Mercedes ML550 - the ultimate family wagon

[muhnkee2]

At the start of the year we moved to Arizona, USA and needed a proper family road trip machine.
So I found a 2007 Mercedes ML550 and it literally ticked all my boxes:

SUV? Yes
Petrol? Yes
V8? Yes
Over 350 bhp? Yes
Made in USA? Yes
Less than 20mpg? Yes
Wipe clean interior? Yes
Less than $15k? Almost!
Less than 100,000 miles? Yes
Poo brown exterior? Yes

Here it is yesterday morning mid way through a 3,000km round trip from Arizona to Lake Tahoe:

We were stopped in the middle of Death Valley, on our way up it was 107f (41c) when we stopped for the evening.
Some amazing winding mountain pass roads and some really fast and dead straight valley roads.




I am the third owner and its in lovely condition, only now just crossed over 100,000 miles this week.

The car has a very curious spec, it has the plastic interior (or non leather option as its politely called), no forward or reverse sensors, but included the Bose sound system, so it's built for kids!

[BrettMRC]

Nice find

Any problem areas?

[Resolutionary]

Gotta love a big old bruiser. Looks like quite the landscape to explore also!

[PorkRind]

Have always liked these.

[muhnkee2]

BrettMRC said:

Nice find

Any problem areas?

Nothing so far, the previous owner included service receipts for $4700 in the last 12 months, all done at Mercedes, so i am hoping that he solved all the problems for me!!

my one complaint is that there isnt much V8 rumble, its too muted, but i cant stretch to $2,000 for a sports exhaust on a $15,000 car...

[muhnkee2]

Resolutionary said:

Gotta love a big old bruiser. Looks like quite the landscape to explore also!

Here is some of the landscapes we drove through in 18 hours of travelling:




Living in the states i quickly appreciated that this is definitely a mid sized SUV. It's not a truck and it's not a real 4x4.

This is what a real truck looks like compared to our little toy:


Here in Arizona, lots of my neighbours have something like this as one of their family cars: