Coming to America, admitting I am a dad and buying an SUV

[muhnkee2]

Hey folks,

I recently emigrated to Arizona, USA and finally conceded that i really am a dad (with a five year old and a nearly two year old) and that i probably need to buy an SUV.

Previous to his i have owned variety of cars in a variety of countries:
New Zealand
1971 Austin Tasman

Australia
1982 Holden Gemini
1985 Toyota Celica

England
1956 Morris Minor - My grandfathers car, still with us and now on its fourth country

2001 Audi A3 - reliably boring
2002 Renault Avantime - the only car i wish i had kept for ever

2005 BMW M5 - once in a lifetime chance to own a cheap V10, how could that go wrong?

2007 BMW 535d - probably would have loved this, if i hadnt just come from an M5

Singapore
1956 Morris Minor

United States of America
1956 Morris Minor
2011 Toyota Prius - does what it says on the tin.

When we arrived in the USA i decided i needed an American V8, so i started looking for sub $15,000 cadillac, lincolns etc, the problem was i really didnt want an SUV, but after a couple of weeks of looking i realised that the US sedans in this price range were all very tired and very dated, the only things that caught my eye were Chrysler 500's (terrible interiors) and Taurus SHO's (not a v8, but pretty amazing engines).

So then i started looking at European sedans, Scottsdale is chock a block full of European V8 sedans, A8s, S8, S550, S63s, XJ, XJR, 750, 760, Alpina B7s and Phaetons but in this range again they are very tired, so i broadened my search and included SUVs and this baby popped up:

2008 Mercedes Benz ML550


Initial impressions are good:
Colour is peridot brown FTW!!
Power is more than adequate at 382HP
0-60 in 5.04 seconds
MPG - who cares? i live in America!!
Its a two owner car, with a pile of paperwork, full MB service history (last service was $5,000 in parts and labour), the owners were both retired gentlemen, and they have kept it looking perfect.
Being in the US the ML is definitely a mid size SUV, i had previously rented an Infiniti QX80 to get us around for the first months and i believe that is the worst car i have ever driven, but i thought the ML would handle like that, luckily it didnt!
The only downside is that being a 2008 it doesnt have bluetooth, and the only option i would have liked thats not included is the air suspension and the front bumper parking sensors, but apart from that its got all we need for upcoming roadtrips around the USA.

Edited by muhnkee2 on Wednesday 28th March 18:38

[Tinkshusband]

Isnt there anyway to add bluetooth to the radio? its usually an external bit in OEM stereos, that just needs plugging / coding in.

other than that, you could do what a lot of vw people do - get one of those all singing all dancing chinese android head units that are shaped to replace the OEM one - a quick google tells me there are a few available to fit that shape of ML.

or you could do what I've done in the family vw touran - get a facia adapter and adapter harness and stick something like a nice pioneer or alpine double din in there.

[muhnkee2]

Tinkshusband said:

Isnt there anyway to add bluetooth to the radio? its usually an external bit in OEM stereos, that just needs plugging / coding in.

other than that, you could do what a lot of vw people do - get one of those all singing all dancing chinese android head units that are shaped to replace the OEM one - a quick google tells me there are a few available to fit that shape of ML.

or you could do what I've done in the family vw touran - get a facia adapter and adapter harness and stick something like a nice pioneer or alpine double din in there.

Thanks for the advice i will start googling!