GregW / Oregon

Red members are deformable to absorb impact, blue is ultra-high strength steel.

cougar69

So as the result, what did u get?

shortspark

I had this same dilemma when I first started shopping for a new SUV around the first of the year. I loved the Jeep and even owned the big Grand Wagoneer a long time ago. I think it had that incredible 460hp V8 (or maybe it was the 418, can't remember now but it was a real hog!). I liked the JGC styling and ruggedness and the price was right. There were a couple other cars I had in mind as well but finally settled on the ML350 - and I'm glad I did as it is everything I had hopped for.

Having said that, I must also say that the price difference between the Jeep and ML was significant. The JGC was priced properly for what you got with the ML being somewhat overpriced in comparison. In other words, I found the Jeep was the better value if you looked at it in monetary terms only. But no one does that if they are considering a Mercedes. Besides, I was seeing Jeeps everywhere I turned, almost as many as Lexus, so there was no brand uniqueness involved with those cars.

I think the bottom line is that if the money to feature ratio (value) had been the most important factor of all I would have bought the Jeep. However, if you have enough money budgeted to spend on a new car to buy a Mercedes, go with the ML to enjoy a little better overall quality, brand recognition and uniqueness, and a higher level of customer service through the enhanced dealership network.

JY888

I traded in my 2008 JGC SRT8 after two years for my E63, at first the jeep felt pretty solid, after two years lots of creaks, the seats looked terrible, started to fall apart.

I had my 2010 E63 for two years and it still felt solid and everything still looked great when I traded it in for my 2012 ML 550. I know the E63 cost more than twice the SRT but just overall build quality was much better.

I thought of getting the new SRT8 but at $65,000 it was way too much to pay for a Jeep (I paid $38,000 for my old one when gas was $5+ a gallon), the ML 550 I have now feels almost as fast as the 08 SRT8 I had and with a little tune, no comparison. Much better build quality and finish

2012c350

Guy at work has a new JGC and a new ML350. Guess he just couldn't quite decide....usually drives one for a few days, then the other for a few days, etc....

300DTurbo

ML350D

frtdog

The previous marriage between Benz and Chrysler was a good deal for Chrysler, and Benz got a few things too. While it is true the Jeep and the ML share a few things I believe the ML is vastly superior to the Jeep especially in the area of fit and finish. But like the one person said if you put on tons of miles in a short time then the Jeep just may be more 'disposable' then the ML. I am not a rich person, not even close, but I believe Mercedes builds a vehicle that will last alot longer for my driving (maybe 8000 miles per year). So, I have a 2013 on order and plan on keeping it 7 years (when the next major change will probably happen) and if I am still on the right side of the grass at that point I will see about a replacement.

dougiebear

Im sure there are very many little things like Im pretty sure the JGC does not have a magnesium tranfer case as I read in one of the MB pdf's posted 2013 Canada Review.
MB get a certain grade of steel and Im sure it is $$$$ but it is likely much stronger.
ML was delayed with a later release date Im sure it was not to make a vehicle the same as Jeep...... "based on" does not mean same just look at a family photo WINK
I guess we buy what we can afford or enjoy..........the year delay has made the ML affordable for me.........well? If interest rated drop LOL

ckuennen

I think I might know a little bit about this topic!

cougar69

you have both! ? any feedback?

iankayem

How do you fit a towbar on the Jeep?

CeeCee510

Like the Jeep love the ML350. I have driven a X5 for the past 11 years. Loved it . When I decided to replace her . I looked @ the new X5 , nice but fell for the ML350= Sexy!

ckuennen

OK first a little bit of perspective. First off I am very much a car guy, owned dozens of cars in my lifetime, in the past have restored two muscle cars, have a technical background, and come from an auto racing family.

For various reasons I have preferred US auto makes all of my life. In fact, up until about 6 months ago, I would have said I will NEVER own a foreign car, especially a MB diesel, LOL. The diesel opinion was based upon years of driving among diesel MBs with the offensive exhaust smoke. How rude. Never say never!

Before I post responses to any inquiries or more about my opinion of the vehicles, I will talk about the comparative driving experiences first. I've owned the 2007 Jeep SRT8 GC since new in 2007, and it has over 100K miles on it. I've owned the 2012 ML350 BTC since new for less than a month yet it already has alomst 3K miles on it. The ML350 was chosen after an exhaustive search among many marques, foreign and domestic. While a comaprison to ML550 or AMG would be more suitable for an auto mag, these are not what I own, and while I really like those vehicles, they were not within the target price range. (aka could not afford them!)

