2004 Mercedes-Benz ML350
Discussion
This is my 2004 Mercedes-Benz ML350 "Inspiration". This is one of the "run out" special editions of the 1999 - 2004 ML.
It is generally agreed that Mercedes-Benz build quality hit a low point in the late nineties and early noughties. Early versions of the ML had significant quality issues. Mercedes-Benz tried to redeem themselves with an extensive refresh of the car in 2002, of which this is an example. The result is a car of generally excellent quality, but with a few rough edges and with some frankly astonishing omissions from the spec sheet.
This model was the first, and last, ML to use a body-on-frame construction. This is the old-school way of building vehicles, where the body is effectively dropped onto a rolling chassis and is not structural. This makes it very strong, gives good off-road ability and makes some repairs easier, but adds height and weight compared with monocoque construction (where the body and frame are effectively the same). The result is a car which is tall (over 6 feet) and heavy (well over 2 tonnes) given its modest length (about the same as a 2004 Mondeo). You do, however, get excellent ground clearance.
This version is powered by a 3.7 litre V6 petrol engine. The engine fits comfortably in the engine bay, with plenty of space around it (the bay was designed to take a V8). It is chain-driven and naturally aspirated; a relatively simple setup. The coolant expansion tank, oil dipstick/filler, battery and fluid resevoirs are all clearly marked and easily accessible. The oil filter is accessed from above. Service intervals are fixed at 10,000 miles.
But it's here that we find the first influence of the bean counters. There are two bonnet levers, both made of cheap-feeling plastic. The first is in the passenger footwell and feels incredibly flimsy; it has sharp edges, and isn't even solid (it's hollowed out). Pulling hard on that lever pops the bonnet. You then pull hard on a plastic front bonnet lever, convinced that you are about to break it off. This turns out to be a general rule with this car. Wherever you see a plastic lever, you need to pull it until it feels as though it is about to break off; then pull some more and it will work. And why are there 2 bonnet levers anyway? Has Mercedes-Benz historically had a problem with bonnets flying open? Is the second one some kind of backup in case the first one stops working? I have no idea.
Bizarrely, the oil level can be checked in two different ways: via the engine dipstick, or electronically. For the latter you need to switch the ignition to position 2, wait around 20 seconds for the odometer display to show ----, then double press the reset button quickly. A display will appear telling you whether the oil needs topping up and if so by how much. There are a few features on the ML that are non-intuitive like this. They are not meant to be easy to guess. Mercedes-Benz expect the owner to read the handbook, which is in my view no bad thing.
The handbook itself is pretty big, but there are some key omissions of information. For example, there is nothing to tell you what type of coolant or grade of oil to use - not even a reference to a Mercedes-Benz part number. To find out you need to either ask a dealer, who will probably insist on doing the job rather than telling you, or go online and read through the numerous flamewars on the subject. Also missing is any information on fuses; even the location of the fuse box is not specified. Call me old fashioned, but I like to know where things are, even if I'm not competent enough to repair them.
Car doors are not what they used to be. From the outside, some light taps and presses on the door skin reveal it to be made of fairly thin metal. Getting inside, the doors close with the archetypal Germanic "thud", but there is something about it that doesn't sound quite right. There is a slight emptiness to it, and some ringing overtones that you feel don't belong with the rest of the sound. It's as if the thud has been engineered in, rather than being simply a byproduct of the design and quality. Mercedes-Benz are clearly wise enough to know that shutting the door and listening to the sound is something that pretty much every potential customer does, so it's worth investing money in getting it to sound "solid". In fairness, all manufacturers play this game now. By contrast, close the door of a 90s Rolls Royce Silver Spirit and you really feel like you are shutting a bank vault.
The seats - a leather/alcantara mix on this car - are lovely. Firm and soft in all the right places, and highly adjustable. I can easily drive 300 miles without stopping and get out without any aches or pains. The seat heaters are excellent - very powerful. There are 3 memory positions for the seat and mirrors. The "wood" trim may or may not be real, but it suits the interior and feels durable.
