Real World MPG Figures, For Merc ML 98 - 03 diesel models
Discussion
hi ppl,
just moving house at the min and will be communting a bit futher and i am currently running a cayenne 3.2 v6, urban driving only getting 16 mpg!!!, just over 20 on motorway.
so think its got to go, but unsure if a 2002/2003 diesel ML would be getting much more mpg on an urban cycle to work and back. someone told me you can get 25-30 out of them.
or was considering buying an Audi A3 diesel as these can do around 45-50 mpg, but really want to keep in a 4x4 and only have a budget of £5/6k ish.
any mpg figures would be great from people who are actually running them day to day, i know all the offical figures, but i know from experiance these can be pretty different.
thx for the help ppl, might be back in a Merc soon !!!
just moving house at the min and will be communting a bit futher and i am currently running a cayenne 3.2 v6, urban driving only getting 16 mpg!!!, just over 20 on motorway.
so think its got to go, but unsure if a 2002/2003 diesel ML would be getting much more mpg on an urban cycle to work and back. someone told me you can get 25-30 out of them.
or was considering buying an Audi A3 diesel as these can do around 45-50 mpg, but really want to keep in a 4x4 and only have a budget of £5/6k ish.
any mpg figures would be great from people who are actually running them day to day, i know all the offical figures, but i know from experiance these can be pretty different.
thx for the help ppl, might be back in a Merc soon !!!
Mike
I have an 03 ML270cdi which I have had from new, it is possible to get 29-30 from it on a run cruising at a steady 70-80mph - I have verified this by compulsively brimming the tank and then refilling after c450 miles on numerous occasions.... However a more realistic mpg is c26-27mpg on normal runs, this can drop down to 23-24mpg for tootling around on shorter runs....
If you are coming from a Cayenne, it is worth being aware that performance is not breath taking from the 270cdi, although I find it to be fine once you get going and a pleasant cruise at 80'ish.
Cheers
Phil
I have an 03 ML270cdi which I have had from new, it is possible to get 29-30 from it on a run cruising at a steady 70-80mph - I have verified this by compulsively brimming the tank and then refilling after c450 miles on numerous occasions.... However a more realistic mpg is c26-27mpg on normal runs, this can drop down to 23-24mpg for tootling around on shorter runs....
If you are coming from a Cayenne, it is worth being aware that performance is not breath taking from the 270cdi, although I find it to be fine once you get going and a pleasant cruise at 80'ish.
Cheers
Phil
Hi Phil,
thx for the reply.
to be fair its the 3.2 V6 model i have and its not hugely fast, well for a 4x4 it is, but it only does 15 mpg around town, so i dont tend to put my foot down much
and i am only getting 20mpg on a motorway run, so the merc ml diesel is defiently an improvement of 10 mpg for both around town and on the motorway journeys.
any pointers to look for when buying one??? was prob aiming at a 2002/2003 model with around 80-100k miles on.
i had a range rover turbo diesel before the cayenne and had nothing but trouble with it, turbos, egr valves, electrical faults etc....
so i am a bit nervous getting a turbo diesel again, but i think it was just my range rover was a bit of a lemon
thx for the reply.
to be fair its the 3.2 V6 model i have and its not hugely fast, well for a 4x4 it is, but it only does 15 mpg around town, so i dont tend to put my foot down much
and i am only getting 20mpg on a motorway run, so the merc ml diesel is defiently an improvement of 10 mpg for both around town and on the motorway journeys.
any pointers to look for when buying one??? was prob aiming at a 2002/2003 model with around 80-100k miles on.
i had a range rover turbo diesel before the cayenne and had nothing but trouble with it, turbos, egr valves, electrical faults etc....
so i am a bit nervous getting a turbo diesel again, but i think it was just my range rover was a bit of a lemon
Mike
As you have probably heard, the ML is not generally seen as the pinnacle of MB's bullet proof build quality. I had a number of problems with mine for the first 6 months, mainly niggling things but a power steering failure was more serious (as an aside, I complained strongly to MB about this and, in the end, they fitted a DVD player and side bars to the car as some form of compensation, so it worked out allright in the end...), however over the last 6 years the car has had no problems. It has now done 68,000 and has been serviced 4 times (the service light comes on approx every 18 months or 16,000 miles or so), twice at MB and twice at a local MB specialist. Cost averaged out at about £350 per service so not ridiculous, front tyres last about 16,000 and I got 43,000 out of the rears so again reasonable. I have paid about £125 per corner recently, Dunlops seem to last longer than the original fit Continentals.
If I was looking at buying one now, I would definitely shop around and ideally go for a slightly lower mileage one than you suggest (maybe c60,000 miles) with full service history being essential. A 1 or 2 owner car is ideal as, if there have been any problems, they are likely to have been fixed rather than just getting rid of the car.
From my experience of owning an ML, there is nothing particular I am aware of to check for. Not sure of your budget, but a quick search of Autotrader shows that c£10k will get you a nice one with c50,000 miles 2003 1 or 2 owner - I would think it is money well spent to pay a bit more for an original and genuine car than buy a cheaper one which could easily cost more in the long run.
IMHO, for the money, they are a good car and the 7 seat options gives that extra bit of flexibility, along with reasonable fuel economy.
Hope that helps!
Cheers
Phil
As you have probably heard, the ML is not generally seen as the pinnacle of MB's bullet proof build quality. I had a number of problems with mine for the first 6 months, mainly niggling things but a power steering failure was more serious (as an aside, I complained strongly to MB about this and, in the end, they fitted a DVD player and side bars to the car as some form of compensation, so it worked out allright in the end...), however over the last 6 years the car has had no problems. It has now done 68,000 and has been serviced 4 times (the service light comes on approx every 18 months or 16,000 miles or so), twice at MB and twice at a local MB specialist. Cost averaged out at about £350 per service so not ridiculous, front tyres last about 16,000 and I got 43,000 out of the rears so again reasonable. I have paid about £125 per corner recently, Dunlops seem to last longer than the original fit Continentals.
If I was looking at buying one now, I would definitely shop around and ideally go for a slightly lower mileage one than you suggest (maybe c60,000 miles) with full service history being essential. A 1 or 2 owner car is ideal as, if there have been any problems, they are likely to have been fixed rather than just getting rid of the car.
From my experience of owning an ML, there is nothing particular I am aware of to check for. Not sure of your budget, but a quick search of Autotrader shows that c£10k will get you a nice one with c50,000 miles 2003 1 or 2 owner - I would think it is money well spent to pay a bit more for an original and genuine car than buy a cheaper one which could easily cost more in the long run.
IMHO, for the money, they are a good car and the 7 seat options gives that extra bit of flexibility, along with reasonable fuel economy.
Hope that helps!
Cheers
Phil
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