roadrutz

My ML550 is just over three years old and has had several quite serious issues recently. Although covered under warranty, the issues were enough to make me consider trading for something newer. Now that I am retired I’m on a fixed income, so any dollar spent on cars is a dollar less to live on. So I decided I was no longer in the market for uber-priced German vehicles. I pull a small (3,000 lb) boat and I’m a power freak, so I need something with a V8. The Jeep Grand Cherokee is built on almost the same platform as the ML, and it is available with a 5.7 liter Hemi V8, so I decided to take a test drive. What a slug! Compared to the ML550 it is horribly slow, although in Overland trim the interior is very nicely finished. That left only the Grand Cherokee SRT8. I was reluctant to drive one of those as I have driven my neighbour’s 2010 model and it is cheap-feeling and uncomfortable, even though it goes like stink. But the dealer had a low-mileage 2012 GC SRT8 and he convinced me to take a drive. What a transformation! The interior is every bit as nicely finished as any ML, even to the stitched leather dash. The seats are superb, feeling very Recaro-like and supportive. Most of all, the ride has been changed so that it is now perfectly comfortable, somewhere between my ML’s Normal and Sport modes. In the Sport setting, the SRT corners flatter than the ML in Sport, and in Track it feels like a go-kart. The 6.4 liter engine puts out 470HP and feels and sounds like the very best of big-bore American V8s – all torque, with a sensuous deep rumble. Ticket city. At (Canadian) $65K list price, the GC SRT8 is an absolute bargain compared with ML550s, ML63s, X5s, etc., not just because it is in the same performance league but because of the feel and quality of the vehicle. How Chrysler can build it with unionized labour and sell it for $25K less than an ML550, built with non-union labour, is a mystery. If I were comparing the two new, today, it would be no contest.

However…

The SRT is actually selling at $10K to $15K over list, and even the used model I drove had an asking price of $65K, so I decided not to make a deal. (If you pay over list for a new vehicle, you get the pleasure of owning what is, for a while, a rare car, but when it comes time to trade it and it has lost its scarcity value its value is based on the list price, not what you paid. So all those dollars over list go straight down the depreciation drain.) With nothing else appealing to me, I have decided to put new tires on the ML and keep it a few more years. I’m also going to try a different dealer as mine has proven himself utterly incompetent, time and time again – which is, in truth, much of what has concerned me about the ML.

But wait! There’s more!

One thing the test of the GC SRT8 showed me was how incredibly sweet is the Mercedes 550 engine. Although it is supposed to put out 90HP less than the Jeep, and although road tests have the ML550 doing 0 – 60 anywhere from half a second to just over a second slower than the SRT, in real-world driving the two vehicles are indistinguishable in performance. The ML would lose out on a drag strip, and it certainly doesn’t sound as sexy, but when it comes to passing long truck/trailer combos on the highway the ML gives away nothing. So, bottom line? I would buy a GC SRT8 in a flash if they sold at their published list price and if they were widely available, but since they don’t and aren’t, I’m sticking with the ML with a new-found respect for an engine that I already respected. I will also get far better gas mileage than I would in the SRT. As one road tester on YouTube says of the GC SRT8: “It gets 30 MPG: 12 in town and 18 on the highway. 12 plus 18 equals 30.” I average better than 18 in the ML.

Now its time to see if the problems I have had are the exception or the rule. Wish me luck.

Moto One

Also being retired I know too what it means to watch the dollars going out. But keeping your ML, even with possible repairs down the road is still money ahead. And if you liked the sound of the SRT, that can be fixed on the ML with a pair of Magnaflow mufflers. And I would think that the 550 would sound even better then our 500.

Mark.

AudiA4Turbo22

It's always cheaper to fix your current car than to buy a new one.

Those jeeps fall apart like the old Cadillacs of the 70's.

Just keep your car, every time a part is replaced on your ML, it becomes something LESS that has to be dealt with. Granted, they shouldn't be replacing parts left and right, but every luxury car has its phases of problems. Save yourself some money and keep your current car, just pay for an extended warranty. My car is covered for the next 4 years/125,000 miles.

