I'm getting ready to sell the best, favorite car I've ever had, my 2006 Mercedes SL500. I REALLY hate to sell it, but have a kid now and need something with a backseat. I considered strapping his carseat to the roof, but the idea didn't fly with my wife. I'm considering a used ML500 or ML550.

I'm curious what your opinions are on which is the most reliable year, and what are the big ticket repair items to be aware of? For example, I read before buying my SL500 that 2006 was markedly more reliable than 2005 and prior. I also knew that the really big ticket items were the retractable roof and the ABC suspension. For this reason, I bought one of the fabled Chrysler Factory Extended Warranty plans. It paid itself off MULTIPLE times over when the ABC suspension gave out. Other than that, I think the fly wheel needed replacing (?), and that was about it, it's been super reliable.

According to Consumer Reports, if that means anything, it appears that 2009 is the year when M-Class began to get more reliable. However, I did read someone on this forum complaining about a 2011 breaking down a lot.

Just curious what your opinions are on the best year, and anything to be aware of. And whether you think it's worth investigating an extended warranty. Not sure if ML repairs are nearly as costly as SL problems. I know Chrysler stopped selling extended warranties (at least for SL's) because they lost so much money on them! LOL.

Also, how many miles are ML's good for? My independent MB mechanic told me he actually thought this is a good time to sell my SL500. It has 84K miles, and he sees them start breaking down a lot around 100K.

Once I take photos, I will probably post my SL500 in the Classifieds forum in the event anyone local in the Los Angeles area is interested.

Thanks in advance!

 

I have an '11 that I bought a year and a half ago with 30k miles and now it just hit 50k and the factory warranty just expired. I now have 1 year of CPO warranty left. I have not had to have anything repaired in this time so I can't point towards any potential problems.

My sister has a R-class and has had a lot of problems with it. The main things seem to be related to the air suspension (fixed at least twice out of warranty) and the rear tailgate lift and locking mechanisms. I believe the ML could have the potential for the same problems which are not cheap to fix.

 

Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.

 

I've never owned a ML500/550 so I can't comment on that specific car as it's a V8 engine.

But I've had a ML350 for about six months now and it's been running really well. I bought it for my wife because we're planning ahead on having a child...I had to give up getting a Porsche sports car for this SUV, but my wife loves it. At first she was skeptical about the Benz because of the costly repairs and maintenance.

We got the keyless Go option and I definitely recommend this...your wife will not have to worry about digging in her purse for the keys ever again. You can operate the car entirely without ever using your keys.

Maintenance is cheaper if you ask members of this forum. Most know alternatives that will save you hundreds for the same product. (i.e. Adblue for Bluetec)

We got an extended warranty from our used car dealership (they gave us a good price $1300) for full complete coverage of everything under the sun, and we recently used that warranty for our CO2 Nox sensor replacement which would've cost us $1200 so the warranty is already paying for itself.

In regards to model years...the W164 and higher is more reliable than the previous models...look for 2011 and up if you're planning to buy, as I've researched and read that prior to that especially the 2008 models were horrible when it comes to reliability.

Good luck and happy hunting!

 

The history of the specific vehicle you are looking at is way more important than any general opinions about a particular model or model year's reliability. No ML is as bulletproof as your typical Lexus, but go on a Lexus forum and you'll find all kinds of people who have had all kinds of problems. Just like on this forum.


My '09 ML550 had several minor issues in its first two years and two ongoing issues that took a lot longer to resolve, all handled under warranty. But mechanically it hasn't so much as hiccuped, touch wood. And I think most problems with the air suspension occur in vehicles that haven't always been treated as well as they might have been. (Face it, Mercedes has made millions of vehicles with Airmatic, not to mention additional millions of trucks with air-assisted suspension, so they probably have a fairly good idea how to build them by now.)


If you find an ML you like the look of, check its history. Any dealer can do so unless the vehicle has not been serviced by an authorized dealer, in which case you are on your own. If the vehicle has been routinely serviced and has a history of being reliable, it will likely stay that way.


How many miles is an ML good for? I read somewhere that all modern cars are made to work properly for seven years, 100,000 miles, and anything beyond that is a bonus. It makes sense, as apparently the average new car is now kept for around seven years and the average car gets scrapped at around 100,000 miles. However, I have to think that a well-maintained ML550 should be good for at least double that, maybe more.


And a parting thought: A friend of mine owns a BMW store (trendy word they use instead of dealership). He says that over 80% of warranty claims on new BMWs are for electronics, not mechanical parts. I imagine it is the same for Mercedes. (My ML dealer's service manager told me that the diesels are the worst for that as they have so many sensors and warning lights that something is constantly malfunctioning. Makes you wonder why they hold their price so well.)