How bad is lugging ?

Lugging wont wear bearings any faster. With positive dispacement oil pump the pressure will be sufficient and any speed above idle speed to support the load unless your doing something really dumb. In the old days engine detonation (knock) was the big risk but today's cars auto-magically dampen that down. If you lug till the engine bucks all bets are off. don't be lazy and get into the right gear.
 
Lug that! General duty V8's should be tuned to make good torque++ from 900 - 3200 rpm. like the old days.

++ approximately 1.2 lb-ft per cubic inch displacement. So a 350 V8 should make 420 lb-ft at say 2600 rpm.
Chrysler did that with their Magnum v8’s. Incredible low end torque, that’s it. Hit 3,000rpm and the thing would fall right on its face as it struggled to breathe. I’m so glad we’ve moved on from those. Though worth things like variable intakes and variable cam timing we get the best of both worlds.
 
Lugging generally damages rod bearings under extreme conditions-the upper rod bearing (in the con rod) slams into the crankshaft, not the best thing for it. Spalling of the bearing coating can occur, but I seriously doubt if you damaged it by doing it once! These newer GDI & CVT cars seem to be designed to blow things up, I’ve had one as a rental (‘17 or so Sentra), there is NO WAY I would own one. If you can’t give me a manual (with a small 4 cylinder FWD), I’m not buying it.
 
Chrysler did that with their Magnum v8’s. Incredible low end torque, that’s it. Hit 3,000rpm and the thing would fall right on its face as it struggled to breathe. I’m so glad we’ve moved on from those. Though worth things like variable intakes and variable cam timing we get the best of both worlds.
The 6.0 LQ4 in my Express is kind of like that, I think it’s the “beer keg” intake manifold design-extra low end torque, high end does little more (except suck down mass quantities of gasoline)!
 
Once in my grandfather's Dodge Dakota I hopped on the interstate with the gear selector on 2 instead of D. Got about 5 miles up the road before I realized I was doing 70mph at 5k RPMs. Didn't damage anything, truck is still running to this day.
 
I floor it 95% of the time when accelerating since i have no power and i have to keep up with traffic. The worse are my diesel mercs, no other way than flooring them to get them out of their own way (my previous 200D needed almost 30 sec going from 0 to 60).

I can’t remember a need to floor any of my MB diesels, including my 67 hp 240D, to drive safely. Fast they are not.

Floor your vehicle (which seemingly is not an old diesel) 95% of the time? Something is wrong with the vehicle or your driving skills.

WRT lugging, did you stall it? I like the hearing on my BMWs compared say to my Saab, vw, or our old integra, because on both BMWs, 2nd gear is very usable. All the other cars will stall doing a rolling launch in 2nd, going through a tollbooth, creeping in stop and go traffic, or or starting from near stop at a red light. The BMW gearing makes first and second more usable, even in low torque engines like the M42 1.8L. So I find it hard to believe that it didn’t stall right out going in third, even if nearly floored.

So how long was this event, and what was the outcome?
 
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Driving in France...you have to be reactive, especially these last years, I'm becomming older or the people just more impatient. I had some C200D (Manual) and C250D (automatic) as rental cars for a while, in a very hilly city, and my goodness they were slow. Didn't match at all the driving conditions I was in (City, up and down the hills, lots of traffic lights, lanes merging, etc). Driving was very different as in the US, for sure.
Was sure glad to get my 190E (manual) back after a few days...and that one wasn't particularly fast either.

On the other hand, my Fiat TD100 had just the right torque with the small turbo to blend in the traffic, even if it was much more at ease as a highway cruiser.

I don't know how the timing is handled by the 2,5L diesel Mercedes, but a poorly adjusted/timed pump can lead to a very sluggish feel on startup. Not sure there is an electronic adjustment on these like the Fiat had.
 
I am with Popsy, driving here is alot different than driving in the US. Driving in Paris can give you cold sweats and i feel like drivers are alot more agressive than in the US. You have to impose yourself on the road. That's the reason why i sold my C200D and i think my E250D has a timing problem indeed. I started driving on a 82 240D for a bit and just like the C200D it was borderline dangerous. The most stressful was driving in spain (some honking involved). I feel a lot more confortable with the gassers i owned lately even if they're not very torquey down low. I'd really like a big 6 or 8 cylinder mated to an automatic one day but they're not cheap to insure. Something like a W124 E320, E420 or even turbo E300D.
 
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