Use your money for something more important, like enjoying your retired years.

C-rod

I too my friend, get the itch for something else and I've only had this 2011, for about a year and a half...........but this 550 engine is something to behold....."gobs of power"....more than enough...........I just wish the whole vehicle was built the same way............ I still maintain, to build a world class vehicle, you need a world class supplier base and I don't think this plant in Vance has that...........wonderful powertrain assemblies...but the rest of it, I'm not so sure..........I wonder how the W166 is doing ????

AudiA4Turbo22

I COMPLETELY AGREE!

My car is barely 4 years old and it feels like it's falling apart left and right. The passenger's side window regulator is about to go out, the A/C compressor has a whine, my A/C fans grind when they turn on, the inside rattles like a shoe box full of rocks, the ride is horrid, my parking brake has begun sticking, etc.

BUT, But, the motor makes up for it like you won't believe.

roadrutz

Same here. I bought the factory extended warranty when I purchased the vehicle, so I am covered by the initial bumper-to-bumper warranty until next April, then two years of not-quite-bumper-to-bumper, and then a further year on the drivetrain, all subject to a 160,000 km limit which I am never likely to reach.

But that only slightly mitigates the annoyance and inconvenience of regular trips to the dealer. It takes me 45 minutes to get there, typically 30 minutes waiting for his shuttle, and then typically an hour or so to get home, all repeated in reverse when I go to pick it up. And when I pick it up there is a 50:50 chance that some extra part needs to be ordered "from Germany", necessitating yet another visit when it arrives, or the vehicle now has some problem it didn't have when it went in.

Your comment about Jeeps falling apart is interesting. I have never owned a Jeep but I have owned other Chrysler products. I am on my second PT Cruiser, spanning 12 years between the two of them, and neither ever had to visit the shop for anything other than routine maintenance. Never. Nothing! Also, I note that the Grand Cherokee assembly plant was recently ISO 9001 certified. So maybe things changed with a bit of German ownership. A pity Mercedes don't seem able to apply the same controls to their own US operation. Or maybe it's Fiat shaking things up at Chrysler. Who knew there would ever come the day when Fix It Again Tony would be teaching somebody about quality!

komp55

My experience with my '08 ML550 has been different. Nearly two years of ownership now with ZERO issues. I did purchase the extended CPO warranty when I bought it, and perhaps someday it will justify what I paid for it, but so far I simply could not be happier with the performance and reliability of my ML (it's at 60K miles now).

If you want a bit more power and great sound out of the 550 engine, the ML63 exhaust is just the ticket. The standard exhaust on the ML550 is very constricted with numerous crimps in the small diameter tubing. OTOH, the ML63 exhaust is larger diameter, mandrel bent tubing which really lets the 550 engine breath. It makes a noticeable seat-of-the pants difference in performance.

But as everyone has noted, we're all better off keeping what we have and fixing things as they arise rather than taking another depreciation bath on a vehicle replacement.

roadrutz

I guess I'll just keep scanning Craigslist...

AudiA4Turbo22

I do agree that Chrysler and Jeep are making killer cars, they have become the most reliable and quality built american cars currently in production. However, they have given me a BRAND NEW Cherokee at our Mercedes dealership as a loaner(cheapos) and it feels way less solid than my ML and the quality and fit & finish is way different. Of course, one's a luxury SUV and the other is not, but just the shudder from the chassis was enough to steer me away.

komp55

There was another one being sold on Craigslist in the LA area about 3 or 4 weeks ago. The seller never responded; figured he was looking for a local sale only.

LOVEMYBS

The speedo on my 09 ML550 just turned 70K. So far, no problems but, it is covered by an extended warranty that takes me out to 150K. BTW, if you want a little more power contact Jeremy at OETuning about reflashing your ECU. I did and it transformed my ML550, especailly at the low end. I now have approximately 405hp and 400tq.