Sensible 5 seater required - hello ML 55 AMG
Discussion
I seem to be acquiring cars of late and somehow I find myself with 4 now. My daughter has taken over the small Chevrolet hatchback, my v6 Vectra barge is off the road due to being unable to source a replacement engine loom for the last 5 months and the Boxster S is just a bit small for load carrying and occasional airport runs etc.
I always seem to buy the first or second car I see and the ML was no exception. Having just looked at a very presentable, and quite a bit cheaper, Range Rover 4,6 HSE in Marbella, the ML popped up even closer in Benalmadena.
It was a small time trader selling, having taken it in as a trade in against something else he had. I agreed to pay the full asking price if he had all the scuffs and light bumper damage repaired (the previous lady owner from Granada clearly had not got the hang of the parktronic, judging from the plethora of scuffs etc). Mind you, in Spain, any car of this age will show considerable battle scarring. Fortunately no dents anywhere and the interior immaculate.
The seller also fitted new tyres and brake pads all round, just previously due to needing them for the "MOT" along with front shock absorbers. He also sourced an OEM detachable towbar which was missing, replaced a lower front grille which was damaged, supplied new badges for the rear, polished the headlights, gave it a full wash, polish and valet and even replaced a duff brake light bulb which I spotted had blown. Oh, I also got him to change the oil and filters just prior to the sale.
It is a facelift 2002 car with only about 70000 miles and 2 previous owners. Seems to have every extra possible fitted. Everything seems to work, mind you have not tried the heated seats, cruise control or sat nav yet and likely some other stuff I do not yet know it has!
The only non working bit so far found is the driver's side mirror adjustment. It folds but does not adjust any direction. This is not a huge problem as it is pretty much where I want it. The passenger mirror glass seems to shake a little which should be an easy fix. Possibly my main concern is how bouncy the car feels on some larger bumps, especially at the front. It almost seems to bottom out at times? I checked the numbers on the new Sachs shocks and they are correct for this car. Am not home now and will look at tyre pressures when I get back, just to rule them out.
All in all a fantastic car to drive, so powerful and effortless. The noise when flooring it is very satisfying. Fuel consumption, in the few days I have had it has been not great, as expected. A 2 hour run up to El Chorro returning a best figure of 20mpg. Around town it was more like 14-15 or so.
Spain is not great on having cars with service history and this one is no exception. New in 2002, it has a full history (well 2 dealer stamps) up to 2004 and then no history at all, lol. I am not unduly worried by this (famous last words?) as the engine and transmission seem very strong and no leaks or overheating etc.
Some pics now I have got flickr going. All taken in my garage, so some not quite from far enough away. It joins my all silver fleet with added bonus of managing the Boxster and Vectra in with enough space to walk between them. This gives the ML plenty space at the other side.
I will pop back in from time to time with any thrills and hopefully not too many spills......
I always seem to buy the first or second car I see and the ML was no exception. Having just looked at a very presentable, and quite a bit cheaper, Range Rover 4,6 HSE in Marbella, the ML popped up even closer in Benalmadena.
It was a small time trader selling, having taken it in as a trade in against something else he had. I agreed to pay the full asking price if he had all the scuffs and light bumper damage repaired (the previous lady owner from Granada clearly had not got the hang of the parktronic, judging from the plethora of scuffs etc). Mind you, in Spain, any car of this age will show considerable battle scarring. Fortunately no dents anywhere and the interior immaculate.
The seller also fitted new tyres and brake pads all round, just previously due to needing them for the "MOT" along with front shock absorbers. He also sourced an OEM detachable towbar which was missing, replaced a lower front grille which was damaged, supplied new badges for the rear, polished the headlights, gave it a full wash, polish and valet and even replaced a duff brake light bulb which I spotted had blown. Oh, I also got him to change the oil and filters just prior to the sale.
It is a facelift 2002 car with only about 70000 miles and 2 previous owners. Seems to have every extra possible fitted. Everything seems to work, mind you have not tried the heated seats, cruise control or sat nav yet and likely some other stuff I do not yet know it has!
