4JGDA7DB5CA057520

Like this one.

Good Carfax with MB dealer only services; shocks replaced recently (!); just under 100K no northern winters.

 

If you're looking for a ML500, this one ain't it ...

 

Better information please.

 

It looks like the VIN you provided is for a 550, not a 500.

 

Correct. Originally I wasn't looking for a V8 of any stripe. Then I have been stumbling across ML550's that check all the boxes, or MOST of the boxes I want checked in this new (to me) vehicle. The only thing missing is usually the panoramic roof but I have decided the light colored interior makes that unnecessary. Then I saw the ML 550 and the color finished me off: I need check the service history further but I might take a shot at this one. It is not going to be a daily driver except in the deep winter so fuel mileage doesn't concern me. What DOES is the Mercedes dealer who serviced this car at 60odd K miles reported a "transmission flush". I will ask tomorrow if it is their process NOT to change the filter when changing transmission fluid. I have never read a MB generated service history that used the word "flush" with transmission service. Maybe not a huge deal, but it might be a bargaining point.

 

The W164 of any variant does not have a panoramic roof. Just a standard sunroof.

 

I have decided a pano roof is not really important where the car has a light color interior as this one does and I have given that up along with thinking I would ever find a station wagon that would be suitable for my purposes.

 

Did you buy it?

 

I am trying to call the seller and have done so twice. I will try again tomorrow. My intent is to buy this ML550 having spoken at length with my mechanic this morning. I intend to have a small negotiation about price but I think I just want it and will figure the details later. Right now I am unsure if I will fly down and drive home or transport it. In the end I may fly and drive myself.

 

Check your engine number against this bulletin to make sure the car you're buying is not the range if engines that had crank sprocket issues for the timing chain.

 

I tried several times to reach the seller yesterday but no response. Later in the day my son checked and found the car gone from the owner's website so apparently I was a day late (although prepared to NOT be a dollar short!). So as I late Mother always said: "there is ALWAYS another car!".

So today I will begin the search again and now focused entirely on the ML series. Here is the definition of the search: 2012-2013 ML with less than 120K miles and as perfect a service history as possible. One owner preferred but two allowable provided the service history is documented OR documentable perfectly. Location is to be Southeast, south central or west, so long as history in above the rust belt is limited. The car must have Zenon headlight system; lighter color interior; pano roof is desirable (and yes, the Pano roof did come on the ML series although not terribly common) and either gasoline engine is acceptable). Location is difficult really as almost anything I will buy is a long way away to either I will have to fly and buy, then drive back or the car will need to be shipped. I will not spend crazy money for one so shipping becomes an issue. I am not really in a hurry but this needs to be done by November most likely. I do not intend to drive my CLK (the only other vehicle I own) through this upcoming winter. Oh, yes: One other item: the car must have NO damage history. That's the tricky part it seems.

 

Engine?

Good luck with the search.

 

either gas engine will work. In reality, I don't NEED to have the V8. I confess: the teenager in me WANTS the V8. Anticipating 6-8000 miles per year the fuel mileage "penalty" isn't extreme enough to make common sense (maturity?) prevail.

 

You can buy happiness with the V8.

 

"NEW TO ME ML550 is ordered!!! Yesterday morning I resumed my search for my "new" ML. After missing out on a VERY nice and pretty example because I figured a bit too much and because I had clung to the idea I might find a reasonably priced, "good" station wagon equipped the way I wanted it, I decided to focus on the ML because there are a gazillion of them and many are really well equipped as I wanted one. Yesterday I found not much, limiting my search to 2012-2014 MLs in general and because they are not huge in number, a quick search through ML550's. Starting on CarFax I found nothing, and nothing on Autotrader either. Then buy accident I tried Cars.com and almost instantly there IT was.

"IT" was a 2014 ML550 and the first photo showed the Zenon/self-clean headlight option and stunned, not deep into 55 photos on the sellers website, there was the panoramic roof option!. I pulled the build sheet and was stunned: somebody must have gotten out of bed on the right side the day this truck was ordered. I have NEVER seen an ML with such an extensive equipment list including the rare "off road" package.

I ordered a CARFAX. There have been two owners over its 117,000 miles,both of them putting close to the same number of miles on the vehicle and both owners servicing the ML550 at the original selling dealer. Services from New were "literal": the truck went to the dealer EXACTLY when it needed servicing and with few exceptions, it appears only two of three times did anyone other than an authorized Mercedes Benz technician touch the truck. From prior observation I infer that someone spent ALL the money necessary to service this truck. I spoke with the service manager at the original selling/servicing dealer who confirmed the truck had had a "lot" of service, but none for failure of components. I may receive copies of the original work orders.

I spoke at length with the selling dealer, a one man operation in suburban Chicago. He told me he has driving the truck some with his family aboard and said it was 100% as he expected it to be. I felt the seller was very candid and forthcoming and we had a nice discussion. Sometimes dealers are vague, this guy was direct and I felt comfortable.

So I bought the truck....Paladian Silver with beige leather and all. It will be shipped to me and I expect to have it as soon as a reasonably priced spot on a transporter appears. The price was neither high nor low to what a truck like this "should" cost and it did not stretch my budget to make the purchase. I think as much as anything else, the photos provided of the underside of the truck appeared to be of exactly what it was: an ML from west Texas that had spent most of its time right where it had filled away from the dealers floor when brand new.

I think it safe the the upcoming Maine winter will offer little resistance to this beast and now I won't have to buy winter tires for the CLK! Photos and more details when the truck arrives.