Sit in the driver's seat, look around you and some visibility issues become apparent. There are large blind spots ahead of the door mirrors where the A-pillar meets the bonnet; a common problem with modern cars, but the ML seems like one of the worst in this regard. The A-pillars themselves are quite thick. The angle of the bonnet means that it is difficult to know where the front of the car is. Behind you, the rear centre headrest obscures a good proportion of your rearward vision. It is best removed. (The optional tailgate-mounted spare wheel carrier is even worse, and best avoided altogether.) Together, these points offset some of the additional confidence you get from being so high up. The 2004 Land Rover Discovery, with its squared-off front end and slightly slimmer A-pillars, is better in this area.
The driving instruments are very clear. You get a speedo, rev counter, coolant temperature gauge and fuel gauge, but no oil pressure or battery voltage gauges. An odometer and digital clock are provided. (You may laugh, but given some of the other feature omissions, I thought it best to mention them.) The warning lights are arranged neatly in a row at the bottom of the instrument cluster, which I much prefer compared to the seemingly random arrangement present on some modern cars. They each light up brightly and have a clearly defined purpose. You are never in any doubt as to what is going on. There are seatbelt warning lights but - surprisingly - there are no "door ajar" warning lights for any of the doors.
The climate control is very easy to use. There are three metal rings for adjustment of temperature, fan speed and air direction; alternatively, just press Auto to let the system sort itself out. The system is the most powerful I have come across, with everything from ice-cold to hot air available quickly and in large quantities. Rear passengers can adjust air flow but not temperature.
Some of the interior switchgear feels cheap and rather clunky, but not offensively so. The main culprits are the window switches and some of the other switches on the centre console, which feel like they were lifted from a previous generation Merc. I understand the argument about the switches needing to be useable even when the driver is wearing thick gloves, but those in a 2004 Discovery are more elegant despite making the same demand. The climate control switches, which arrived with the 2002 facelift, are much better.
The rear bench is a nice place to be. The seats slide back and forth as a single unit to give a small tradeoff between rear legroom and boot space, and also fold down in a 60/40 split arrangement as you would expect. When the seats are folded down the floor is not quite flat, so there are some plastic flaps attached to the backs of the seats to smooth out the dips. They look and feel fragile so are probably best removed. Also, it is hard work folding the seats. To do so you need to pull a plastic knob out with significant force, remembering the ML rule of "pull it until you think you about to break it, then pull it some more". To put them upright again you have to pull the same knob equally hard, but it's now horizontal and so even harder to grip.
The boot area is about 110cm wide and 90cm high. Depth is 90cm with the rear seats up and 170cm with the seats folded. The car sits quite high so loading heavy objects can be a bit of a struggle; but once they are in, you will barely notice they are there. I carried several quarter-tonne loads of wood, an entire B&Q kitchen, a bootful of slate tiles etc. and it coped just fine.
This car is fitted with the basic audio system, which is perfectly adequate. Separation of bass and treble could be a bit better, but that's a very minor concern. The display looks a bit cheap even for a 2004 car, and there are no steering wheel audio controls! On a 2004 Mercedes-Benz! You can upgrade to a COMAND system, but this seems pointless given that it will be out of date anyway, and it still won't get you steering wheel audio controls.
When started, the engine runs rich for a few seconds and then settles down to a gentle murmur with a slight rasp that is common to many V6s. As you drive around town, you are struck by the light steering, which lacks feel but which makes it very easy to manuvere this 2-tonne vehicle. Car parks, width restrictions and tight turns are no problem at all.
As you press on, you start to see the real point of a car like this. The roads where I live are generally in poor condition, due both to lack of maintenance and to the council's efforts in installing traffic-calming measures (bumps, cushions, chicanes etc.) on every available surface. The ML, with its 4-wheel drive, huge tyres, endless grip and high clearance, handles them so easily as to verge on the comical. Full-width speed bumps can be taken at a decent pace. Cushions can be driven over with abandon. You stop watching for potholes in the road, because you know they won't bother you. You stop caring about the heavy rain or the snow or the heat, because you know that the car will handle it all the same. You feel that you are driving a highly chuckable urban assault vehicle, and that nothing is going to slow you down.
This is reflected in the ride comfort, which is OK nearly all of the time, instead of being wafty one minute and crashy the next like some other cars.
