M Class around £5k, Am I mad? Or should I not be put off by negative reviews

[Royvdbb]

Hello All,

Firstly hello to everyone as this is my first post.

Basically I am looking at getting either an ML270 or 320 for around £5,000. I have just sold my car and my wifes Alfa GTV is coming off the road to spend a year or so being restored. Having recently got a dog and with potentially some kids in the not to distant future we are now looking for something bigger.

I had been looking at estates, Saab 9-5 Aero, Volvo V70 T5. However flicking through Autotrader I was reminded that an ML would be an option. I have always liked the look of these, however reading plenty about them online there seem to be some serious horror stories.

Now I am used to people telling me not to buy certain cars as I have had three Alfa Romeos. Everyone tells you that they will fall apart, that the electrics will crumble, however all three have been fantastic and completely reliable. So is it just that some people have had bad experiences and that generally if you actually do some research and buy a well cared for example that they are actually pretty reliable or am I just crazy and should avoid at all costs.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm not one of these people that expect their car never to go wrong, and happily accept that every second hand car of a certain standard will cost reasonable money during my ownership, but I dont want to end up with horrendous bills all the time.

Cheers,

Roy

 

[Gridlock]

No first-hand experience, just this warning: Built by Americans.

 

[Royvdbb]

No first-hand experience, just this warning: Built by Americans.

So I had read!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

MLs don't have a great reputation, which was mainly as a result of the (relatively) poor build quality of early models, and the fact that it was a league behind it's contemporary MBs because it uses an old school ladder frame chassis, rather than the monococque adopted later by the X5, Cayenne/Touareg. As a result the W163 ML struggled to shake the reputation.

Build quality improved, and by the time of the facelift was pretty good. The ride remained old-school though as it remained a ladder frame chassis until the model was replaced by the W164 (from 2005).

The general consensus is to buy the latest you can afford. At the £5k price point you're likely to be looking at early and leggy examples, which could be expensive as it will be the worst combination of build quality and 'due for replacement' maintenance. If you can stretch to the facelift (from 2001) then it will be better quality, nicer to look at from the outside, and nicer to sit in.

Owners on this forum are generally full of praise for their ML. We've had ours well over five years, so it's doing something right!!

 

[st4]

Hmmm a leggy ML. Nope. A V70 T5 is an together more compelling proposition. A 210 wagon, an E39 5 series would aslo get my nod

 

[Honey Bear]

Why not get a n E class estate? Practically the same amount of room, more economical, and you won't get green peace attacking you every 5 mins tell you you're destroying the earth.

Not that I agree with them - I don't at all.

Anyway, moving on... The W210 is a very solid car. And 300 turbodiesel provides an almost perfect combo between power, economy, and reliability. If you have a read around on the threads on here you'll find they're rock solid.

Hope this helps

edit: +1 to ***'s statement

 

[st4]

Anyway, moving on... The W210 is a very solid car. And 300 turbodiesel provides an almost perfect combo between power, economy, and reliability. If you have a read around on the threads on here you'll find they're rock solid.

And cheaper to buy than an ML I would have thought...

 

[Honey Bear]

Well I would have thought that was obvious / didn't need to be stated.

Though I have seen w210 keep their value a lot better than their soft-roader counterparts. So it's not always a cheaper option. At least it isn't when you look at initial cost at some better spec'd ones

 

[flango]

Been there and done it and would advise you not to go there a £5k ML is like buying a £10K Supercar might look like a very attractive proposition but you will end up throwing shed loads of money at it to keep it running, the amount of money I spent on mine I could have probably bought a much newer and better spec'd Range Rover or Discovery for the same amount of total cash.

Have had a Volvo T5 absolutely superb car and a very tough act to beat, a much better proposition IMHO

 

[grober]

The later ML 270'S were assembled in the MAGNA plant in Austria afaik ( no diesel engines required for the American market being one reason) Have more European components e.g. brakes Bremos?? and reckoned to be slightly better screwed together-at least interior trim wise. They are big heavy cars--so tend to knock out their rear suspension units and because they use all the brakes for traction control eat discs and pads on a regular basis. Diesel manual gearboxes are reputed to not be up to the torque. As BD says buy the latest you can afford.

 

[Usuf_x]

If it helps I was going to buy an ML320 but had loads of reviews of not to buy any that where pre-face lift models and for about £5K looking at new ones (04-05 plate) was just not enough cash.

So I opted for an E-Class wagon have had it for a few months and can say its a solid reliable car very smooth and spacious (if you after that in the long run)

 

[James Rothwell]

If you really want a luxury 4x4 for £5k I'd look at a spec'd Discovery or a Grand Cherokee (they are actually pretty nice but the diesel engine is crap so you'll have to make do with the 4.7.)

 

[Seamster15]

Potential moneypit but what old 5k luxury 4x4 isn't?

IMHO build qulaity was only substandard on the firts ML's if you compare them to other Mercedes models such as the W202. If you compaire to other makes such as Citroen and Ford, then they are really quite nice.

 

[A210AMG]

Hello

I own a ML and have done for nearly 3 years, no issues and love driving it.

Dad has an E class estate and I just wanted something different and like the 'jeep' style.

Build quality on the facelifted version are meant to be much better.

The trouble is as mentioned spending 5K is getting you maybe an older model on a few miles? and then when or if you have a large bill its quite a proportion of the value of the car. I'm guessing mine was around 40K new? so the bills could be expensive.


I like it though drives very well, I have no isuues with quality and that having been in dads E and his SL?? nothing squeaks or Rattles. My engine (3.7 v6) is very very smooth and performance is pretty good for a tank. Its done a few trips to europe and one was 850miles in a day, very comfortable, feels very safe.


Mine the other day looking clean for about 10 mins....

Quick update, my brother had a 9-5 Aero estate auto and yes again lovely car, but 250bhp through the front wheels.....not great in the wet quite expensive to fix also, he had a few dead pixals on the screen, and a rear parking sensor fail. Along with a few sets of front tyres. Great spec though even heated rear seats !!! Not actually that big in the boot however and mpg was around 28-30mpg.

 

[wemorgan]

As usual, I'm hopping on to the Saab 9-5 angle

I was passenger in a 2008 9-5 Aero auto estate last week for ~1000 miles. 4 up with a weeks worth of walking gear the car was still only 80% full, but that's packing above the load cover, so limiting rear visibility. Over the whole journey the economy was ~28mpg. I think with a manual it would have been low 30s. VFM and good spec levels is where Saab are at. That 2008 Saab cost £12-13k 6 months ago. So for £5k it should just about buy a MY2004 like this:

2004 SAAB 9-5 2.3HOT Aero 5dr Auto Estate

 

[Seamster15]

If you go for the Saab, make sure you get a very good warrenty.

 

[st4]

2004 SAAB 9-5 2.3HOT Aero 5dr Auto Estate

Terrific value for money...

 

[Seamster15]

Terrific value for money...

Indeed, but why?.......

 

[st4]

Indeed, but why?.......

For £5k name a quicker car thats got as much space which is an new as a 2004. Think its a good buy.

 

[wemorgan]

Indeed, but why?.......

Usual supply and demand balance I believe. The mileage is also a bit above average. Saabs have long suffered with heavy depreciation, but the 2.3 Aero engine is the pick of the bunch for reliability. I'm not sure about the auto box though, a manual would be my first choice.

edit: just to add that the Autotrader link was a typically priced 9-5, not just a one off scam (I hope)