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- Mercedes Benz M Class ML 55 AMG
- jazzRS360's review
Have a picture of Mercedes Benz M Class ML 55 AMG?, please send it to us.
Picture courtesy of Phaldie Pillay.
| Performance | 9.7/10  |
|---|---|
| Practicality | 8.3/10 |
| Reliability | 7.7/10 |
| Value for Money | 8/10 |
| Reviewer Rating | 8.7/10 |
| Overall Rating | 9.2/10  |
By jazzRS360
on 25th Mar 2005
| Year Manufactured | 2002 |
|---|---|
| Length of ownership | It's not quite mine! |
| Performance | 9/10 |
| Practicality | 7/10 |
| Reliability | 5/10 |
| Value for money | 5/10 |
| Overall value | 7/10 |
 jazzRS360's recommendation | |
Handsome looks, superb engine, frighteningly rapid, reasonably spacious, very well equipped.
Reliability issues, although fast in a straight line it cannot handle like a proper sports car, ride is no way near as good as my E320 esate, hopelessly thirsty, quality slightly dissapointing for a £54k vehicle.
Now, I don't own one of these myself although one of my collegues does and I have often been privelidged to drive it with him. The Mercedes ML 55 is visually very impressive, with large alloys and an improved body kit. It combines sports appeal with that of a serious off-roader, which is pleasing. Inside the cabin is very well equipped, with most of the toys you would expect from a £50k+ machine. The engine sounds solid and throbby on start up and it drives very well, although the ride isn't quite as comfortable as my Merc E320 estate. The perormance is perhaps this car's main weapon: 0-60 mph in 6.8 seconds and 145 mph top speed. This, along with a price tag of £54,000 puts this car into some serious competition. It really does feel fast- especially on the motorway where you just floor it and watch the scenery blur by with the demonic growl of the V8. Acceleration is good at any speed, and torque is aplenty which allows the ML to push on without too much of a pause. From the lights this massive block can often shame smaller, lighter convertables as well as basically any large off-roader. So then, it looks great, it is well equipped and it goes like hell. So are there any bad points?
Well actually, there are. According to my good friend the vehicle suffers many problems, most of them electrically. These can be sorted, but they are very frequent. The mechanics are also not quite up to scratch either, and the overall quality of the car is slightly dissapointing for something so expensive. Interior space, while being quite good is far from class-leading, and the handling, although improved over the stadard ML models is still not good enough to compete with sports cars, or even large executive cars. My friend confirmed this with an amusing tale of him chasing a V6 Mondeo through the country side of East Sussex: On the straights he would easily catch the smaller saloon but on the twists the Ford had the advantage to the extent of pulling away, so that when he caught it up again on the straights there would be another turn. However, as the tale goes, the Mondeo eventually joined a dual carriage way where he was also going, but as my friend prepared to make up for the humiliation on the twists and cream the Mondeo, he had to stop at a fuel station as the tank was empty. The Ford sped away while it still could, victorious against a £54k machine. The ML55 drinks liquid like a devoted alchoholic. My friend says he struggles to make 20 mpg while driving nicely and this drops to a laughable 12 when he flexes his right foot. So then it is very fast, looks good, is well equipped and nice enough to drive.
But it is sometimes unreliable, is mechanically flawed, despite good handling it cannot out do smaller, cheaper driver's cars, isn't quite as well made as it's price suggests, and there are two more problems. Problems which are almost certain to be the downfall of this once proud and dominating beast. They are called the BMW X5 4.6iS and the even more demonic Porsche Chayenne Turbo. These are newer, better quality, sharper hangling and with the Porsche, faster then our hopeful Mercedes friend, who is suddlenly looking dated and dynamically behind the new contenders.
MY friend, however, agrees with me and so has taken the appropriate course of action to fix the problem: He now has a Chayenne Turbo on order now as I speak...
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