Moving onto motorways, the feeling of solidity and confidence continues, but you quickly find the performance limits of the car. Flooring the throttle on a slip road, the V6 engine howls in a most pleasing manner, but the gearbox is slow to react and acceleration is not that great. I reckon that 30mph to 70mph takes about 8 seconds, with the engine waking up at around 2,500 rpm and revving no higher than 4,000 rpm. This is acceptable on a motorway but leads to some hairy moments when overtaking on A- and B-roads. However, once you are up to speed things are fine, with wind and road noise acceptably muted. The archetypal Mercedes-Benz cruise control and speed limiter - with all functions operated from a single steering-column mounted stalk - is provided.
A- and B-roads also show up the dynamic limitations of the ML. A 6-foot tall, 2-tonne, high centre-of-gravity SUV is never going to be anything other than wallowy in the corners. Having said that, the 4-wheel drive and good grip mean that said corners can be taken at a fair pace, and this combined with the wailing engine note means that there is some entertainment to be had.
The overall sensation is that of a car which can go anywhere and do anything, and which can take a serious amount of abuse. Not once so far have I winced while driving over something I shouldn't have. This makes it feel different to, say, a 2004 Range Rover. The Range Rover is undoubtedly more powerful and more luxurious, but it feels to me slightly more fragile than the ML. With the Range Rover I find myself worrying about what that pothole is going to do to all the expensive gubbins underneath. With the ML I just don't care. The ML feels more like a working vehicle than the Range Rover.
The parking brake is foot-operated rather than being a handbrake, which takes some getting used to if you haven't come across it before. Engage it by using your left foot to push the pedal down (all the way; don't stop when you hear the first click). Release it by pulling on the "P" handle to the right of the steering wheel. The release action is pretty rough. When you pull the handle your initial reaction is that you've accidentally popped the bonnet open or snapped a cable somewhere. You would expect it to be smoother. Very un-Merc like. I get around it by holding the foot pedal down, pulling and holding the lever, releasing the foot pedal and then releasing the lever. With practice you can release the parking brake quickly and smoothly in this way.
The gear lever controlling the 5-speed auto box suffers from a similar lack of damping. You need to hold it firmly and ease it into gear. If you flick it nonchanantly (like you might on a Jaguar with J-gate) it clunks noisily into place. Again, it takes a little getting used to, but nothing more than that.
The combination of a large V6 petrol engine in a heavy vehicle naturally raises the question of fuel economy. You'll struggle to find the answer because - and this is the most jaw-dropping omission of all - there is no trip computer. No trip computer! Nothing that tells you your mpg, fuel used or even miles to empty! On a 2004 Mercedes-Benz! My 1992 Jaguar had that! This omission means that I can't give you detailed real-world fuel consumption figures, so I'll paint the big picture. In mixed driving (about 50% urban and 50% extra-urban by time), with a fairly heavy right foot and no cruise control, I get about 350 miles from about 70 litres of fuel. This is an equivalent of about 23mpg on the combined cycle. On a long motorway journey with cruise control I can get up to 30mpg. Pretty reasonable in my view.
Is the ML a "proper" Mercedes-Benz? Conventional wisdom says no. A number of aspects of the ML are very un Merc-like indeed. There is no trip computer, steering wheel audio control or door-ajar warning light - all features which should be standard on a car in this segment. Many of the plastic handles, such as those for the bonnet and the rear seats, feel cheap and flimsy. There is a lack of refinement in some operations such as the handbrake release. On the other hand, the basics of this car are very well sorted. The engine, drivetrain and suspension feel indestructable. Parts are fairly cheap and many repairs are easy compared to modern cars.
It is easy to divide up the ML universe. First you have either the 1999 - 2004 model, or the 2005 - 2012 model. The latter is a significantly better car, but the cheapest examples are over 10K GBP, it is a more complex creature, and it is less capable off-road. Within the 1999 - 2004 model range, I would advise you to ignore anything before the 2002 refresh; there were significant and well-documented quality problems. That leaves the petrol and diesel versions of the 2002 - 2004 ML. Of these, I would go for the petrol ML350 and ML500 every time. You pay more for fuel, but the engines are very strong and relatively simple, with little to go wrong and with none of the complex gadgetry required to make diesel power suitable for modern passenger cars. There is no turbo, or expensive injectors, or auxillary heater block, or super-high pressure fuel pump, or swirl flaps, or DMF...all of which are expensive repairs, and which can be enough to write off a car at this end of the market. The prices are also lower. A decent ML350 can be had for 5K GBP, with top-end examples fetching no more than 8K GBP.
