RE: Mercedes-Benz ML55 AMG | The Brave Pill
Discussion
braddo said:
Funny you should say that - I was in Cheltenham recently and I saw (and heard) a V8 ML which was matte green with a very loud exhaust and off-road treatment - jacked up, big mud tyres, bumpers heavily trimmed, scuff plates.
Something out of the ordinary - I quite liked it.
Less obvious than a tarted up disco/defender anyway! Something out of the ordinary - I quite liked it.
For 3K it’s certainly the Least brave brave pill I’ve seen.
Not much love for the mighty ML it seems. I bought a 2002 example 2 years ago and it shares daily driving duties with my Boxster S. As mentioned, fuel economy is poor and I get about 15 mpg with a best ever of 22 mpg on a long motorway run. I have really enjoyed owning this car and it has been totally reliable - a power steering fluid leak caused by an o ring, being the only blot on its copy book. This was an easy repair and I changed the reservoir at the same time. Took me 30 mins and cost about 30€. I am in Southern Spain, so no rust to worry about but cars are a lot more expensive and my 78000 mile example cost me €8000 and in true Spanish style it has zero service history, I tell a lie, there are 2 stamps in the book from its first 2 years
Great sound, road presence and plenty of power. Long uphill motorway sections are hilarious when you give it some and leave just about everything else floundering in its wake. Maybe I am just easily pleased!
Here is my 55.
Great sound, road presence and plenty of power. Long uphill motorway sections are hilarious when you give it some and leave just about everything else floundering in its wake. Maybe I am just easily pleased!
Here is my 55.
Edited by el romeral on Saturday 30th November 21:58
el romeral said:
Not much love for the mighty ML it seems. I bought a 2002 example 2 years ago and it shares daily driving duties with my Boxster S. As mentioned, fuel economy is poor and I get about 15 mpg with a best ever of 22 mpg on a long motorway run. I have really enjoyed owning this car and it has been totally reliable - a power steering fluid leak caused by an o ring, being the only blot on its copy book. This was an easy repair and I changed the reservoir at the same time. Took me 30 mins and cost about 30€. I am in Southern Spain, so no rust to worry about but cars are a lot more expensive and my 78000 mile example cost me €8000 and in true Spanish style it has zero service history, I tell a lie, there are 2 stamps in the book from its first 2 years
Great sound, road presence and plenty of power. Long uphill motorway sections are hilarious when you give it some and leave just about everything else floundering in its wake. Maybe I am just easily pleased!
Here is my 55.
That’s the standout point I find with mine. It almost doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s going uphill or downhill, fully loaded or not, the torque of that big V8 just drives it on relentlessly. The engine is very much the making of these thingsGreat sound, road presence and plenty of power. Long uphill motorway sections are hilarious when you give it some and leave just about everything else floundering in its wake. Maybe I am just easily pleased!
Here is my 55.
Edited by el romeral on Saturday 30th November 21:58
If mine ever dies of something non-engine related, I might seriously consider transplanting that V8 into something like a W202 estate or even a W203 Sport Coupe. Brabus managed to fit a 6.1L into the latter, so the 5.4L should be possible
Turbobanana said:
Stop being so negative you lot. Imagine this:
You beed a car for winter, for all the reasons listed in the article. You are able, as someone mentioned, to buy this for somewhere south of the £asking. It has a full ticket so all you need to pay for now is tax.
Run it over winter. Pay for the fuel. Enjoy it. Sell in spring for roughly what you paid.
Practically free motoring. It's a nice place to sit, will get you through the light dusting that will inevitably cause the country to grind to a halt and the great unwashed will think you're wealthy.
I live in town so don't really need a winter beater, but if I did this would be high on the list.
Assuming the salt on the roads doesn't dissolve it or something goes expensively wrong in that time. You beed a car for winter, for all the reasons listed in the article. You are able, as someone mentioned, to buy this for somewhere south of the £asking. It has a full ticket so all you need to pay for now is tax.
Run it over winter. Pay for the fuel. Enjoy it. Sell in spring for roughly what you paid.
Practically free motoring. It's a nice place to sit, will get you through the light dusting that will inevitably cause the country to grind to a halt and the great unwashed will think you're wealthy.
I live in town so don't really need a winter beater, but if I did this would be high on the list.
Agree with many of the comments here - great engine but dynamically flawed. However I absolutely love mine - always brings a smile to my face when I manually drop a gear and hoof it. In fact I probably enjoy driving it more than my 430 Scud, mainly because it is a bit tatty so don’t worry about the odd scratch or where it is parked.
