DR2000

Congratulations! I still have 2 more month to go... Do post the pictures.

SDGuy

Great news. Enjoy the ML. Yes, PICS!

I have to see if mine got completed on the 14th. Howard

Coreysimms

Ok. Here are a few photos. I wanted to show everyone the Sport interior option which we love. I will post a few more shortly.

Coreysimms

Sorry it took awhile to post. I have been busy driving this thing around.

DR2000

Looks great.

Interesting thing that I see is that the cupholder cover is now covered by wood as well. From the older pics posted all over this site it seemed that it used to be plastic. I saw this change appear on MBUSA.com as well, but thought maybe it's a glitch.

Am I making this up, or did they just make this change?

Coreysimms

From what I can tell, it depends on which wood trim you choose. With the Poplar Anthracite, it is covered with wood. I can't tell you which ones are and which ones are not.

Snipe656

I bought mine new in Ohio and drove it home ~1100 miles. I averaged(as per pen and paper calculations) around 27mpg for both tanks and that was with an average speed(as per the computer) around 70mph. Thinking had I not been trying to maintain 85mph for the trip that I could got a bit better since now that I am commuting in it for a couple weeks I am getting shy of 25mpg. None of my other diesels ever have increased in their fuel economy after some miles but will be interesting to see if it happens this go around.

Coreysimms

That's pretty good for an SUV. How many miles before fill ups?

Snipe656

When I drove it back from Ohio I stayed the night in Memphis so I filled up shortly before entering the city as to avoid finding a place in the morning. I could gone a bit into Arkansas before needing to fill up. I think that was somewhere around 550 miles. The next tank I filled up after close to 600 miles. To be honest I was needing bio breaks long before the SUV was needing fuel. I'd actually filled up before that 600 mile mark but the place I stopped at was all out of diesel so pushed on another 100+ miles before stopping again.

Now that I am commuting in it, I am topping the tank off usually long before it needs fuel and instead when I have a convenient time to just fill it up. I have to do a trip up to Dallas in a few weeks and probably will be in no hurry so perhaps it will show even more impressive economy.

Now if I were doing strictly city driving I think the fuel economy would be below 20. My typical commute has a decent stretch of highway driving which is what is bouncing me up into the low to mid 20s. I did not buy this for fuel economy reasons though but use it as my work vehicle to go to client offices so tracking all miles/fillups which in turn is making me rather aware of it's fuel economy.

Coreysimms

That's good to know. I have had my Bluetec for almost a week and I am averaging almost 20mpg with mostly around town driving. I have 200 miles obit so far, and have barely seen a highway yet. This coming weekend I will get some highway time in and see what kind of mileage I will get.

Snipe656

Diesels always really shine with fuel economy on the freeway much more so than city. Well just so long as you try not to make any land speed records in them.

Although with that said the best fuel economy I ever saw in my old 335d was when I was in a hurry to get to Dallas and back. I think the average speed per the computer was in the high 80s and fuel economy somewhere in the mid to high 30s. But an exact opposite of that is my F250 which will net slightly worse fuel economy on long hauls than around town but I know that is because of how fast I am pushing that land barge on the freeway.

14MLBT

I think I'm in my 700 miles period, just did my first fill up after about upper 570ish from the dealership. I've been just driving around short 10 miles freeway and mostly city and I'm getting 23-24 mpg. I can't wait until I do my long distance this holiday.

BVC500

I think its a change, but only available if you order the leather package. Other '14s I've seen with MBtex have the plastic cover.

Coreysimms

Mine doesn't have the leather package and it's still covered with wood.

DR2000

If MBUSA.com is correct it seems that you get plastic with standard wood option of eucalyptus, and wood cover with any other wood option. This is a pretty cool change I think.

MBenz777

A few years ago (2007) I've decided to get myself a new car. I was thinking either a Mercedes ML 350 diesel or a Lexus RX 400h (hybrid)
Considering several pros and cons (ML 350 was a little bit more expensive and the fact that I never tolerate the diesel stinky exhaust smell) I've decided to get the Lexus. It was a special order (took about 4 months to come from Japan) and had all the options (almost everything included) I wanted.
...I've never been 100% happy with that car, there were no problems at all, but I always felt like "something is missing"...not to mention that one of the pros when I made the decision to buy it was the gas saving of a hybrid, yeah sure...I'll get back to this when I'll talk about my new ML 350 Bluetec.