I have had this example for about 6 months and 4,000 miles and nothing has gone wrong so far. Everything still works. It hasn't used any oil or coolant. It isn't the most glamorous car in the world, and there are clearly some rough edges. But it feels well-sorted and mechanically unstoppable. It provides an awesome sense of confidence. As I drive it I get the feeling that it will take years of abuse, and cover mega mileages, with minimal maintenance and come rain or shine. Perhaps it is a proper Merc after all
It is generally agreed that Mercedes-Benz build quality hit a low point in the late nineties and early noughties. Early versions of the ML had significant quality issues. Mercedes-Benz tried to redeem themselves with an extensive refresh of the car in 2002, of which this is an example. The result is a car of generally excellent quality, but with a few rough edges and with some frankly astonishing omissions from the spec sheet.
This model was the first, and last, ML to use a body-on-frame construction. This is the old-school way of building vehicles, where the body is effectively dropped onto a rolling chassis and is not structural. This makes it very strong, gives good off-road ability and makes some repairs easier, but adds height and weight compared with monocoque construction (where the body and frame are effectively the same). The result is a car which is tall (over 6 feet) and heavy (well over 2 tonnes) given its modest length (about the same as a 2004 Mondeo). You do, however, get excellent ground clearance.
This version is powered by a 3.7 litre V6 petrol engine. The engine fits comfortably in the engine bay, with plenty of space around it (the bay was designed to take a V8). It is chain-driven and naturally aspirated; a relatively simple setup. The coolant expansion tank, oil dipstick/filler, battery and fluid resevoirs are all clearly marked and easily accessible. The oil filter is accessed from above. Service intervals are fixed at 10,000 miles.
But it's here that we find the first influence of the bean counters. There are two bonnet levers, both made of cheap-feeling plastic. The first is in the passenger footwell and feels incredibly flimsy; it has sharp edges, and isn't even solid (it's hollowed out). Pulling hard on that lever pops the bonnet. You then pull hard on a plastic front bonnet lever, convinced that you are about to break it off. This turns out to be a general rule with this car. Wherever you see a plastic lever, you need to pull it until it feels as though it is about to break off; then pull some more and it will work. And why are there 2 bonnet levers anyway? Has Mercedes-Benz historically had a problem with bonnets flying open? Is the second one some kind of backup in case the first one stops working? I have no idea.
Bizarrely, the oil level can be checked in two different ways: via the engine dipstick, or electronically. For the latter you need to switch the ignition to position 2, wait around 20 seconds for the odometer display to show ----, then double press the reset button quickly. A display will appear telling you whether the oil needs topping up and if so by how much. There are a few features on the ML that are non-intuitive like this. They are not meant to be easy to guess. Mercedes-Benz expect the owner to read the handbook, which is in my view no bad thing.
The handbook itself is pretty big, but there are some key omissions of information. For example, there is nothing to tell you what type of coolant or grade of oil to use - not even a reference to a Mercedes-Benz part number. To find out you need to either ask a dealer, who will probably insist on doing the job rather than telling you, or go online and read through the numerous flamewars on the subject. Also missing is any information on fuses; even the location of the fuse box is not specified. Call me old fashioned, but I like to know where things are, even if I'm not competent enough to repair them.
Car doors are not what they used to be. From the outside, some light taps and presses on the door skin reveal it to be made of fairly thin metal. Getting inside, the doors close with the archetypal Germanic "thud", but there is something about it that doesn't sound quite right. There is a slight emptiness to it, and some ringing overtones that you feel don't belong with the rest of the sound. It's as if the thud has been engineered in, rather than being simply a byproduct of the design and quality. Mercedes-Benz are clearly wise enough to know that shutting the door and listening to the sound is something that pretty much every potential customer does, so it's worth investing money in getting it to sound "solid". In fairness, all manufacturers play this game now. By contrast, close the door of a 90s Rolls Royce Silver Spirit and you really feel like you are shutting a bank vault.
The seats - a leather/alcantara mix on this car - are lovely. Firm and soft in all the right places, and highly adjustable. I can easily drive 300 miles without stopping and get out without any aches or pains. The seat heaters are excellent - very powerful. There are 3 memory positions for the seat and mirrors. The "wood" trim may or may not be real, but it suits the interior and feels durable.
