I really wanted to purchase a 2013 ML until I found out road clearance was reduced to a mere 5 inches. Then I found out the on/off road package provides ability to raise clearance but MN dealers never stock any with that option and I prefered not doing a custom order. Looking at new 2014 web build it tool on MB site, the on/off road package no longer exists. Is it possible they raised the road clearance or made the ability to increase the road clearance as a standard feature? There is no info or data that I can find on this. MB is completely silent on road clearance.

 

i believe it's a completely special order item now. Was discussed in some other threads about the new 2014 changes.

 

Airmatic gives you most of the lift capacity of the ON/OFF Road package, but not low range or locking diff. Chances are the package is still available as an SO.

 

There's three air matic options one of which is the offload package. Search in here to see a post with all the official options by Lorenasdad as the user

 

I have a MY 2013 ML350 Bluetec with airmatic suspension and 4matic. I would have bought the off road package, but it wasn't available in USA with the diesel. The literature I found for my vehicle indicates just under 8" normal ground clearance and just over 10" ground clearance at high setting. That's less than an inch lower than off-road package max ground clearance. The suspension lowers at high speeds to conserve fuel, maybe that's the 5" figure you indicate. But lowering at high speeds is barely detectable, so I doubt its that much. I use mine for trailhead access (not rock crawling) and find its an ideal setup. Yes, I'd like better off-road tires and skid plates, but I'm enjoying the car too much to look at any changes at this point. It was a special order option for the airmatic, and I suspect neither this nor the ground clearance has changed for 2014. The torque of the diesel is great -- it excels towing, off road, uphill, or passing, and the mileage is good too.

 

Here's the official chart of clearances which I posted in this thread https://mbworld.org/forums/new-m-cla...iled-info.html. It's showing 8" with steel springs, 10" with Airmatic and another 1" or so with Off Road. I think the lowering at speed is only about 1/2".

 

Has anyone done an actual measurement on a steel sprung W166? The owner's manual gives 7.1" as a ground clearance dimension for steel spring suspension. Has anyone checked the owner's manual?

 

I just measured my 2017 W166 GLE 350 4MATIC with steel spring suspension. I estimate 8" ground clearance, unloaded. This is measured with a tape measure at the underbody plastic shields near the rocker panels. The minimum clearance appears to be the H-pipe where the left and right side exhaust pipes join together beneath the main propshaft, under the second row seats. At this point, ground clearance might be 7.5", or no worse than 7".

Each suspension variant and engine/exhaust combination will have different ground clearance measurements.