The only non working bit so far found is the driver's side mirror adjustment. It folds but does not adjust any direction. This is not a huge problem as it is pretty much where I want it. The passenger mirror glass seems to shake a little which should be an easy fix. Possibly my main concern is how bouncy the car feels on some larger bumps, especially at the front. It almost seems to bottom out at times? I checked the numbers on the new Sachs shocks and they are correct for this car. Am not home now and will look at tyre pressures when I get back, just to rule them out.
All in all a fantastic car to drive, so powerful and effortless. The noise when flooring it is very satisfying. Fuel consumption, in the few days I have had it has been not great, as expected. A 2 hour run up to El Chorro returning a best figure of 20mpg. Around town it was more like 14-15 or so.
Spain is not great on having cars with service history and this one is no exception. New in 2002, it has a full history (well 2 dealer stamps) up to 2004 and then no history at all, lol. I am not unduly worried by this (famous last words?) as the engine and transmission seem very strong and no leaks or overheating etc.
Some pics now I have got flickr going. All taken in my garage, so some not quite from far enough away. It joins my all silver fleet with added bonus of managing the Boxster and Vectra in with enough space to walk between them. This gives the ML plenty space at the other side.
I will pop back in from time to time with any thrills and hopefully not too many spills......
Edited by el romeral on Thursday 21st September 19:54
josh00mac said:
Looks great and plenty performance for this type of car. I have a P38 RR and have considered changing to one of these recently. There are a few for sale in the UK, many with excellent histories and dirt cheap thanks to their poor reputation (a little bit like the RR funnily enough).
I will watch this with interest!
Thanks, it would be interesting moving from a Range Rover to one of these. In the brief research I did I found that the pre facelift cars seemed to have more problems than the later ones. Not sure if true but you never know? I will watch this with interest!
In the quick test drive I had in it, the seller's 2 small children were sat in the back with one of them asleep in his car seat. I therefore drove it carefully but still wanted to test the acceleration out. I was very satisfied with what I found but afterwards realised the acceleration I achieved on this occasion was nowhere near its maximum. The pedal was capable of being pressed much harder!
I found this out some days after purchase with my holidaying 83 year old parents in the car. Full acceleration was delivered on this occasion and it was mightily impressive. My Dad uttering an "Oh I say" from the passenger seat. Praise indeed!
ZX10R NIN said:
Looks like a good buy I'd be tempted to give it a Terraclean or similar as you'll probably find it's a bit clogged up due to short journeys & not much use (in terms of it's age) you may well find some of those missing ponies.
Hopefully it will prove to be so.I am more than happy with the power it delivers - I just was not releasing it all at first due to not fully depressing the accelerator!
Edited by el romeral on Friday 22 September 09:23
Leins said:
Funnily enough, I picked one of these up recently too. Never even been a huge SUV fan, but there's just something about having that engine in it which makes it a lot of fun
Won't be doing a huge amount of mileage in mine, but planning to head down to France in the summer to the Le Mans Classic, boot full of tents and wine. So far it seems like it could be the perfect vehicle for it
Best of luck with it, and hopefully for both our sakes their reputations are undeserved!
That is great. Glad to hear someone else has taken the plunge. Your trip sounds epic, am sure the ML will be the perfect vehicle to do it in.Won't be doing a huge amount of mileage in mine, but planning to head down to France in the summer to the Le Mans Classic, boot full of tents and wine. So far it seems like it could be the perfect vehicle for it
Best of luck with it, and hopefully for both our sakes their reputations are undeserved!
Edited by Leins on Friday 22 September 09:13
C70R said:
Erm... I'd do a quick Google for "W163 rust".
The bodywork is highly prone to tin-worm (as with most Mercedes of this age), and areas of the chassis (including the rear subframe) are not uncommon to rot either.
Well there is no visible rust at least The bodywork is highly prone to tin-worm (as with most Mercedes of this age), and areas of the chassis (including the rear subframe) are not uncommon to rot either.
not been underneath. Not sure I will now either lol.With my Boxster now off the road due to a split coolant tank, the ML has become my daily driver. It has so far been a wonderful car to drive and am very happy with it. Being Spain, the transfer of owner's name onto the new documents took some time and was completed yesterday, after a mere 75 days or so.