Sit in the driver's seat, look around you and some visibility issues become apparent. There are large blind spots ahead of the door mirrors where the A-pillar meets the bonnet; a common problem with modern cars, but the ML seems like one of the worst in this regard. The A-pillars themselves are quite thick. The angle of the bonnet means that it is difficult to know where the front of the car is. Behind you, the rear centre headrest obscures a good proportion of your rearward vision. It is best removed. (The optional tailgate-mounted spare wheel carrier is even worse, and best avoided altogether.) Together, these points offset some of the additional confidence you get from being so high up. The 2004 Land Rover Discovery, with its squared-off front end and slightly slimmer A-pillars, is better in this area.
The driving instruments are very clear. You get a speedo, rev counter, coolant temperature gauge and fuel gauge, but no oil pressure or battery voltage gauges. An odometer and digital clock are provided. (You may laugh, but given some of the other feature omissions, I thought it best to mention them.) The warning lights are arranged neatly in a row at the bottom of the instrument cluster, which I much prefer compared to the seemingly random arrangement present on some modern cars. They each light up brightly and have a clearly defined purpose. You are never in any doubt as to what is going on. There are seatbelt warning lights but - surprisingly - there are no "door ajar" warning lights for any of the doors.
The climate control is very easy to use. There are three metal rings for adjustment of temperature, fan speed and air direction; alternatively, just press Auto to let the system sort itself out. The system is the most powerful I have come across, with everything from ice-cold to hot air available quickly and in large quantities. Rear passengers can adjust air flow but not temperature.
Some of the interior switchgear feels cheap and rather clunky, but not offensively so. The main culprits are the window switches and some of the other switches on the centre console, which feel like they were lifted from a previous generation Merc. I understand the argument about the switches needing to be useable even when the driver is wearing thick gloves, but those in a 2004 Discovery are more elegant despite making the same demand. The climate control switches, which arrived with the 2002 facelift, are much better.
The rear bench is a nice place to be. The seats slide back and forth as a single unit to give a small tradeoff between rear legroom and boot space, and also fold down in a 60/40 split arrangement as you would expect. When the seats are folded down the floor is not quite flat, so there are some plastic flaps attached to the backs of the seats to smooth out the dips. They look and feel fragile so are probably best removed. Also, it is hard work folding the seats. To do so you need to pull a plastic knob out with significant force, remembering the ML rule of "pull it until you think you about to break it, then pull it some more". To put them upright again you have to pull the same knob equally hard, but it's now horizontal and so even harder to grip.
The boot area is about 110cm wide and 90cm high. Depth is 90cm with the rear seats up and 170cm with the seats folded. The car sits quite high so loading heavy objects can be a bit of a struggle; but once they are in, you will barely notice they are there. I carried several quarter-tonne loads of wood, an entire B&Q kitchen, a bootful of slate tiles etc. and it coped just fine.
This car is fitted with the basic audio system, which is perfectly adequate. Separation of bass and treble could be a bit better, but that's a very minor concern. The display looks a bit cheap even for a 2004 car, and there are no steering wheel audio controls! On a 2004 Mercedes-Benz! You can upgrade to a COMAND system, but this seems pointless given that it will be out of date anyway, and it still won't get you steering wheel audio controls.
When started, the engine runs rich for a few seconds and then settles down to a gentle murmur with a slight rasp that is common to many V6s. As you drive around town, you are struck by the light steering, which lacks feel but which makes it very easy to manuvere this 2-tonne vehicle. Car parks, width restrictions and tight turns are no problem at all.
As you press on, you start to see the real point of a car like this. The roads where I live are generally in poor condition, due both to lack of maintenance and to the council's efforts in installing traffic-calming measures (bumps, cushions, chicanes etc.) on every available surface. The ML, with its 4-wheel drive, huge tyres, endless grip and high clearance, handles them so easily as to verge on the comical. Full-width speed bumps can be taken at a decent pace. Cushions can be driven over with abandon. You stop watching for potholes in the road, because you know they won't bother you. You stop caring about the heavy rain or the snow or the heat, because you know that the car will handle it all the same. You feel that you are driving a highly chuckable urban assault vehicle, and that nothing is going to slow you down.