The most noticable difference is that I must adapt my driving style for each vehicle. While one can easily drive both assertively, however I find that in the SRT8 I am more include to attack curves and ramps. I can get past idiots in the passing lane with ease in the SRT8. In the ML350 I just want to enjoy the ride, and basically "cruise". The ML350 has a silky smooth and elegant ride (but not a marshmellow soft ride like an old Buick) and the Jeep ride is far more firm than most vehicles these days. I like it but many people would not. Bottom line is that both vehicles are thoroughly enjoyaboe to drive, but for far different reasons.

More later..........

300DTurbo

The Chassis is the same on the '12 and forward. I love the way both of them drive.

K-A

My Dad just got a fully Loaded GC Overland.

It REALLY is an awesome car. It's upsetting that M-B has the exact same chassis riding under a non-M-B to a "purist" like myself, but it sure did REALLY help the GC. Funny, as the public probably doesn't know it's an ML twin, but the incredible sales show that they realized it some way or another.... it's almost like getting ML quality for less than half the price.

THAT SAID, it's still no Benz. The fit and finish and build quality of various parts, though greatly improved for a Chrysler/American product, isn't up to Benz standards, especially now that M-B has made the new ML REALLY worthy of the M-B badge (IMO the first two ML's were flubs). Safety and steel quality of the GC is clearly helped by M-B, however, as you can see by the ML's INCREDIBLE safety performance, M-B made sure to step their "version" up some notches.

All in all, the GC is a helluva value for the money, especially if you know what's lying within it, however, the ML is still worth *A* premium, how much or whether it's worth it to you is your call.

gocargo

Hmm, seems that the JGC may have faulty components causing them to catch fire:

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...0101/207240322

Morro

I live by this motto...YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!!!

It's held true for almost everything I've come across in life. If you're going to be cheap, then cheap is usually what you get. The JGC is a very good truck when compared to trucks in its range...but don't try to compare it to MB. That's like me saying "Should I get the Civic or the C350?"

27T

Here are a couple of Consumer Reports articles of the JGC this month:

Jeep Grand Cherokee fails Swedish moose test, lessons for U.S. consumers

2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs probed for engine fires

I expect the ML to have its share of issues but yikes.

ckuennen

Cougar - indeed I won both, as you probably figured out by now......

Ian - there are ways to get a hitch on the pre-2012's with the center exhaust, if interested in how its done, check out cherokeesrt8 dot com

Morro - nice avatar LOL.

ckuennen

Bought the SRT8 new in 2007 and wife and I have driven it daily. It now has 101K miles on it. At the time wife was looking at some really ugly vehicles, and neither of us liked any of them. Needed (and still need) to haul two kids around with sports equipment and can't stand minivans. We like the styling, and I really liked the sound and performance. I knew I would buy the truck before we drove it off the dealer parking lot when I felt the way the torque converter flashed up at low rpm.

Our SRT8 has had its share of Chrysler reliability issues, mainly electronics related. In fact, we would not have begun shopping for a new car this year if the Jeep had been more reliable recently. It is truly a high performance vehicle, and thus has a tendency to wear out tires and brakes quickly, and drank a lot of premium fuel (14 MPG city, 17 MPG hwy). I knew that was the deal going in, so that was not a surprise or disappointment. One thing that really saved us was that at the end of the 4/50K factory warranty, we decided to go buy an extended warranty to 7/100K. I'm not a fan of extended warranties generally, but felt that due to all the electronics and the high performance components on the SRT8, that is was a prudent purchase. For better or worse, it paid off in spades LOL.

Despite the reliability issues which Chrysler is famous for, I can still get in this vehicle and take it for a drive and it puts a big smile on my face. This truck runs like a scalded dog, (0-60 in 4.6 seconds), and handles far better than I am willing to push it. It sees 6K rpm every time I get in it, and we have never been outrun when challenged. (Never came across AMGs, CTS-Vs or Z06s LOL).

Our truck is still very much like new, shows now wear at all, and has no squeaks. We maintain it religiously, and it does not burn any oil. On depreciation, the SRT8s do not depreciate like other Jeeps. Ours is still worth more than half of what we paid for it, which was just under $40K wth a sticker of $46K in 2007. For us, and for now, its a good second car and we plan to keep it.

We do not really like the styling of the 2012 models, and the 2012 SRT8 was really expensive in the mid-$50K range and therefore was not considered at all when looking at new vehicles.