I have done some small jobs to improve the car as follows. Nothing major, just tinkering really.
I changed the cabin filter as the old one was well past its best. The wheels were removed to bleed and flush with new brake fluid and my newly purchased Gunson Eezibleed kit worked well.
Whilst off, I had the wheels into the bodyshop for some small repairs and painting. They did a good job at €30 a wheel. Tight fit in the Kalos lol.
Thought I may as well paint the calipers as they looked a bit sad.
I received a detachable towbar with the car but no keys to lock it. A bit of research showed that keys could be obtained from the makers in Germany by sending them the numbers stamped on the towbar. 2 keys were received a short time later and I paid a very reasonable €20 for them.
Newly painted towbar fitted. Great for those careless locals when they are attempting to park.
I managed to train one of the 3 roof console buttons to operate my electric gate. This was quite simple and is a great feature. My Hormann garage door appears to have rolling codes though and so far has proved tricky to get working. Have not yet given up on it though.
I bought some AMG brake decals and fitted them on the newly painted calipers.
I fitted a full led interior kit which is great it also included rear number plate and side lights. Quite a difference before and after.
I managed to sort the irregular gap between the tailgate and the rear bumper. My ocd was severely troubled by this and removal of the rear bumper and refitting again sorted it.
A few random pics of how it is now.
My attempts to get the Comand system working failed as the disc I bought on E bay did not work. Got a refund and will try another.
The previous owner fitted a set of new tyres just prior to the sale. He said he was unable to obtain the correct 285/50 size, so instead fitted 255/55. They still cost €700, even in this reduced size, for an unknown Chinese brand!? I am wondering if this is the reason for the slight wollowing on bumps etc? As a small experiment I inflated to 2,2 bar all round instead of 2,0 bar and things have improved quite a lot. 2,2 bar is the heavy load setting for the front whereas the rears can go up to 2,9 bar.
Also got hold of a pair of new bonnet struts on E Bay, so no more broom handle to hold the bonnet open.
Edited as realised the tyres are 255 and not 265.
I have done some small jobs to improve the car as follows. Nothing major, just tinkering really.
I changed the cabin filter as the old one was well past its best. The wheels were removed to bleed and flush with new brake fluid and my newly purchased Gunson Eezibleed kit worked well.
Whilst off, I had the wheels into the bodyshop for some small repairs and painting. They did a good job at €30 a wheel. Tight fit in the Kalos lol.
Thought I may as well paint the calipers as they looked a bit sad.
I received a detachable towbar with the car but no keys to lock it. A bit of research showed that keys could be obtained from the makers in Germany by sending them the numbers stamped on the towbar. 2 keys were received a short time later and I paid a very reasonable €20 for them.
Newly painted towbar fitted. Great for those careless locals when they are attempting to park.
I managed to train one of the 3 roof console buttons to operate my electric gate. This was quite simple and is a great feature. My Hormann garage door appears to have rolling codes though and so far has proved tricky to get working. Have not yet given up on it though.
I bought some AMG brake decals and fitted them on the newly painted calipers.
I fitted a full led interior kit which is great it also included rear number plate and side lights. Quite a difference before and after.
I managed to sort the irregular gap between the tailgate and the rear bumper. My ocd was severely troubled by this and removal of the rear bumper and refitting again sorted it.
A few random pics of how it is now.
My attempts to get the Comand system working failed as the disc I bought on E bay did not work. Got a refund and will try another.
The previous owner fitted a set of new tyres just prior to the sale. He said he was unable to obtain the correct 285/50 size, so instead fitted 255/55. They still cost €700, even in this reduced size, for an unknown Chinese brand!? I am wondering if this is the reason for the slight wollowing on bumps etc? As a small experiment I inflated to 2,2 bar all round instead of 2,0 bar and things have improved quite a lot. 2,2 bar is the heavy load setting for the front whereas the rears can go up to 2,9 bar.