This is reflected in the ride comfort, which is OK nearly all of the time, instead of being wafty one minute and crashy the next like some other cars.
Moving onto motorways, the feeling of solidity and confidence continues, but you quickly find the performance limits of the car. Flooring the throttle on a slip road, the V6 engine howls in a most pleasing manner, but the gearbox is slow to react and acceleration is not that great. I reckon that 30mph to 70mph takes about 8 seconds, with the engine waking up at around 2,500 rpm and revving no higher than 4,000 rpm. This is acceptable on a motorway but leads to some hairy moments when overtaking on A- and B-roads. However, once you are up to speed things are fine, with wind and road noise acceptably muted. The archetypal Mercedes-Benz cruise control and speed limiter - with all functions operated from a single steering-column mounted stalk - is provided.
A- and B-roads also show up the dynamic limitations of the ML. A 6-foot tall, 2-tonne, high centre-of-gravity SUV is never going to be anything other than wallowy in the corners. Having said that, the 4-wheel drive and good grip mean that said corners can be taken at a fair pace, and this combined with the wailing engine note means that there is some entertainment to be had.
The overall sensation is that of a car which can go anywhere and do anything, and which can take a serious amount of abuse. Not once so far have I winced while driving over something I shouldn't have. This makes it feel different to, say, a 2004 Range Rover. The Range Rover is undoubtedly more powerful and more luxurious, but it feels to me slightly more fragile than the ML. With the Range Rover I find myself worrying about what that pothole is going to do to all the expensive gubbins underneath. With the ML I just don't care. The ML feels more like a working vehicle than the Range Rover.
The parking brake is foot-operated rather than being a handbrake, which takes some getting used to if you haven't come across it before. Engage it by using your left foot to push the pedal down (all the way; don't stop when you hear the first click). Release it by pulling on the "P" handle to the right of the steering wheel. The release action is pretty rough. When you pull the handle your initial reaction is that you've accidentally popped the bonnet open or snapped a cable somewhere. You would expect it to be smoother. Very un-Merc like. I get around it by holding the foot pedal down, pulling and holding the lever, releasing the foot pedal and then releasing the lever. With practice you can release the parking brake quickly and smoothly in this way.
The gear lever controlling the 5-speed auto box suffers from a similar lack of damping. You need to hold it firmly and ease it into gear. If you flick it nonchanantly (like you might on a Jaguar with J-gate) it clunks noisily into place. Again, it takes a little getting used to, but nothing more than that.
The combination of a large V6 petrol engine in a heavy vehicle naturally raises the question of fuel economy. You'll struggle to find the answer because - and this is the most jaw-dropping omission of all - there is no trip computer. No trip computer! Nothing that tells you your mpg, fuel used or even miles to empty! On a 2004 Mercedes-Benz! My 1992 Jaguar had that! This omission means that I can't give you detailed real-world fuel consumption figures, so I'll paint the big picture. In mixed driving (about 50% urban and 50% extra-urban by time), with a fairly heavy right foot and no cruise control, I get about 350 miles from about 70 litres of fuel. This is an equivalent of about 23mpg on the combined cycle. On a long motorway journey with cruise control I can get up to 30mpg. Pretty reasonable in my view.
Is the ML a "proper" Mercedes-Benz? Conventional wisdom says no. A number of aspects of the ML are very un Merc-like indeed. There is no trip computer, steering wheel audio control or door-ajar warning light - all features which should be standard on a car in this segment. Many of the plastic handles, such as those for the bonnet and the rear seats, feel cheap and flimsy. There is a lack of refinement in some operations such as the handbrake release. On the other hand, the basics of this car are very well sorted. The engine, drivetrain and suspension feel indestructable. Parts are fairly cheap and many repairs are easy compared to modern cars.
