ok....
so, a few months on, how is it?
Are you kidding?!! The thing is amazing!! Seriously, I absolutely love it.
i have one of these and love it, and the diff in price between what a good ML55 can achieve in a sale opposed to what a good, used ML63 costs, makes this seem appealing.
Exactly my thoughts, except I was coming from ML320 and considered between ML55 and ML63. The difference in price was big enough for me to justify the supercharging, full respray, new floor and alcantara headliner, 2 new sets of BRABUS wheels (20" and 22"), new calipers all round (old all rusted away) and performance Supersprint exhaust (coming from Italy any day now). Basically, I now enjoy fully restored, showroom condition car, albeit in older body.
Have you any real performance figures to compare, what was the total outlay, and has anything went wrong / needed upgraded since?
I didn't dyno the N/A ML, but I drove her for about 3 month before supercharging. With 42K miles on the clock I doubt she had lost any ponnies. N/A ML55 has plenty of torque to start with, but being supercharged it's a whole new [ML] world. Kleemann s/c comes as a bolt-on kit with all parts and step-by-step instruction manual included (can email a copy). The only fabrication made by CPR was a bracket for intercooler in the front. Nothing went wrong so far (touching wood). It is "just forced air induction, which is a pretty straightforward mod", as I was told. Superchargers have been in the auto market forever and Kleemann have done a few thousands of them specifically for our cars.
Money wise, s/c price is on the Kleemann website with installation costing me around £2.5K. I also opted for custom ECU flash (+£1.5K).
And finally.... would you do it all over again?
Sure, I would! Our ML is an ultimate all-rounder that, unlike other 55's AMG, didn't get a 100 HP boost from AMG in 2003. In fact, they decided to retire it. Shame really, as unlike overwhelming majority of SUV's today being an absolute boredom to drive, AMG ML is just pure fun. Luckily, Kleemann s/c gives that extra kick it was lacking in performance department, making it overall a very good value for money car, even by today's standards.
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