Now, in August my wife totaled her car (not her fault, a hit and run incident) and since she had long time ago her eyes on my Lexus she told me: "honey you should get a Mercedes, you deserve it…"

OK, why not, I did some research online, and I found only one almost fully equipped in Escondido (60 miles South, closer to Tijuana than my house!) and the next Saturday morning I left O.C. going South on I 5…when I was approaching Mercedes Benz of Laguna Niguel I said: “what the heck, is just here next to me let’s give it a try to see what they have to offer!”
They didn’t have to many cars fully equipped, I wanted at least Parktronic, Distronic and Navigation as a must. The ones on stock were either without one or the other feature.
The sales person, Mark (a very nice guy with a New Zealander accent) found one in their database located in San Diego (See Attachment, there are so many features, I preferred to take a picture to the sticker than typing all of them here)
Basically the care has almost everything (I don’t care about 20” rims, sport package or towing hitch)
The sticker price was $68,225
There were 2 things I didn’t like about it: the color (Iridium Silver Metallic…which I totally love now!) and the fact that it was a 2013 model when the 2014 were already available…but ultimately is just a number, right?

Not being very excited and having my mind set on going to Escondido I said “no, is a little bit to pricey” and I was about to leave. You now, the next question was: “how much do you want to pay for this one?”…not caring much about this “ugly silver car” I said: “no more than $59-60K…Mark took me seriously, like I was really interested to buy that car, he went to his manager…and they came back with counter offer: $$61K
To make a long story short, Mark was right…I was interested to buy it, we made the paper work then and they brought it from San Diego next day.

And since then (August 2013) almost 3 months later I can’t stop being in love with this car. The color…is growing on me day after day, and all the features it has, make me really happy.

I was talking about the Lexus RX 400h, and the gas economy of it as a hybrid…on freeway ML 350 is giving me from my home in Orange County to a point in Los Angels County (45-50 miles) about 28-29 miles per gallon on cruise control at a speed of 70 MPH, well the "almighty hybrid" is at 23-25 MPG…wen I went to the dealer (Lexus) and I told them about the poor mileage they replied: “well, having 3 engines (one gas and 2 electric ones) it has the power of a V8”…who the hell cares about a V8 power???...I just wanted to reduce the gas consumption when I purchased a hybrid…

Anyway, I wanted long time to get a diesel, I don’t know (or I didn’t know) why, and now I’m really happy that I got this one.

Not to mention, my problem with the stinky smell of a diesel exhaust…it doesn’t exist with this Bluetec model, in fact this car doesn’t smell at all, not even like a brand new (with low emission) gas car.

Yes, with this car I am 100% happy…so far.

14MLBT

Glad you're happy!

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Phil.mount

Love reading about the new Bluetecs you guys are getting, 1st week of Dec build for mine and time is dragging! New Dealer and very rookie salesman and they will not give me their PO number so I can see if Fab can track it. Say it is confidential! Oh we'll, seems like they are being built on schedule or sooner so maybe it will be in time for a big red bow.

Keep the stories and pictures coming!

MBenz777

Like I've said, this is my first diesel ever. Things are a little bit different from gas engines.

Engine oil looks black and "dirty" after just a few hundred miles...I was shocked when I first checked it, I almost panicked thinking that the engine is...dying. Thanks to Google I've learned that is normal.

Now, a thing that I've noticed: when I first start the car in the morning (I live in So. Cal, so is not so cold here) before it reches 90+ C degrees, the run is not so smooth...even the gear changing is a little bit rough. Is that normal for a diesel car?

14MLBT

I don't know about being a diesel! All cars are sluggish until it reaches normal operating temperature. I let mine idle for about 3 minutes on 75-85ish temperature.

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MBenz777

A couple of pictures with my new ML 350 Bluetec...