If at first you don’t succeed… The first-generation M-Class was cursed with reliability issues, but its successor, launched in 2005 and under consideration here, was a better product altogether.
It stole a march on the second-generation BMW X5 that didn’t arrive until a couple of years later. By that time a facelifted ML was being readied, with cleaner engines, remodelled bumpers and grille, extra equipment and improved infotainment. The refreshed ML came out in 2008; the following year, the diesel engines that accounted for the vast majority of sales gained BlueEfficiency technology.
The striking thing about the ML is the absence, in the classifieds, of petrol-engined models. Correction: there are a handful except that, tellingly, half of them are range-topping 503bhp ML63 AMGs.
Pitched directly at the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, this 2300kg leviathan can hit 0-62mph from rest in 5.0sec while gulping fuel at around 13mpg. We spotted a 2007/56-reg with 98,000 miles and full service history, with all invoices detailing the work done, for £11,495. They reach as high as £23,000 for a 2010-reg with 68,000 miles. For the record, the other petrols are the ML350 V6 and 500 V8. Don’t dismiss them. They’re a little less troublesome than the diesels can be at higher mileages.
Otherwise, it’s oil-burners as far as the eye can see. From launch, only the 221bhp ML320 CDI was offered: it’s a goody, with a smooth-churning 3.0 V6 making 376lb ft. Like all MLs, it’s paired with a seven-speed automatic gearbox and four-wheel drive. It’s a capable and economical tow car.
Join the debate
Add your comment
The second generation ML is
The second generation ML is one of the most coherent looking Mercedes, as well as being far better built and using better materials than the first generation.
Compare this with the current (fourth generation) GLE shows the Mercedes house style of smoothening out sharp edges (in this model curiously this doesn't apply to the rear end) favoured by Gorden Wagener doesn't work, at least not for me.
Contemporaneous with the second gen ML are the second gen A class, W204 C class etc. all of which benefit from sharp defined lines, and such defining lines have all but disappeared from current mercedes models.
@ abkq
Agreed, the quality of the trim is vastly superior although the 'facelift' on the W163 vastly improved the very first models whic looked and felt like a Jeep Cherokee inside (brittle inelegant plastics).
The third Gen W166 looked like a Korean MPV....I would never buy one....also far too much gratuitous plastic chrome scattered all over it. Even the AMG version couldnt save its looks!
Also the engines are becoming complicated smaller capacity units which completely ruins my current 'buying/running regime. I like large capacity N/A engines....they run forever.
I pulled up alongside a fourth Gen V167, the other day....it is quite simple enormous and yet has no more internal space than a first Gen W163. It has become so wide (as per BMW X5), that it would prove a real challenge to get the vehicle through lane resrictors i.e. Marlow Bridge, without causing damage to the vehicle.
This is utter madness....the roads (and parking spaces) arent getting any bigger!
secondhand ML's
You are correct that 1st gen (W163) ML's can be a night mare, I know someone who had 4 hearboxes in the first year of ownership back in 1999 on a ML430 before he insisted on Mercedes- Benz buying back the car.
I had an ML430 that ran 250,000 miles plus with nothing other than routine maintenance...luck of the draw.
I then had a ML500 W163 (still in the family and also over 200k miles which is still a beautiful drive and utterly reliable
I have a W164 ML500 which has around 100k on it which has also needed nothing other than routine maintenance....you see a theme here large capacity petrol V8's are simple and uncomplicated not bad on fuel (circa 25-26 mpg on a run) and so smooth and responsive.
I