2006 Mercedes-Benz M-Class ML-350 V8
Summary:
Prime example of Mercedes' degrade
Faults:
Nothing yet.
General Comments:
I bought this car for my wife, as a 25th year anniversary. She seems to like it, but I do not.
The performance is abysmal; on the freeway, if you put your foot to the floor, it will eventually start speeding up, and this is the V8 model. My 745Li pulls harder, and that's a saloon.
Inside of the Mercedes, the quality of the materials has degraded so much, the rear doors are basically a piece of hard black plastic with some wood thrown in, not at all soft to the touch. My old Mercedes S-Class before my BMW was much better, and the materials plushness was out of this world.
The center stack is incredibly clustered around the navigation system, and it took a week for my wife to figure out all the buttons.
Also, the Mercedes dealership salesperson that I dealt with was an absolute ass, he treated me and my son like someone not worthy of this type of car. It wasn't until we were deep into the test drive that he asked what kind of car I drove, and I told him a BMW 745Li, and all he said was "oh." Then after that, his attitude took a u-turn, and from then on he was kind and generous with the explanations and such, and I could tell he was embarrassed.
In the show room, when I asked him why I should purchase the ML over a BMW X5, he told me that there is no reason to, and I should never buy a BMW, which was rather offensive, as at the time I owned the most expensive BMW out there.
For spending 70 grand on a vehicle like this, I expect much better materials and an overall better vehicle, and the customer service to be pleasant.
Mercedes does not meet these, and for that they lost a one-time customer.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 27th December, 2006
28th Dec 2006, 13:33
First off the ML350 is a V6 not a V8, the ML500 has the V8. Second this car is not $70,000 its more around the $40,000-$50,000 range. And finally when your at a dealer the first thing you tell them is your paying cash and they treat you like your God. Now I don't know if you paid cash for your Mercedes, but when my wife purchased the ML500 they paid the tax and liscense fee since she was a cash customer. The M-class Mercedes are horrible and so is the BMW X5 4.4.