when you drive.

02:46

Term

OM 656

OM 656 is the name/ID for the specific diesel engine Mercedes used in that car. It helps enthusiasts know exactly which engine design they’re talking about.

02:50

Term

mild hybrid diesel

A mild hybrid means the car has a small electric assist system, but the diesel is still the main power source. It helps the car feel more responsive and can save fuel.

02:50

Term

inline six

“Inline six” just means the engine has six cylinders lined up in a row. It’s often known for smoothness and good low-speed pulling power.

03:39

Term

hot diesel

“Hot diesel” is a way of saying “a diesel that feels sporty,” not just a fuel-saver. In Europe, that’s been a real trend for years.

03:41

Car

M550 D

This refers to a BMW 5 Series diesel that’s tuned to be fast, not just efficient. It’s one of the well-known examples of “sporty diesel” in Europe.

03:41

BMW M550

Car

BMW M550

The BMW 5 Series is a mid-size luxury car from BMW. The podcast mentions that diesel versions existed in Europe for this category. It’s brought up to explain what kinds of engines were available on these cars.

03:46

Audi S6

Car

Audi S6

The Audi S6 is a faster, sportier version of the Audi A6. The podcast says it was also sold with a diesel engine and could be found as a wagon. That’s the main point—different versions existed depending on market and body style.

04:00

A7 and A6 TDI

Car

A7 and A6 TDI

Audi made diesel versions of the A6 and A7 called “TDI.” “TDI” generally means a turbo diesel engine that injects fuel directly into the cylinders.

Welcome to another episode of The Car Margin Show.

My name is Jason Camisa, he is...

Derek Tam, Hyphen Scott, we are driven,

or our podcast is driven by Hagerty.

Yep, and it's longer than she said.

Wow.

Or something.

I don't know, you said it.

This car, speaking of long, has a long roof.

Yes.

And it is the topic of discussion

for this week's episode of The Car Margin Show.

It is my new-ish, new daily or whatever.

His fetishized daily.

Yeah, it has lots of boxes

that are not usually coexisting in the same car,

being a station wagon, manual, five cylinder, turbo diesel

that wasn't ever sold in the United States,

any of those car seats with cloth seats.

And it's a slick top.

And it is a slick top.

All things that people fetishize.

So we'll talk about why as a car enthusiast,

one could possibly love a diesel,

which is not high revving or naturally aspirated

and how we come to terms with that.

And a variety of other diesel experiences

that we have enjoyed or tolerated over the years.

And of course, you know,

all revolving around a Saco era Mercedes,

because hashtag predictable.

Yeah.

That's our specialty.

Okay, I shall make us a clap.

That was not so much a clap and more like a,

would you like to try again?

Bravo.

My ears.

My ears.

Hello.

Hello.

Did I tell you about my rental car

on my last trip to Europe?

I don't think you did.

So whenever I go to Europe and I need to rent a car,

I generally try and get like a three series wagon

or a C class or A four wagon.

That's like a good blend of sensible money and cool.

And like forbidden,

cause we didn't get hardly any of those cars here.

So I reserved as usual one of those

and I show up to pick the thing up and they're like,

oh yeah, we have this,

we have given you this E class sedan.

And I was like, that's not what I wanted.

I wanted a C class wagon.

And they were like, well,

the only we can give you for a little bit more money

in X five.

And I was like, that's not the answer.

And that was kind of it.

So I was like, is it a sedan?

And she's like, yeah, it's not a sedan.

It's not a wagon.

And it's a sedan.

And I was like, okay, fine.

So I was like, we'll take it.

She said, you can also for the same money have an S class.

And I was like, nope, not in Europe.

Every time I try and park it somewhere,

it's going to be a problem.

And I'm going to take the mirrors

and all the corners of it off.

Anyway, so I get out there.

This thing is a last generation E class of two 13.

And I was like, I'm sure it's going to be like an E two 20

or something terrible like that.

Anyway, it's an E 400 D.

Oh.

Which is the OM 656.

It's an inline six with a mild hybrid diesel

and the things rated at 340 horsepower

and 700 Newton meters of torque, which is 516 torques.

