Mercedes GL350 (X164) | Shed of the Week
Prefer your sheds big, German and very practical? Bingo
One for riverboat gamblers and budding Mat Armstrongs this week in the suspiciously cheap shape of this facelift gen-one (X164) Mercedes GL350.
The M-Class-derived Alabama-built GL was introduced in 2006 as a more sophisticated alternative to the G-Wagon. It was also a considerably embiggened alternative, measuring five metres from front to back and weighing two and a half tons before you bunged seven passengers in it. Audi’s equally monstrous Q7 was the most obvious rival, but, unlike the strongly road-biased Audi, the 4Matic-equipped Merc was designed to operate as well off the road as on it, despite it not having a separate chassis.
The uncritical part of the internet will tell you that the GL350 was rated for its spacious interior, luxurious comfort and strong performance, its 3.0-litre V6 diesel and 7-speed auto providing a good balance of power and fuel efficiency. It was certainly popular in the US, where overall X164 sales passed 150,000 units, compared to fewer than 25,000 in the whole of the EU. UK reviews noted that it struggled to fit on British roads, but the upside of that was praise for its light, airy and quiet cabin, for the generosity of its seating, and for having more than two litres of cargo room when all three rows were deployed. Drop the rear two seat rows and you had 2,300 litres of space, enough to fit in not only Mrs Shed in her voluminous wedding dress and donkey jacket but also her entire collection of frying pans.
The key phrase that you won’t have missed in the ad on account of it being mentioned twice is ‘knocking engine’. Many decades ago when Shed was a spotty young apprentice at a dodgy backstreet garage, the manager threw him in at the deep end with a Jag that wasn’t sounding like it was supposed to. One of the workshop wits told Shed to beetle across town to an address where they would sort him out. When the door was answered by a heavily made-up lady in fishnet stockings he worked out what ‘knocking shop’ actually meant.
The offending motor in this case is an OM642 turbo V6, one of two Merc engines investigated by the US Govt in 2017 with regards to the alleged emissions cheating scandal. When it’s in the pink, the AdBlue-using BlueTEC unit in this 2011 car put out 261hp at 3,800rpm and more importantly a bagful of torque – 457lb ft – from 1,600 to 2,400rpm. That gave it a 0-62mph time in the sevens, a 140mph top end, and a combined fuel consumption figure of around 30mpg. It also gives it a top dollar tax bill in the UK of £760 a year, groogh.
AdBlue reduced EGR fouling but it made fault diagnosis more difficult and introduced NOx sensor issues. Crank main bearing wear could be a thing on these but that was usually signalled by metallic ticking rather than knocking. Rod knock could be a thing too, but Shed reckons it’s much more likely to be a leaky injector seal, a very common issue on these.
That might not be the end of your expenses. Oil leaks around the turbo are not unknown, power steering fluid can escape and tail light connectors can fritz out (not a cheap job). Door locks, tallgate latches and ignition keys can all play up. For another dob on your used Merc bingo card you’ve got the famously problematic Airmatic suspension that came as standard on this model. If one of the four struts is leaking the compressor will be working overtime to keep the car level, and you can guess what happens next. The stance on this one looks OK in the pics at least. The general appearance of the car and what we’re told is a full service history does hint at a fair bit of care over its 120,000 miles and four owners, but if ever there was a car that demanded close examination of the maintenance paperwork this is it.
When it was new in 2011 a GL 350 would have been the best part of £60k. Now it’s £1,889. If that knock is down to an injector, replacing it might cost up to £900 depending on who you ask to do it. Even so, a £2,789 outlay on an otherwise clean and fully historied GL is still tempting if you have a use for this type of vehicle. Roll the dice, or save yourself money on both purchase and probably running costs by buying this low-mileage Rover 75 that Shed should perhaps have been telling you about in the first place.
Posting heavily creased or otherwise badly hurt examples was a no no from the beginning. This is not a shed, it is a parts bin special.
Posting heavily creased or otherwise badly hurt examples was a no no from the beginning. This is not a shed, it is a parts bin special.
One for DieselPumpUK on YouTube, they would sort it, but for the rest of us, will give it a swerve.
And diesel seems to be only going one way price wise at the moment, paid £1.95 a litre, seen it over £2, unless things change think a lot are just going to end up scrapped as no longer a way to do miles cheaply.
Posting heavily creased or otherwise badly hurt examples was a no no from the beginning. This is not a shed, it is a parts bin special.
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