OM612

The five-cylinder of the first CDI generation was designed alongside the OM611 and OM613 and shares their pistons, injectors and glow plugs. It reached the market for the 2000 model year with common-rail injection, charge cooling and a variable-geometry turbocharger, and in the E 270 CDI it produced 170 hp and 370 N·m from 1,600 rpm — about 23 per cent more torque than the five-cylinder diesel it displaced. From there it went everywhere: the ML 270 CDI, the C 270 CDI, a detuned 156 PS version for the Sprinter and military Geländewagen, and the Austrian-built Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Then AMG got hold of it. Stretched to 2,950 cc for the C 30 CDI AMG of 2002, it made 231 PS and 540 N·m at 2,000 rpm in the W203 saloon and Sport Coupé, and nothing diesel has worn an AMG badge since. SsangYong meanwhile built its own version as the D27DT for the Rexton, Kyron and Rodius, which kept the design in production until 2013 — a decade after Mercedes-Benz had moved on to the OM647.