So I had that as a rental car, sensational power plant,

sensational car, like I just,

it made me so excited to just drive anywhere.

I was unfortunately in Switzerland.

So the speed limit is 120,

which is 74 miles an hour useless.

But anyway, it was.

Still better than California, but.

Yeah, but what a cool experience.

What a cool car.

Like the experience of interacting with that

was just really a pleasure.

What about it?

It's just this inexorable sense of torque, I guess.

It really does feel like, and this is why, you know,

it's been 10 years now, at least that hot diesel

as a category have existed in Europe, the M550 D.

The S6 was available as a diesel as well, and as a wagon.

So there's this whole category of car

that we didn't really get here.

I guess you could get the A7 and A6 TDI.

Those were 240 horsepower, three liter.

E 93 35 D.

Yeah, so I owned one of those.

And that was 265 horsepower with 425 torque,

which is available at 1750 RPM,

which is of course 130 foot-pounds more

than the peak torque of the M3 of the same generation,

which was 295.

So that was a really incredible daily.

Okay, and so for those not watching behind us is,

I dare say, and I think there's something wrong with me,

possibly the hottest car we've ever had in here.

Derek has literally just spit up water.

I didn't think that was what you were gonna say.

That is a Silver 202 Mercedes C-Class wagon

with this diesel five cylinder turbo,

a six speed manual,

five speed manual and cloth interior.

Yeah, so roughing over this.

So I did sell my Boronite wagon

and bought this, another forbidden fruit from overseas.

I, yeah, so I don't know what,

I mean, I do know what drew me to this.

I don't know why I like diesels.

And if you're enthusiastic about this also,

I'm very curious to know why you're enthusiastic

because in, especially in Europe,

the mindset of what a diesel is,

is like, oh, that's not the enthusiast car.

And this category of enthusiast diesels

has slowly but surely emerged.

And I would argue that this is one of the earliest cars

to sort of have that formula.

And I think that, you know, the thing that's special

about this and a lot of subsequent diesels

is that historically diesels were very low performance

options and eventually they figured out a way

to sort of make them be performance power plants.

And this family of engines is Doolover head cam

four valve per cylinder inline

and it was available as both a five or six cylinder.

So this is the OM605 and it was also available

as the OM606.

It's the same engine available naturally aspirated

or turbocharged and diesels of course

have very high compression ratios.

And so the internal components are very heavy and strong

to be able to withstand that.

And so they don't tend to rev super high

because it's a lot of heavy parts that are moving.

That's not actually why.

Okay, tell me more.

Diesel burns very slowly.

And so after a certain RPM, the flame front,

meaning the actual explosion is barely faster

than the piston is moving.

It starts to be, the pistons starts to move away

so quickly that you can't harness the power.

And there comes a point somewhere around 5,000 RPM

where the pistons moving so quickly

if the engine just can't make any power anymore.

And so they can't, you can make them.

There's no points to rev the mire.

They just start, they make less and less power

until at some, presumably at some point it would be zero

and that would be somewhere around,

somewhere between five and 5,500 RPM.

So yeah, so there's a four cylinder diesel version

of this car which made its peak power at 5,000 RPM.

That's very high.

This car's peak power is at 4,400.

Peak torque is always low, very low.

Because you're dealing with the turbocharger, right?

I mean, okay.

So this is a, how big of an engine?

This is a 2.5 liter four valve per cylinder inline five.

It is turbocharged.

It makes, it was the in, at least in the UK market,

there was a V6 and inline six available in other markets,

although not in sedan and not in wagon form.

So this was the most powerful wagon you could get

in the UK market in 1997.

This is not a UK car.

This is not a UK car, it's left hand drive, it's Italian.

But I'm, because you couldn't get the V6 in the wagon

or the inline six, I guess it was.

You could get the V8, you know, C43 AMG wagon.

Yes, starting in 98, I think, yes.

Which would be almost, and this is,

I think what we're going to want to talk about

would be almost as hot as this,

which is such a fucked up thing to say.

So the other thing to note about the 202,

the 202, you know, is the first generation C class

replacement of the 190E was available exclusively

as a sedan in the United States market.

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