2004 Mercedes-Benz M-Class ML 500 review from North America

Windshield had bubbles in the Glass, The dealer replaced it. 1.200 miles on the car.

One electric window switch failed after 3.000 miles.

Radio reception failed after 7.300 miles.

Fuel gauge sensor defective at 12.000 miles. Replaced under

warranty.

Air conditioner failed, bad sensor replaced at 18.000 miles.

Pixels in the instrument cluster are not working at 22.000 miles. Replaced the complete instrument cluster, two day in the shop.

Rear rotors warped at 26.000 miles. Rotors replaced at a cost of $400. MBUSA does not warranty the brakes.

Dealer said, the rotors are a common fault in these cars and each brake job costs $300.

Car alarm started to go off at 30.000 miles. That caused the battery to discharge 6 times! Car towed to the dealer, where they simply recharge it. When the car was towed to the dealer by the 6th time, I complained to them to replaced the damn battery, and that's what they did. At a cost of $320. Not the kind of treatment I was expecting. Since, I bought all my previous 2 Mercedes there and oddly enough, they usually treated me well.

I guess, it's because this is an American built Mercedes-Benz. And that might explain why the M-Class is so unreliable.

There is a sticker on the door, that says “Manufactured by DaimlerChrysler USA”. HA! I should be aware... every American car I’ve owned, it was Piece of Junk! But, I thought this Mercedes would be na Exception... how wrong I was!

I went into it with an open mind, and decided to ignore J. D Power surveys and Consumer Reports poor ratings on how unreliable the M-Class is. Unfortunately, the catalogue of disasters I faced over the next 40,000 miles proved them all right.

Such a shame really. When I decided to upgrade to a luxury 4WD SUV I decided to go with Mercedes-Benz, based on my previous good experience.

My previous Mercedes were a 2001 E430, 1998 C280 and they all were great cars. The C280 was great fun to drive.

The E430 is by far the finest car I have ever owned, and oddly it's the car, from the brand which I still like, but I won't be buying another one.

Sorry MB, but after two lovely cars and now a flawed one, you folks lost a faithful customer.

Even my wife's 2003 Nissan pathfinder was even more reliable than this car.

Mind you, she replaced her Nissan with a 2005 Infinit QX56. Great SUV and dare I say, it's better than the ML500.

Despite of the faults and general deterioration both in engineering and quality. The ML500 still is a decent car.

GOOD.

-The 5.0 V8 may only outputs 306 Hp. But bear in mind, this is a SOHC V8 engine with 3 valves per cylinder. At least, the torque is superb and the car is quite fast.

-Nice looking car in Jade Black.

-Comfortable supportive seats. Good driving position.

-Easy to drive. Handles well, with very little body roll. Light steering and good visibility.

-Good off-road capability. It has great traction on snow or sand.

-High speed stability is good.

BAD.

-Wooden brakes and overassisted steering.

-Poor fit and finish. Too much cheap hard plastic and some screwheads are visible.

-Excessive tire noise.

-The third row of seats should fold flat on the floor.

-Rear legroom is rather small and the trunk isn't big enough.

-SAT-NAV does not allow street number input and sometimes gets pretty messed up.

_______________________

I love German cars. I owned other two BMWs 3-Series. 1995 325i Sedan E36, 1992 325i Convertible E30. They were all great cars and they were built in Germany just like the E430 and the C280.

I guess, the lesson is: Buy Germans. Just don’t buy American or Mexican built Germans.

I may be wrong about that though.