The Long Game: 18 holes, 850 miles in an E-Class Diesel

Think "extreme sports" and you probably imagine mountain climbers without safety lines, skiers diving down vertical cliffs or base jumpers toppling off freshly finished skyscrapers. And when you think "golf?" That's right: badly coordinated clothing and a very long walk to get a gin & tonic.

It's a safe bet that you don't think of wombats, dive-bombing crows, water hazards that may contain deadly poisonous snakes, and a journey to the next tee that could be hundreds of miles. But then, you've never played golf Australian style. Oh, yes, it's extreme.

The Nullarbor Links is an 18-hole, par 72 golf course that starts at Kalgoorlie in western Australia and traverses some 850 miles to Ceduna in southern Australia. I'm going to need a bigger golf cart. Six-inch wheels and a nice frilly sunshade on top just ain't going to cut it.
A Mercedes-Benz E250CDi, on the other hand, looks like a much more tempting solution. And as it's diesel-engined, the fuel tank range should be huge. Range is important out there.

As we pick the car up from a local Mercedes dealer, he imparts a warning that serves as a good indication of the journey ahead: "Whatever you do, avoid hitting wombats. They'll rip the front of yer car off. Imagine hitting a cement-filled water trough -- I've seen a good wombat strike write a car off."

So we'll be avoiding wombats, then. As we set out for Kalgoorlie, the Merc settles into a relaxed but quick-ish gait. Even a couple of years ago, this Merc's performance would have been unbelievable -- here is a small displacement four-cylinder diesel that generates 204 hp, hits a top speed of nearly 150 mph, and goes 0-60 mph in a shade under 7.7 sec. For those who remember the bad old days of bad old diesels, these are phenomenal figures. The real kicker is, the Merc manages to do all this and remain refined. Sure, it'll never be as whisper-smooth as a good gas V-6 or V-8, but once it's rolling, you'll forget there's a diesel under the hood.
Problem is, even in the vastness of the Nullarbor Plain, we can't exploit the car's performance potential. If I had my way, we'd be cruising at 100 mph-plus, but the cops are everywhere -- in the air, hiding in bushes, lurking in unmarked cruisers. And they really take it personally if you speed, which seems ridiculous in this landscape of unreachable horizons.



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Source: MotorTrend