Sensible 5 seater required - hello ML 55 AMG

Sensible 5 seater required - hello ML 55 AMG

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el romeral

Original Poster:

1,030 posts

136 months

Thursday 21st September 2017
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I seem to be acquiring cars of late and somehow I find myself with 4 now. My daughter has taken over the small Chevrolet hatchback, my v6 Vectra barge is off the road due to being unable to source a replacement engine loom for the last 5 months and the Boxster S is just a bit small for load carrying and occasional airport runs etc.
I always seem to buy the first or second car I see and the ML was no exception. Having just looked at a very presentable, and quite a bit cheaper, Range Rover 4,6 HSE in Marbella, the ML popped up even closer in Benalmadena.
It was a small time trader selling, having taken it in as a trade in against something else he had. I agreed to pay the full asking price if he had all the scuffs and light bumper damage repaired (the previous lady owner from Granada clearly had not got the hang of the parktronic, judging from the plethora of scuffs etc). Mind you, in Spain, any car of this age will show considerable battle scarring. Fortunately no dents anywhere and the interior immaculate.
The seller also fitted new tyres and brake pads all round, just previously due to needing them for the "MOT" along with front shock absorbers. He also sourced an OEM detachable towbar which was missing, replaced a lower front grille which was damaged, supplied new badges for the rear, polished the headlights, gave it a full wash, polish and valet and even replaced a duff brake light bulb which I spotted had blown. Oh, I also got him to change the oil and filters just prior to the sale.

It is a facelift 2002 car with only about 70000 miles and 2 previous owners. Seems to have every extra possible fitted. Everything seems to work, mind you have not tried the heated seats, cruise control or sat nav yet and likely some other stuff I do not yet know it has!

The only non working bit so far found is the driver's side mirror adjustment. It folds but does not adjust any direction. This is not a huge problem as it is pretty much where I want it. The passenger mirror glass seems to shake a little which should be an easy fix. Possibly my main concern is how bouncy the car feels on some larger bumps, especially at the front. It almost seems to bottom out at times? I checked the numbers on the new Sachs shocks and they are correct for this car. Am not home now and will look at tyre pressures when I get back, just to rule them out.
All in all a fantastic car to drive, so powerful and effortless. The noise when flooring it is very satisfying. Fuel consumption, in the few days I have had it has been not great, as expected. A 2 hour run up to El Chorro returning a best figure of 20mpg. Around town it was more like 14-15 or so.
Spain is not great on having cars with service history and this one is no exception. New in 2002, it has a full history (well 2 dealer stamps) up to 2004 and then no history at all, lol. I am not unduly worried by this (famous last words?) as the engine and transmission seem very strong and no leaks or overheating etc.

Some pics now I have got flickr going. All taken in my garage, so some not quite from far enough away. It joins my all silver fleet with added bonus of managing the Boxster and Vectra in with enough space to walk between them. This gives the ML plenty space at the other side.













I will pop back in from time to time with any thrills and hopefully not too many spills......



Edited by el romeral on Thursday 21st September 19:54

josh00mac

319 posts

107 months

Thursday 21st September 2017
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Looks great and plenty performance for this type of car. I have a P38 RR and have considered changing to one of these recently. There are a few for sale in the UK, many with excellent histories and dirt cheap thanks to their poor reputation (a little bit like the RR funnily enough).

I will watch this with interest!


kurt535

3,559 posts

116 months

Thursday 21st September 2017
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Barge me up Baby!!!

el romeral

Original Poster:

1,030 posts

136 months

Thursday 21st September 2017
quotequote all
josh00mac said:
Looks great and plenty performance for this type of car. I have a P38 RR and have considered changing to one of these recently. There are a few for sale in the UK, many with excellent histories and dirt cheap thanks to their poor reputation (a little bit like the RR funnily enough).