Also got hold of a pair of new bonnet struts on E Bay, so no more broom handle to hold the bonnet open.
Edited as realised the tyres are 255 and not 265.
Edited by el romeral on Friday 31st August 21:59
Croutons said:
Out of mere curiousity, is running a car in Spain cheap?
For used cars, the biggest difference is the purchase price as they are expensive here compared to the UK. I can never find the things I need here, so all my purchases seem to come form E bay UK with associated postage costs. Garage labour is cheaper here though and the local garage charges just €30 an hour and no VAT for cash sales lol.I think insurance is a bit dearer here with petrol a little cheaper. Road tax may be cheaper here. My 2000 Boxster S is €190 a year (I imagine the ML will be similar) and the kalos is €37.
Some minor maintenance etc of late. Spent a few hours under the ML the last 2 days changing the transmission oil (well the 4 litres I could get out anyway) filter and gasket. I measured, more or less, what came out and put back in the same amount. Have ordered a dipstick so I can check more accurately. Guess I should really have had this prior to starting the job? Also re bled the brakes again as I think something went wrong last time I did it when the reservoir bottle tipped over. Pretty sure the transmission oil had never been done before. Not too bad a job until removal of the filter caused an unexpected wave of oil, some of which went in my eyes! Not very pleasent! I could not find any way to access the torque convertor to release the other 3 liters of oil. Doing what I did has definitely made selecting gears much smoother, as it used to kind of "clonk" slightly when selecting D or R. I think the brakes are better too, at least I know they were done correctly this time. Added bonus was I managed the bleeding with all 4 wheels on the car,. The last time most of the effort was in jacking up and removing the wheels. Space was tight and I had to use bolt cutters on a spanner to shorten it in order to get the 8mm bleed nipples at the back. For some strange reason they are 9mm on the front, but luckily a normal spanner fitted here.
Debris after transmission oil change.
Got 4 litres of oil, filter and gasket from Mercedes for €82, so not too bad.
Brake bleeding.
With short 8mm spanner.
I used the Ezybleed kit with 20psi pressure from a spare tyre. Great to use.
Whilst at a scrapyard getting 2 wheels to replace the 2 destroyed by my daughter during an argument with a lagre kerb, I happened upon an ML (strangely it was UK reg) right beside the donor Kalos. It had the small piece of missing plastic trim I needed to cover the rear wiper motor on the tailgate. Was chuffed with my find and said trim was absorbed amongst the wheels etc. It was beige, so I sprayed it black. On fitting it to my car, I realised my interior is in fact grey, so the black stands out a bit. Can live with it for now and is better than beige, or nothing. Will see of I can find some grey paint.
Kalos & ML side by side at scrapyard.
Trim painted.
Oops, it is a bit black. Actually it does not look nearly as bad in real life, honest.
Couple of interior LED pics after changing all bulbs. Nice white light now.
Debris after transmission oil change.
Got 4 litres of oil, filter and gasket from Mercedes for €82, so not too bad.
Brake bleeding.
With short 8mm spanner.
I used the Ezybleed kit with 20psi pressure from a spare tyre. Great to use.
Whilst at a scrapyard getting 2 wheels to replace the 2 destroyed by my daughter during an argument with a lagre kerb, I happened upon an ML (strangely it was UK reg) right beside the donor Kalos. It had the small piece of missing plastic trim I needed to cover the rear wiper motor on the tailgate. Was chuffed with my find and said trim was absorbed amongst the wheels etc. It was beige, so I sprayed it black. On fitting it to my car, I realised my interior is in fact grey, so the black stands out a bit. Can live with it for now and is better than beige, or nothing. Will see of I can find some grey paint.
Kalos & ML side by side at scrapyard.
Trim painted.
Oops, it is a bit black. Actually it does not look nearly as bad in real life, honest.
Couple of interior LED pics after changing all bulbs. Nice white light now.
Edited by el romeral on Sunday 31st December 22:42
Small update on the ML55. I have owned it now for about 11 months and covered around 4500 miles - mostly very short trips. It has just sailed through (barge style) the "MOT" test here.