Next I'll write about how we got to the ML350, as if anyone cares LOL.

shortspark

Of course we care. Why someone selected the ML350 over the Jeep goes to the heart of this entire thread. I looked at the Jeep GC as well but I've had Jeeps in the past and wanted a Mercedes for the first time in my life. Although I believe I would have been pleased with the Jeep, I am pretty sure I chose wisely!

iankayem

They say one towbar was rated at 3500lbs. By its mounting, I would suggest that is double what would be safe for the chassis integrity.

Another homemade looks much stronger, but the chains attach to the removeable hitch. Dunno about there but thats illegal here.

I am glad to have a bar which is rated and tested for 3500kg (7200lbs) on the ML.

ckuennen

Well, as noted above, we started having some reliability issues with the SRT8 once it got past 90k miles. So the wife and I agreed that we would trade it for "something". Not really sure what we would get, but needed room for 2 adults and 2 teenagers, and a budget of ~$50k. She had no particular preference, other than wanting to sit a little higher up than the average sedan. We drive about 20k miles per year, with kids going to swim practice, trips to the beach, etc.

Anyway, we agreed to cast a very wide net, and not just make an emotional decision based on what we "liked". We investigated for a couple of months. We drove the Caddy SRX, the Ford Explorer and Edge, GMC Acadia, Chevy Tahoe, Jeep Overland, Audi Q5 and Q7, Acura MDX, Mazda CX-9, and others. Highlights among these were that the Audis really had great build quality and styling but the nearest dealer to us is 90 miles away, then the MDX has an outstanding interior but I do not like and could not get past the plain Jane exterior, and the grill styling just plain sucks, the best overall value was surprisingly the Mazda CX-9. We hated the Ford Explorer dash setup, the Acadia had awful seat comfort, the Tahoe, well it drove like the truck that it is, and the Jeep was nice and felt solid all round. I think Chrysler does keep trying to iterate to a better quality product. I rented the Edge a few times and its a really nice vehicle overall. Note that we did not spend much time looking at the other Asian makes. I'm sure they have great quality and all, but for my money I view them as really good but ordinary "appliances" that have no soul.

Well we got to the local import dealer, and drove right past the X-5s. While I'm certain they are very well built and capable vehicles, I just did NOT want to buy one! I have this thing you see, I guess its a mental block of some kind LOL. Its been my observation that there are a hell of a lot of BMW drivers that are very poor drivers. Not all of them, but a high percentage. You know, hogging and clogging up the passing lane, erratic driving, acting like their 318s are some kind of F1 car. Just drives me nuts LOL. Anyway, I just did not want to buy a marque that apparently so many idiots also drive.....LMAO.....

OK next post is about our experience test driving and buying the MB......

ckuennen

Well, 7 years later, and we still own both vehicles. We still love driving both of them for different reasons. The 2007 Jeep GC SRT8 has 152K miles and the 2012 ML350BTC has 161K miles. Jeep reliability has been excellent since 100K. At 98K I lost a lifter and it ate the cam. New cam, followers, springs, all covered under extended warranty. Since then, I put in a water pump and a radiator. Recently replaced and upgraded much of the suspension. Burns a quart of oil about every 1500 miles, no smoke. Was primary driver for 3 teenagers as their first vehicle, 425HP V8 and none of the three ever cracked it up or got a ticket. Tree fell on it last year and had to replace the roof. Still runs like a raped ape. We'll keep it. Once I retire, I may do a mechanical resto, maybe a blown 426 or something stupid like that. The ML350BTC has been a real headache, especially lately. Had the factory bumper to bumper extended warranty to 125K and used it a LOT. Oil cooler line o rings, DEF tank, cracked wood grain on the dash, various CELs, all replaced under warranty. Last fall had to have the damned oil cooler lines o rings replaced AGAIN $2,500 at my indy shop. Within the past three years I've replaced MAF sensor, numerous other sensors, and now it's in the shop for to replace the EGR valve and fix a leak from oil filter mount o rings, that will be another $1,400 parts and labor. When it doesn't have a CEL or is puking oil, the thing runs like a dream, still looks new inside and out. About on the edge of giving it up, especially if annual repairs exceed $5K. It's only worth maybe $10-$11k. The Jeep is 5 years older and is probably worth $5K more. What's going to fail next on this rachet deisel I wonder. Then there's the gap between diesel and gas prices, wtf.

peter2772000

Wow, I had the exact same experience with my 475 hp 2014 GC SRT. Roller lifter wiped out at 100k km back in fall 2018 while under extended warranty, took out the cam.
475 horsies sure was fun though, more fun than my 06' Charger SRT8. The GC stuck to the road like glue....