After years of daily driving coupes and smaller sedans like my c55 every single day and doing daddy duty in them im at a point in my life where my son is just getting too big and im getting too lazy to do all this work. So im strongly in the market for a daily driver and we have a SUV in the family already an Infiniti fx35(the wife). I myself cant seem to drive anything for very long that not european so im looking at one of these probably a 2000-2001 model ml320. Ive read the issues thread and it kinda raised an eye brow but not a deal breaker whats everyone elses personal review of theres as daily drivers over the years? I really want one for everyday use and utility i do enjoy alot of outdoor stuff fishing, camping, etc. as well as road trips a few times a year.

 

alot of looks but no replies not sure if this is something to be worried about....... have an appointment to go take a look at one this week but not sure if im ready to do anything without some info on these things

 

We have a 99 ML430 and I love it. I have it serviced at a Local mechanic who services Ferrari, Lamborghini and has numerous old school Benz's (an older man who wears a white lab coat). He said the ML's are very reliable mechanically, we have a few dumb issues like our fuel calculator quit working and we have to mash the seat heater button a few times but nothing terrible. Also the styling on the ML's have aged very well. Most people can't believe our car is 13 years old.

The fuel mileage on the 320 is comparable to the 430/500: Go for the V8

Check out this post:
https://mbworld.org/forums/m-class-w...out-163-a.html

 

so realisticly the v8 is for fuel friendly probably?

 

Hey,
Sorry I missed your post. We've had the ML430 since 1999. During the first few years there were a few things that went wrong that were covered under warranty and a few that occurred after the warranty had expired. The biggest things were fuel sensor is broken so the gauge only gives you an accurate reading sometimes, mass air flow sensor, window switch unit in front, D pillars cracking, but nothing too major in terms of reliability/ drive-ability. During the last few years there haven't been any problems at all. It's been used on numerous road trips down the coast to California, Nevada, up the coast to Canada, and it has been extremely reliable. MPG for me is 15 and that's mostly city driving. MPG on road trips isn't much better at around 16-18 (but closer to 17).

It's also very good in the snow and has never given us any problems.

My uncle has a 2003 ML350 and his MPG is right around the same as mine. Albeit he lives in San Francisco where there's many more hills, but Seattle is also quite hilly. When I drove his car and filled up, I only netted around 15.5MPG. I'd definitely go for the extra power of the V8 if you can. Something else you may want to look into is a 2003+ ML with a 6 gallon bigger gas tank. I have to fill up every 250 miles, it'd be nice to not go as often. I won't say the V8 is fuel friendly but more like the V6 is a gas guzzler. (Maybe just go for the ML55? I find the ML430 although will get up to speed, is a step behind when I press the gas pedal)

For our family, we have simply outgrown the ML. On road trips now, we're carrying 4-6 full sized adults at any given time. There's simply no luggage space behind the third row. The car is simply too small. Heck, the car is .1" shorter than our CLK W208!!! (so same as your W203 C) With three rows of seating there also isn't much leg room for the back two rows. It really depends on how many people you have to carry and how much room you need, which is the reason why we just got an R, probably the best road trip car for 6 people.

 

Thanks thats good to know im going to take a look at one tonight i lucked out and ran into an exchange student who has to leave the country friday with a 2000 ml320 141k on it asking 5k obo but said he will take it to a dealership to see what they offer him and i'll have a chance to counter offer him on it. hopefully if all works out well i have have one of these in my drive way this evening it might need alittle TLC on minor things but i think it would make a great daily beater