Fuel consumption seems to average between 17 & 18 litres per 100km (16mpg gulp). A recent slightly longer trip Malaga-Coin-Ojen-Marbella-Puerto Banus and back to Malaga on the motorway gave a more respectable (and current best figure) of 20,2mpg.
Nothing has failed so far, touch wood, and running costs have been pretty much limited to petrol, petrol and more petrol. Have had a few run ins with the alarm going off randomly, including whilst driving it. This can be avoided by locking it with the key rather than the remote. I rarely leave it parked up anywhere, so not a problem. May get round to looking at it and have heard it can be caused by the alarm battery?
I plan to change oil and filter next week and have just bought Mercedes oil and a Mann filter.
I have upgraded a few minor things. May not be to all tastes - bit bling perhaps:
Aluminium pedals:
5,5 side badges:
Took the angle grinder to the standard oval tail pipes (always thought they looked a bit lost) and fitted quad outlets. My rough measuring and calculations paid off, as I did not have to modify the bumper but it was close:
Am thinking the AMG tailpipes could look quite ok on the Boxster as they are quite a bit chunkier than what is there?
Fuel consumption seems to average between 17 & 18 litres per 100km (16mpg gulp). A recent slightly longer trip Malaga-Coin-Ojen-Marbella-Puerto Banus and back to Malaga on the motorway gave a more respectable (and current best figure) of 20,2mpg.
Nothing has failed so far, touch wood, and running costs have been pretty much limited to petrol, petrol and more petrol. Have had a few run ins with the alarm going off randomly, including whilst driving it. This can be avoided by locking it with the key rather than the remote. I rarely leave it parked up anywhere, so not a problem. May get round to looking at it and have heard it can be caused by the alarm battery?
I plan to change oil and filter next week and have just bought Mercedes oil and a Mann filter.
I have upgraded a few minor things. May not be to all tastes - bit bling perhaps:
Aluminium pedals:
5,5 side badges:
Took the angle grinder to the standard oval tail pipes (always thought they looked a bit lost) and fitted quad outlets. My rough measuring and calculations paid off, as I did not have to modify the bumper but it was close:
Am thinking the AMG tailpipes could look quite ok on the Boxster as they are quite a bit chunkier than what is there?
Edited by el romeral on Tuesday 28th August 15:25
A minor update.
I have changed the oil, oil filter and air filter using items bought from the dealer. The previously fitter air filter did not look too bad but it was of an unknown make. The chap I bought the car from said oil and filters had just been changed just prior to me purchasing the car a year ago. Wishing now I had not taken him at his word as the oil was so old and black looking, it appeared to have been in use during the Industrial Revolution. The oil filter too was in a shocking state. Since purchase, I have had trouble getting accurate oil level readings on the dipstick and I suspected that it may have been overfilled but I soldiered on as it was. My suspicions on overfilling were confirmed, as I put in about a litre less that what was removed. The new oil seems to show up better on the dipstick and I have a nice reading just below full. I used 8 litres exactly to fill it. It would not surprise me if the previously fitted oil type was completely wrong for the car too.
Early days, but I have observed that the very occasional drip of engine oil, which I had been observing, seems to have stopped. Have placed some white paper under it for further monitoring. I wonder if the dripping can be a function of overfilling?
When driving it now, my car definitely runs much smoother and quieter. In addition the fuel consumption has improved a lot from an average of 16 to 19 mpg. I think the engine is much happier now and next time I purchase a car I will change the oil as a matter of course, unless there is full documented evidence of a recent change.
Pics of removed items:
After reading about it on the other recent AMG 55 thread, I also performed the pedal reset, as per link below. Just been out for a drive now and am most impressed with the change in shifing and smoothness. Has a much sportier feel to it too.
http://www.mercedesmedic.com/reset-mercedes-benz-t...
Edit: duffed up the mpg figures.
