W163 ML320; good/bad/ugly?

[deadtom]

Dear PH,

I've been considering potential vehicles for this expedition: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

And it seems that mk1 w163 ml series are scandalously cheap for what they are:
Lots of toys
Good amount of power
Comfortable
Proper low range transmission and 4 wheel t/c for some semblance of off road ability
Not too horrific mpg

Specifically looking at the 320 of facelift 2002 - 2004 vintage. Avoiding the 270 as I don't trust the cdi engines to not break expensively (my only personal experience of the these is my friends 270 whichever he loved except when the injectors kept going)

What's PH thoughts on these? The only topic i could find is quite old now but was generally positive. I am wondering if the consensus has changed since then

Thanks all

Deadtom

[deadtom]

from my reading, all ML are full time 4wd, and while they handle light to medium off road duties well enough, their lack of wheel travel limits them for more serious off roading.
I am not anticipating any proper off road stuff on this advenure, nothing more than byways really.
I have looked at jeeps and they are a lot of car for the money, however the vast majority are the 2.7 diesel, which I am trying to avoid in either the merc or the jeep

[deadtom]

KevinCamaroSS said:

We ran a 2.7 GC for some time. Excellent car, even if a little slow. Plenty reliable though, unlike the ML320s of that era. Not sure what your budget is, but a good WK GC (3.0CRD) can be had for £3.5-5K.

I took your advice and have been looking at cherokees. I actually really like the look of the WK shape and there are a few hovering around the 3k mark, which is very tempting. budget is ideally capped at 2.5 but its proving hard to find something suitable other than the ML, which you and others have put me off somewhat.

my ideal is now an early WK if I can find the money, but failing that ML320 still tempts me. It only has to be reliable for a couple of months or so, and off roading will be of the mild to medium sort

[deadtom]

KevinCamaroSS said:

Good luck with whatever you buy, enjoy your trip

took your advice, got a WK 3.0 CRD limited