I will watch this with interest!
Thanks, it would be interesting moving from a Range Rover to one of these. In the brief research I did I found that the pre facelift cars seemed to have more problems than the later ones. Not sure if true but you never know?
In the quick test drive I had in it, the seller's 2 small children were sat in the back with one of them asleep in his car seat. I therefore drove it carefully but still wanted to test the acceleration out. I was very satisfied with what I found but afterwards realised the acceleration I achieved on this occasion was nowhere near its maximum. The pedal was capable of being pressed much harder!
I found this out some days after purchase with my holidaying 83 year old parents in the car. Full acceleration was delivered on this occasion and it was mightily impressive. My Dad uttering an "Oh I say" from the passenger seat. Praise indeed!

el romeral

Original Poster:

1,030 posts

136 months

Thursday 21st September 2017
quotequote all
kurt535 said:
Barge me up Baby!!!
smilesmile well barged with this one!

el romeral

Original Poster:

1,030 posts

136 months

Thursday 21st September 2017
quotequote all
Can my thread be moved back to Readers' Cars please?

This is not a wanted add, it is a thread about my newly purchased car! rofl

Is it because my thread title contained the word "required"?

Edited by el romeral on Thursday 21st September 21:12

ZX10R NIN

27,494 posts

124 months

Thursday 21st September 2017
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Looks like a good buy I'd be tempted to give it a Terraclean or similar as you'll probably find it's a bit clogged up due to short journeys & not much use (in terms of it's age) you may well find some of those missing ponies.

el romeral

Original Poster:

1,030 posts

136 months

Friday 22nd September 2017
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ZX10R NIN said:
Looks like a good buy I'd be tempted to give it a Terraclean or similar as you'll probably find it's a bit clogged up due to short journeys & not much use (in terms of it's age) you may well find some of those missing ponies.
Hopefully it will prove to be so.
I am more than happy with the power it delivers - I just was not releasing it all at first due to not fully depressing the accelerator!


Edited by el romeral on Friday 22 September 09:23

Leins

9,418 posts

147 months

Friday 22nd September 2017
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Funnily enough, I picked one of these up recently too. Never even been a huge SUV fan, but there's just something about having that engine in it which makes it a lot of fun

Won't be doing a huge amount of mileage in mine, but planning to head down to France in the summer to the Le Mans Classic, boot full of tents and wine. So far it seems like it could be the perfect vehicle for it

Best of luck with it, and hopefully for both our sakes their reputations are undeserved! smile

Edited by Leins on Friday 22 September 09:13

AC43

11,435 posts

207 months

Friday 22nd September 2017
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el romeral said:
My Dad uttering an "Oh I say" from the passenger seat. Praise indeed!
LOL :-)

el romeral

Original Poster:

1,030 posts

136 months

Friday 22nd September 2017
quotequote all
Leins said:
Funnily enough, I picked one of these up recently too. Never even been a huge SUV fan, but there's just something about having that engine in it which makes it a lot of fun

Won't be doing a huge amount of mileage in mine, but planning to head down to France in the summer to the Le Mans Classic, boot full of tents and wine. So far it seems like it could be the perfect vehicle for it

Best of luck with it, and hopefully for both our sakes their reputations are undeserved! smile

Edited by Leins on Friday 22 September 09:13
That is great. Glad to hear someone else has taken the plunge. Your trip sounds epic, am sure the ML will be the perfect vehicle to do it in.

mwstewart

7,554 posts

187 months

Saturday 23rd September 2017
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Cool wagon. No rust issues to worry about either!

el romeral

Original Poster:

1,030 posts

136 months

Tuesday 26th September 2017
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mwstewart said:
Cool wagon. No rust issues to worry about either!
Yes I always like that bit. Sun damage to interior, dash, paintwork and plastics etc is the bigger enemy here. Fortunately this car has always been garaged with its previous owner and it is continuing with me.

