Hi all
I'm new to the forum and am in the market for a mid size SUV. I did not have Mercedes on my original list of possibles due to its reliability concerns. Yet when I check on kijiji or autotrader I notice that quite a few of these SUV's have high mileage which seems to indicate that they can last for a long time. I also noticed that I have not seen any rust on these SUV's. Are they galvanized or aluminum body?
I noticed as I read some comments that some people have had there SUV's for 50- 70,00km. Not allot of mileage. I'd like to get some feedback from owners with 150,000 - 300,000km. to find out what the main issues are and cost of upkeep.

 

They are like any other car. Keep up on the maintenance and it will take care of you. I don't ever plan on getting rid of mine and I have never had any problems. Mine is in the shop right now and they said there is nothing wrong with it. I just needed to replace a key my wife lost

 

What's your take on the rust resistance? I never see any rust on the Ml's

 

Bought my 02 ML500 in Dec 2005 with 80k miles. Located in Boston. I am the second owner.

Had a little bit of rust on the rear tailgate which I attribute to prior location. Had it taken care of, no further issue.

Now 146k, only repairs are power steering hose, and coolant tank.

Maintenance items as needed, new shocks,put on a set of ML55 18x9 wheels, Hamann headers and did some optional diff work. Very pleased with the vehicle. Built solid.

Regards,
Jerry

 

Simply put, they are not reliable, period. And I laugh at comments like "they're like any other vehicle, keep maintenance up and all is OK,...." No they are not. You can maintain the ML to the letter of the owners manual and still get hit many many times with the ML gremlins. I have gone through 2 MLs and one E since 2001 and have driven many other post 2000 MB cars. I can say for a fact that these are not at all reliable vehicles. They are very safe and would work like a horse, but reliability isn't their strong suite.

However, I can also say that despite their reliability issues, they are really one of the best SUVs to have. They just work and work very well when they're working well. For example, a Nissan Pathfinder works well all the time but not well enough when you really need excellence - if you get what I mean. A Toyota Sequoia works well but when you really need to perform that emergency maneuver, it really falls short of my expectations. A Bimmer may trash the ML in the twisties but they are just as reliable as the ML (maybe even less) and fall short in space. What you need to do is not look for the lowest mileage one - for me, the sweet range is 45 - 70K. The reason I say this is because the reliability thing with the ML is a 50/50 game - assuming it's a one owner used buy, unlike a Lexus or Nissan, if you're lucky, yours will have no issues. If you're not lucky, you'll have a very expensive relationship with your mechanic. Under 40K, the vehicle hasn't been driven enough to tick off every electronic bug in it, or the owner had so many issues they were just darn scared to drive the car. Between 50 - 70K, it's been driven, probably well taken care of, has probably seen and fixed as many bugs as can be expected and the owner was brave enough to keep it past the 50K warranty period, which is a really good sign the owner was satisfied with the vehicle. Above 80K is an extremely good sign - the truck has lived up to expectations, owner has dealt with (or at least knows how to deal with or ignore) almost any gremlin the ML has thrown their way, has kept up with all factory recalls/whatever. The only issue I have with this mileage vehicle is that if you drive over 20K/year you'll quickly hit 100K in your first year of ownership. Though these vehicles have been shown to continue extremely strong past 120K, maintenance cost may become an issue depending on your budget.

 

Darkman
I can't fathom the idea of any car having less than 150,000 as high mileage or significant mileage. Your comments on reliability would be justified if the SUV's i have seen had 200,000 or 250,000km. But not 45,000 or even 75,000. By AMerican standards that's barely broken in. I had an old 1993 Suburban up to 2 years ago with 245,000 it would have went another 245,000 with regular maintenanace and replacement of wearable parts and probably a transmission overhaul, but nothing to serious. If someone pays a premium for a car the expectations of reliability is justified. Finicky is O.K. From what I have seen from the adds, these ML's can go a long way into the 200,000 with regular maintenance.

 

Oh yes they can go past 200K and people here and other forums have them as proof. The issue with the MLs is electronics. I haven't had any direct mechanical issues with mine and haven't heard much about others having mechanical issues either. It's usually electronics or electromechanical. So, even at 200K, you may still get that electronic issue that plagues the 30K car. I started having problems with my 320 very early after it was purchased - electronic issues that never seemed to stop. Then at warranty expiration, I traded for a 2005 ML500 hoping that the electronic gremlins would go away. Though MY05 is probably the best year W163, the same problems persisted, and some new ones too. Maybe dependability is what we are talking about. But when you start to worry about using your vehicle for fear of what idiot light will come on next, there's a problem.

There's a sticky at the top of this forum about ML issues. Check it out.https://mbworld.org/forums/m-class-w...out-163-a.html

 

Your experience is a big help Darkman. Thanks. If i decide to get an ML I'll have to brush up on my diagnostics.

 

I have had 2 99's 320 and 430 plus I have a 2001 ml320

99 320 0miles to 136000, no problems except one broke shock which was my fault
99 430 80k to 150k no problems
2001 family owned since new, i got at 88k now with 95k. Only problem is steering hose which was under recall warranty.

I'd say there pretty reliable out of the 27 cars I have owned in my lifetime ranging from all makes and models. Only one being more reliable was an Acura RL and CL which both were boring as heck to drive