Bought mine 14 years ago, having paid £16k (£45k new I think) and curiously it has been one of the most reliable cars that I have ever owned! Broke down once ten years ago due to a faulty crankshaft sensor, and the lock on the steering column gave up in 2014 stopping the alarm from being engaged. There is a gremlin in the sat nav, but everything else functions as it should. Fuel consumption is a disaster but other running costs are reasonable since servicing is every two years and road tax about £260.
As a low mileage runner it is superb car, with great load capacity, but the fuel consumption would become very tiresome if you cover many miles - but then what do you expect from an old 350 horsepower V8?
Bought mine 14 years ago, having paid £16k (£45k new I think) and curiously it has been one of the most reliable cars that I have ever owned! Broke down once ten years ago due to a faulty crankshaft sensor, and the lock on the steering column gave up in 2014 stopping the alarm from being engaged. There is a gremlin in the sat nav, but everything else functions as it should. Fuel consumption is a disaster but other running costs are reasonable since servicing is every two years and road tax about £260.
As a low mileage runner it is superb car, with great load capacity, but the fuel consumption would become very tiresome if you cover many miles - but then what do you expect from an old 350 horsepower V8?
..... what's your daily driver?? "Back in 1999 the Porsche Cayenne wasn't even a glint in a product planners eye"
Come on PH. It takes 10 seconds to look up that the Cayenne was produced from 2002, and a motoring journalist should know this.
It would've been well beyond product planning in 1999!
Also how is it "winter ready"
Come on PH. It takes 10 seconds to look up that the Cayenne was produced from 2002, and a motoring journalist should know this.
It would've been well beyond product planning in 1999!
Also how is it "winter ready"
Edited by mstrbkr on Sunday 1st December 09:30
The maths may not stack up well for buying an ML55 for under 3k, but as one poster mentioned; If you can get this for anywhere near 2k and need to use it for the snow in your area, use it and sell it in Spring for near what you paid for it, or do as i do and try to get more. The engine in this vehicle(M113) is the big draw for me, im practically addicted to it and have to have at least one car to hand in my collection that has one. Be it a C43, E430/500, CLK430/500 CL500 in n/a guise it's simply brilliant. The sound alone with an AMG pipe is Epic, as it reaches and surpasses 4k rpm even dogs stop to look whats making one of the most glorious noises to ever adorn my ears. Forget the mpg, if driven spririted you will see single digit figures but as a second, third or fourth car any M113 powered vehicle is worth the running cost. Find one and thank me later.
So basically this makes sense if you can buy it for considerably less than the asking price (at a time of year when people are looking for cheap 4x4s), sell it for the same amount in spring (when there are far fewer people looking for cheap 4x4s), get lucky on the running costs front (even though they're notoriously problematic), and ignore the very real possibility of single digit mpg in winter. I'll pass thanks.
Having said that like others have pointed out I'm not sure a £3k car can ever really qualify for The Brave Pill. My surname's not Getty or Rothschild but nevertheless I'd not be too distraught if I had to bin a £3k car, especially if I got to experience a superb V8 for a bit.
Having said that like others have pointed out I'm not sure a £3k car can ever really qualify for The Brave Pill. My surname's not Getty or Rothschild but nevertheless I'd not be too distraught if I had to bin a £3k car, especially if I got to experience a superb V8 for a bit.
John Allison said:
What is this idea of buying a car ‘for the winter’?? Does anyone in the UK really go out and buy a 4WD second car in case we get a day of heavy frost during the winter?!
No, but neither we do any basic prep like fitting winter tyres, which means our fascination for low-profile tyred, RWD German metal comes back to bite us in the form of slithering cars at the first hint of snow.Had mine fitted 2 weeks ago - the difference in wet and cold conditions is noticeable already
cerb4.5lee said:
The engine is usually the most important thing with a car for me so these have always had a lot of appeal. However I used to have a X5 4.8iS and while I loved the engine I'm not that sure that they suit this type of car that well.
The thirst will be epic and I tend to think that a big(ish) diesel engine suits these cars much better. In saying that though I'd be happy to have another X5 4.8iS(or this) and use it as an occasional car instead of a daily.
Or, plop the 5.5 AMG engine into a CLK or E Class, or the 4.8 BMW engine into a 5 or 6 series, for an altogether better driving experience? In fact, that BMW engine in a Morgan The thirst will be epic and I tend to think that a big(ish) diesel engine suits these cars much better. In saying that though I'd be happy to have another X5 4.8iS(or this) and use it as an occasional car instead of a daily.
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