M class or FFRR
Author
Discussion

DKL

Original Poster:

4,970 posts

252 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2014
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I'm considering changing my old range rover for one of these. Petrol or petrol only. Sorry don't fancy diesel. Don't want an X5, land cruiser, xc90 for various reasons, mainly that I don't like them.
My heart says FFRR - 03 plate with lpg around 8.5k @100k miles but there is sooo much to go wrong ona 70k 10 year old car.
But I know little about an Mclass. It would be the older model but as I don't think I'd stretch to an 06 car.
It needs to be a winter cruiser/family hack.
Presumably they are fairly well screwed together but any fundamental flaws?

Ray Singh

3,084 posts

260 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2014
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Be aware of rust on this era of Benz. The E class of this age famously falls apart due to tin worm.


Polarbert

17,936 posts

261 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2014
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My father had a 1999 Merc ML320 and a 2002 Merc ML320.

Very nice cars, great sound system and very capable off road, but build quality not the best. Looked very smart at the time though. I used to love the fact my Dads car was the new Jurassic Park film of the time, but thats irrelevant.

Rear passenger door handle stopped working was about the only fault I remembered it having. No problem when you've got a warranty. Nothing else really broke on it, it just was never built that great in the first place.


Seeker UK

1,443 posts

188 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2014
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Ray Singh said:
Be aware of rust on this era of Benz. The E class of this age famously falls apart due to tin worm.
My dad has a 52 plate ML270CDI and has no rust. The rust issue was a couple of years earlier and AFAICT, was less of a problem for US-built Ms.

Clivey

5,689 posts

234 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2014
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The old M-class can't hope to compete with the Range Rover...but having said that, and especially at this end of the market, be prepared for serious borkage! I considered a TD6 but it'd be all too easy to buy one for £10k, then spend another £5k in short order fixing faults (and in that case, you'd be better off spending an extra £5k for a newer model to begin with). As I didn't have that, I bought a Discovery 2.

jimbop1

2,441 posts

234 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2014
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I think you should go against what you want and go for the better option... RR V8 Diesel. wink

Jem0911

4,415 posts

231 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2014
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I had a 54 plate FFRR 4.4 on gas.
What a stonking car.
Dark blue with cream leather interior.
The best car I've owned so far.
On road off road every journey was an experience.
MLs are an unknown to me they look good value at that age though specially a ML55.

DKL

Original Poster:

4,970 posts

252 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2014
quotequote all
This is interesting and not what I'd expected. Poor build quality (also mentioned in an 03 copy of top gear, slow, poor economy.
So exactly what you'd level at a FFRR but it isn't an FFRR.
Are the facelift 06 cars better? I had a nose at a colleagues 06 diesel and it did look quite nice.

Pesty

42,655 posts

286 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2014
quotequote all
Rr from those two


I know I'll be laughed at by some but have considered these!

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

DKL

Original Poster:

4,970 posts

252 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2014
quotequote all
I have looked at the Jeeps. It would be cool to have the engine from a Viper if nothing else. Sadly that one is a little over my budget for this car but the black one could be an option.

slippery

14,093 posts

269 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2014
quotequote all
DKL said:
I have looked at the Jeeps. It would be cool to have the engine from a Viper if nothing else. Sadly that one is a little over my budget for this car but the black one could be an option.
Which Jeep has a Viper engine?

DKL

Original Poster:

4,970 posts

252 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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SRT-8 is broadly a Viper engine isn't it? Well in the same way that an old Range Rover has the same engine as a TVR.

Pesty

42,655 posts

286 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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Not a viper as they are v 10 ? But it's in some other hot American cars, challengers etc etc

DKL

Original Poster:

4,970 posts

252 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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Beat me to it. SRT seems to be the rebrand of Dodge and yes they have 4,6,8 and 10 cylinder engines. Viper is indeed the V10 whereas the Jeep is a V8.
Ok it has the same engine as a Dodge Charger smile

CAPP0

20,877 posts

233 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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I own a petrol FFRR and I had use of an ML350 for a month when someone t-boned the FFRR a couple of years back.

Both good cars. As someone said above, the sense of occasion never disappears with the FFRR and it is far and away the finest all-round car I have owned (I'm of Saga-able age and have owned a LOT of cars!). The principle difference I guess that I would say is that the ML is far more "car-like" if that makes sense, i.e. nearer to a car in the driving experience than a big 4x4 (compared to the Rangie).

Suggest you drive both first!

billzeebub

3,911 posts

229 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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RR

jdw1234

6,021 posts

245 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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I really want a Range Rover. Really, really. I don't think I would by an older one though. My friend get quite a lot of gremlins with his 62 plate model!

However, I haven't paid my mortagge off yet and dont want to spend too much on cars.

Therefore, as I wasn't going to buy a dream car, I just wanted something reliable.

As a result, I went for a w164 Mercedes ML 320CDI (so diesel).

Extremely reliable, and I really struggled to find anything reported on the internet that goes wrong with them.

However, I would personally avoid the previous model w163. I dont think it is particularly refined and suffers from numerous issues.