See the following website for details: http://www.24x7.com.au/ml320/

comments welcome,

Cheers,

Pawel

No it's not. Yes, there have been unusual problems with these trucks, especially the pre MY 01. Even the '02's have had some problems. Most of the problems pointed out at that site are known and have been fixed for the MY '02 vehicles. The trucks are fundermentally sound and every so often, you can still have some with more problems than the owner can stand. The unfortunate thing is that most of the people who have complained have also said that MB hasn't been customer friendly to them. I can't say much about that and I hope MB investigates. My 1.2yrs experience with MB (E, ML) has been positive. My <a href="http://www.salisbury.mercedescenter.com/mbcenter/b/index.jhtml">dealer</a> has been very good to me. Everytime I take either vehicle in for anything, I get excellent treatment and they always give me a loaner car, MB car most times. And that's the other half of the MB story - good dealers make a huge difference.

I have to agree with the fact that MB does not treat the customer right.

I had C clas, CLK class, E class and M. Lots of problems with M, a lemon with E. If the dealer was OK, the MB regional rep was a total a-hole.

Even thogh I like MB cars I am not buying them again until I know that they change theirs customer service ways.

Just my 2c.

Darkmann,

I appreciate your opinion. However, you might have been lucky and had good treatment from your dealer, but this doesn't explaing the bulk of problems I am having. Certainly, it does not explain clear and evident DESIGN FAULTS that I have investigated and documented. Please note that those design faults are relevant to the vehicle you have and the fact that you are pleased with your dealer does not make the ML320 a good car. I have provided more than enough (well supported) evidence with pictures, reports and detailed description to conclude that the ML320 IS A LEMON!

http://www.24x7.com.au/ml320/

I don't disagree with you as to the good intentions of your dealer - this is irrelevant in this case.

Kind Regards,

Pawel

in which case mine is an even bigger lemon - but as you say MB USA don't give a hoot ! Check out my list of problems on
www.mercedes-lemon.com
My ML430 '00 has had over 23 warranty claims - granted some of them trivial, but none the less over 10 major electrical failures have occured which have left us stranded on more than one occasion and at other times seriously inconvenienced.
MB USA response ? "keep taking it in for repair, that's what warranties are for"
Well MB USA if you read this, like many others before me, you've lost a customer as I'll be voting with my wallet.
Sad thing is the ML is potentially a great vehicle - just sometimes badly let down by the dealer and MB USA.

I am in Australia, so it is not only MB USA problem. I couldn't agree more, the car looks and drives OK (when it does). We had also about 20 or more visits to the service and the gear box failure made the car unusable too. What is disappointing is that MB does not recognise cases like yours and mine and wouldn't come to some sort of solution (replacement, refund, etc...).
As it stands there is no way I will be buying and MB in the future and some of my friends have changed their minds too. Hopefully my (and your) website will score highly in search engines so that more people could be warned. So ultimately it is lose-lose situation.

Cheers,

Pawel

www.24x7.com.au/ML320

A rebate? You must be kidding. They asked me to spend another AUD $3000 to try to prevent/reduce the problems and this made things even worse. This is Australia, mate!

Cheers,

Pawel
www.24x7.com.au/ml320

Maybe we should do some kind of a petiton to send to MB in Germany and express the way we have been treated.
If enough people will sign it it might have some impact because they got to be somewhat afraid of negative publicity.

because MB have already demonstrated their indifference to many long term suffering ML owners.
Also the quality (or lack thereof) has also been well documented in the motoring press and forums like this - a little bit more negative press will likely make no difference.

Further, in the short term at least, MB will continue to sell even more trucks / cars etc and continue to make profits because of the sheer volume of lower priced C classes and variants thereof which they're shipping.
Check out some of the other MB forums - you'll soon discover that the ML is not the only MB product which appears to have more than its fair share of troubles.
Like I said above, vote with your wallet - because eventually that's the only thing that'll count.

I couldn't agree more. This is the first and last Mercedes-Benz I owned. I had a couuple of BMWs - no major troubles. Discussions and websites like this are also important. I know of one person already changed his mind (wanted to buy E class), but based on my experiences he crossed Merc off his list (it was on the top).

Kind Regards,

Pawel
www.24x7.com.au/ML320

A few days ago I got a letter from the dealer reminding me that my 3-year warranty will be up shortly and offering a choice of new vehicles. I couldn't help myself answering appropriately. My reply is follows for everyonce's entertainment.

In a way MB has lost its reputation with this car. SUCH an awesome company, but when soooo many bad reliabllity reports come up, it screws everything up.


But i personally like the M-class

Cool SUV

-Musfather

Again and again, I'll defend MB and the M class. They were pretty bad at the beginning and I'm disappointed that after 5yrs, MB has not been able to resolve the Ml problems. Some blame it on the US workforce - crapola. It's all MB. In MY '02. MB has put out a SUV that they should have put out in MY '98. It's a solid vehicle. It does has some proiblems, but, on the other hand, it still is a bargain. I looked at the Lexus, Pathfinder, Qx4, X5 and the MDX, and settled on the ML320, despite all the "bad" reviews I read about the ML. Today, I can't honestly say that I'm satisfied with ML as I was with the Pathfinder that I traded in, but I can say that at the time I purchased the Ml, none of the others could provide me what I wanted in a SUV as MB did, not even close - safety, utility, etc.

Darkmann,

What is the $2000 rebate you spoke of? I have a '99 ML320 and it also is plaqued with problems.

I know MB is giving rebates to certain ML customers towards the purchase of another MB. This is to pacify them due to all the problems they earlier models had developed. I don't know what years are affected but you may want to call MBUSA and inquire. I know of some folks who have actually goten their checks. Call and post any info you find. Meanwhile I'll keep on searching for more accurate info.

I just got some info from real owners: The rebate amount is $1000 not $2000 as I posted. They tell me that if you're the original owner of a 98-99 ML, you would have gotten the check in the mail by now. That's all I know.

I finally go to speak with a customer service agent at MBUSA after being transferred around a number of times. It basically confirmed what has been posted on this thread. I was told that the rebates was mailed out at the end if August and I should call back if I do not receive it by mid-October. The rebate is only for '98 and '99 original owners and it is a credit for use toward the purchase of another new MB. When asked about the reason for this rebate, the agent replied:"it is just a nice good faith campaign because we like to promote customer loyalty".