Yes, as long as your order isnt locked by factory.

I bought a brand new 2012 ML BlueTec earlier this year and was VERY pleased with the with the entire process, especially the speed of the process. I live in Illinois, but bought my car from the MB dealer in Arlington, VA. Years earlier I bought a few cars from them when I was getting them through the MB diplomatic purchase program, and was quite pleased with the dealership at the time.

In April I started the search for an ML with my own preferred options/colors. I wanted Iridium silver, grey tex, lighting, driver assistance, parktronic, and P02. There was not a single ML in the country matching those specs. My local dealers of course told me that I didn't really need all of those things and that I would be quite satisfied with one of the cars on their lot. lot. They also discouraged me from a special order, saying it was too late to special order a MY2012, as the 2013's would be starting up in June, and there would be no discounting of early 2013's, yada, yada, yada.

I called the dealership in Virginia and literally within minutes they said they had vehicles already in their pipeline that could still be modified to my own specs. We talked price and came up with a deal that was nearly 10% off MSRP (this included a $3000 USAA "incentive").

The order was officially entered into the system on April 28th. In a few days they had an estimated build time of the second "decade" (meaning the second 10 days of June (10-20 June). A few weeks later they had a specific "build date"... 21 June.

My ML was built on the 21st of June. It was actually delivered to the dealer on the early evening of the 22nd of June... the very next day. I picked it up on the afternoon of the 23rd of June.

It obviously required a $180 one-way plane ticket, and a 700 mile trip home, but it was worth it (They picked me up at the airport).

I'm not shilling for that dealership... any dealership could probably have done the same thing. However, Arlington VA is an easy trip from NYC by air or rail. Your local dealer will still love you when you bring it in for maintenance.

You have a great spec.If you were to spend more $$££ then my choice would be 21" Alloys/wheels . Speakers are fine as they are .I see no issues with the original ones.I am sure the expensive ones are better.
The car looks much much better with the 21" if you can change try that.
Your call !! Your car!:y
Enjoy the waiting.... it is worth the wait.

Thanks for the tip but I already ordered from MB of Manhattan and left a $1,500 non-refundable deposit. I probably could have gotten a better price outside of the NY/NJ area, but how much better? MSRP was $62,125 and we agreed on $59,595.

Thanks. I don't think it's possible to order 21" wheels from MB here in the States. The biggest wheels they list are 20".

Did your deal include incentive at the time of pickup? If so that should save you additional 1.5-2K.

No, it did not. I figured if the offered price was close enough to truecar.com and carsdirect.com, I'd go for it.

It may still be OK to ask for it.

So, the build date is January 15, should arrive here late January, early February :)

So, I got the car on Saturday. It will take time to get used to the transmission shifter being behind the steering wheel. I keep instinctively looking for it somewhere where the COMAND controller is... :)

I know exactly how you feel, it does take some getting used to.
And when you drive another vehicle with the shift lever on the floor you will find yourself reaching for the shift lever on the steering column.

Good luck and enjoy the new ML!!

BTW - I also had an MDX prior to my first ML, a 2009, it was a great SUV.