It is easy to divide up the ML universe. First you have either the 1999 - 2004 model, or the 2005 - 2012 model. The latter is a significantly better car, but the cheapest examples are over 10K GBP, it is a more complex creature, and it is less capable off-road. Within the 1999 - 2004 model range, I would advise you to ignore anything before the 2002 refresh; there were significant and well-documented quality problems. That leaves the petrol and diesel versions of the 2002 - 2004 ML. Of these, I would go for the petrol ML350 and ML500 every time. You pay more for fuel, but the engines are very strong and relatively simple, with little to go wrong and with none of the complex gadgetry required to make diesel power suitable for modern passenger cars. There is no turbo, or expensive injectors, or auxillary heater block, or super-high pressure fuel pump, or swirl flaps, or DMF...all of which are expensive repairs, and which can be enough to write off a car at this end of the market. The prices are also lower. A decent ML350 can be had for 5K GBP, with top-end examples fetching no more than 8K GBP.
I have had this example for about 6 months and 4,000 miles and nothing has gone wrong so far. Everything still works. It hasn't used any oil or coolant. It isn't the most glamorous car in the world, and there are clearly some rough edges. But it feels well-sorted and mechanically unstoppable. It provides an awesome sense of confidence. As I drive it I get the feeling that it will take years of abuse, and cover mega mileages, with minimal maintenance and come rain or shine. Perhaps it is a proper Merc after all
Excellent write-up. In-depth where it needed to be.
Those are the sort of things I'm interested in when buying and owning a car. Things like switch/trim quality and equipment omissions. Some absolute howlers there from M-B. My little Fabia has a trip computer!
Nice car, always liked them. Won't forget the Top Gear review when Clarkson ran his finger along the gap between the rear bumper and the tailgate, watching it go from a canyon of a gap to almost touching!
Those are the sort of things I'm interested in when buying and owning a car. Things like switch/trim quality and equipment omissions. Some absolute howlers there from M-B. My little Fabia has a trip computer!
Nice car, always liked them. Won't forget the Top Gear review when Clarkson ran his finger along the gap between the rear bumper and the tailgate, watching it go from a canyon of a gap to almost touching!
I think every Readers Rides thread should be written in that amount of depth with suitable pictures. Great write-up. 
If I am bieng honest though, I used to like these, but I find them looking dated with the facelift only changing that slightly and the dash did not change much with the facelift so as you touched on in the article, it is missing things that should be normal on that segment of car for that year.
Enjoy!
If I am bieng honest though, I used to like these, but I find them looking dated with the facelift only changing that slightly and the dash did not change much with the facelift so as you touched on in the article, it is missing things that should be normal on that segment of car for that year.
Enjoy!
spaceship said:
Won't forget the Top Gear review when Clarkson ran his finger along the gap between the rear bumper and the tailgate, watching it go from a canyon of a gap to almost touching!
Yep, a classic (and probably on YouTube). I seem to recall him putting his hand straight into the gap!The quality of the early cars was really quite shocking in places. I wouldn't touch one now except for shed money...
Ordinary_Chap said:
I've got to say usually, I have no interest in these cars but opening this thread and looking at the initial post, it was so well written I kept reading.
Top marks for the write up, some interesting information in there.
Lee
Agreed. These have never been on my radar but the write-up is brilliant.Top marks for the write up, some interesting information in there.
Lee
dbdb said:
How does it compare with your V12 Daimler?
Well they both have 4 wheels I loved the V12 Daimler dearly, but two things forced my hand in the end
- I'm doing some work to my house (e.g. new kitchen) and you simply can't transport cabinets, worktops etc. in an XJ40.
- My annual mileage has also increased recently, and I simply couldn't afford the petrol costs any more. Going to the seaside and back could mean 100 GBP in fuel, it just became too much.
It has been interesting to compare the two experiences. Being a modern car, the ML is much easier to drive; it is much more comfortable and practical; the steering wheel is smaller and steering requires less effort; the brakes are much more powerful; the heater and AC are much, much better. My fuel bills have halved. It is also nice to have peace of mind with a car that you know will work all day every day.
But...owning an XJ40, or indeed an XJ of any description, is a special experience. Regardless of what you use it for, you enjoy the acts of owning and driving. You enjoy slipping the selector into D, letting the car creep for a fraction of a second and then flooring it. You enjoy hurtling along country roads and feeling that life is good. You enjoy the reactions from people who used to own one or just want to admire it (and in the case of the V12, who just want to listen to it). You enjoy looking under the bonnet at the rats' nest of pipes and cables and feeling some kind of empathy for the machine and for the people that made it. It's what Clarkson calls soul. It is fair to say that the ML provides absolutely none of this.
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