I have changed the oil, oil filter and air filter using items bought from the dealer. The previously fitter air filter did not look too bad but it was of an unknown make. The chap I bought the car from said oil and filters had just been changed just prior to me purchasing the car a year ago. Wishing now I had not taken him at his word as the oil was so old and black looking, it appeared to have been in use during the Industrial Revolution. The oil filter too was in a shocking state. Since purchase, I have had trouble getting accurate oil level readings on the dipstick and I suspected that it may have been overfilled but I soldiered on as it was. My suspicions on overfilling were confirmed, as I put in about a litre less that what was removed. The new oil seems to show up better on the dipstick and I have a nice reading just below full. I used 8 litres exactly to fill it. It would not surprise me if the previously fitted oil type was completely wrong for the car too.
Early days, but I have observed that the very occasional drip of engine oil, which I had been observing, seems to have stopped. Have placed some white paper under it for further monitoring. I wonder if the dripping can be a function of overfilling?
When driving it now, my car definitely runs much smoother and quieter. In addition the fuel consumption has improved a lot from an average of 16 to 19 mpg. I think the engine is much happier now and next time I purchase a car I will change the oil as a matter of course, unless there is full documented evidence of a recent change.
Pics of removed items:
After reading about it on the other recent AMG 55 thread, I also performed the pedal reset, as per link below. Just been out for a drive now and am most impressed with the change in shifing and smoothness. Has a much sportier feel to it too.
http://www.mercedesmedic.com/reset-mercedes-benz-t...
Edited by el romeral on Tuesday 11th September 11:06
Edit: duffed up the mpg figures.
Edited by el romeral on Thursday 13th September 21:46
Nunga said:
A simple Google search suggests that 5.5L badging is the norm from factory.
Nice car! I think. Kinda wanna say I like it, kinda wanna say I don’t... still not sure yet. Must be ideal for use in Spain though, aside from inner city parking.
That is alright, it won't be everyone's bag. It is a lovely smooth and powerful cruiser, in a land full of rough sounding smokey diesels. Never taken it into Malaga city but Parktronic and a big fNice car! I think. Kinda wanna say I like it, kinda wanna say I don’t... still not sure yet. Must be ideal for use in Spain though, aside from inner city parking.
k off defensive towbar (to help protect against actions of others) would definitely help.Six months from my last update and the big ML55 has not really missed a beat. One small thing though, more or less since purchase, I have been aware of what seemed like a fairly slow engine oil leak. I never did anything about it as it was tricky to see where it came from and did not appear to be much. Fast forward to last week and the power steering started making a terrible noises on start up. This prompted me to check the fluid for the first time since purchase. I was shocked to see the level was not even on the dipstick. Further investigation revealed a leak from the reservoir area. Some googling revealed this to be quite a common problem.
I decided to purchase a new reservoir, o ring and 1 litre of fluid from the dealer for a very reasonable €58. Fitting was very straight forward too and I completed it in about an hour. No more "oil" leaks now and smooth quiet steering again. I used 0.5 litres to refill. I will run the car some months and then drain again and fill up with remaining 0.5 litres.
New reservoir fitted:
I decided to purchase a new reservoir, o ring and 1 litre of fluid from the dealer for a very reasonable €58. Fitting was very straight forward too and I completed it in about an hour. No more "oil" leaks now and smooth quiet steering again. I used 0.5 litres to refill. I will run the car some months and then drain again and fill up with remaining 0.5 litres.
New reservoir fitted:
Edited by el romeral on Tuesday 5th March 23:25
RiccardoG said:
Currently reading up on old MLs as they've piqued my interested and I bumped into this. Nice thread and thanks for taking the time.
Two years on, do you still have the car? (Are you even still on PH??)
Still here and still running the ML55. I had no idea it had been so long since I last posted in this thread. The last 2 years have been completely trouble free apart from an airbag light caused by a faulty passenger seat child seat sensor. My local garage fitted a new sensor, which involved removing the passenger seat. I also got them to fit a new crank sensor as occasionally it would not start when hot. Been absolutely fine since. My old ML experience has certainly been positive, hopefully yours is too if you decide to purchase one.Two years on, do you still have the car? (Are you even still on PH??)
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