C70R

17,596 posts

103 months

Tuesday 26th September 2017
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mwstewart said:
No rust issues to worry about either!
Erm... I'd do a quick Google for "W163 rust".
The bodywork is highly prone to tin-worm (as with most Mercedes of this age), and areas of the chassis (including the rear subframe) are not uncommon to rot either.

el romeral

Original Poster:

1,030 posts

136 months

Tuesday 26th September 2017
quotequote all
C70R said:
Erm... I'd do a quick Google for "W163 rust".
The bodywork is highly prone to tin-worm (as with most Mercedes of this age), and areas of the chassis (including the rear subframe) are not uncommon to rot either.
Well there is no visible rust at least wink not been underneath. Not sure I will now either lol.

el romeral

Original Poster:

1,030 posts

136 months

Tuesday 28th November 2017
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With my Boxster now off the road due to a split coolant tank, the ML has become my daily driver. It has so far been a wonderful car to drive and am very happy with it. Being Spain, the transfer of owner's name onto the new documents took some time and was completed yesterday, after a mere 75 days or so.
I have done some small jobs to improve the car as follows. Nothing major, just tinkering really.

I changed the cabin filter as the old one was well past its best. The wheels were removed to bleed and flush with new brake fluid and my newly purchased Gunson Eezibleed kit worked well.



Whilst off, I had the wheels into the bodyshop for some small repairs and painting. They did a good job at €30 a wheel. Tight fit in the Kalos lol.



Thought I may as well paint the calipers as they looked a bit sad.


I received a detachable towbar with the car but no keys to lock it. A bit of research showed that keys could be obtained from the makers in Germany by sending them the numbers stamped on the towbar. 2 keys were received a short time later and I paid a very reasonable €20 for them.
Newly painted towbar fitted. Great for those careless locals when they are attempting to park.



I managed to train one of the 3 roof console buttons to operate my electric gate. This was quite simple and is a great feature. My Hormann garage door appears to have rolling codes though and so far has proved tricky to get working. Have not yet given up on it though.

I bought some AMG brake decals and fitted them on the newly painted calipers.



I fitted a full led interior kit which is great it also included rear number plate and side lights. Quite a difference before and after.



I managed to sort the irregular gap between the tailgate and the rear bumper. My ocd was severely troubled by this and removal of the rear bumper and refitting again sorted it.
A few random pics of how it is now.





My attempts to get the Comand system working failed as the disc I bought on E bay did not work. Got a refund and will try another.

The previous owner fitted a set of new tyres just prior to the sale. He said he was unable to obtain the correct 285/50 size, so instead fitted 255/55. They still cost €700, even in this reduced size, for an unknown Chinese brand!? I am wondering if this is the reason for the slight wollowing on bumps etc? As a small experiment I inflated to 2,2 bar all round instead of 2,0 bar and things have improved quite a lot. 2,2 bar is the heavy load setting for the front whereas the rears can go up to 2,9 bar.
Also got hold of a pair of new bonnet struts on E Bay, so no more broom handle to hold the bonnet open.








Edited as realised the tyres are 255 and not 265.



Edited by el romeral on Friday 31st August 21:59

Croutons

9,807 posts

165 months

Tuesday 28th November 2017
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Out of mere curiousity, is running a car in Spain cheap?

el romeral

Original Poster:

1,030 posts

136 months

Tuesday 28th November 2017
quotequote all
Croutons said:
Out of mere curiousity, is running a car in Spain cheap?
For used cars, the biggest difference is the purchase price as they are expensive here compared to the UK. I can never find the things I need here, so all my purchases seem to come form E bay UK with associated postage costs. Garage labour is cheaper here though and the local garage charges just €30 an hour and no VAT for cash sales lol.

I think insurance is a bit dearer here with petrol a little cheaper. Road tax may be cheaper here. My 2000 Boxster S is €190 a year (I imagine the ML will be similar) and the kalos is €37.

JKING

810 posts

161 months

Wednesday 29th November 2017
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I’ll be keeping an eye on this as I am picking one up after Christmas smile

BrettMRC

4,037 posts

159 months

Thursday 30th November 2017
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Love these - got my eye on one for the future.

Great looking car smile