Palmball
MB Enthusiast
Fellow TRAX attendees, you're now safe from the BMW 
With the SLS still in Germany and only our BMW M3 to take to the MB Club stand at TRAX next week, something had to be done....so I've bought an ML63 AMG for the event.
OK, thats not strictly true as that would be a little extreme, but I have taken advantage of the fact I got a cheeky deal on the new M3 a couple of months ago and am able to move it on now with virtually no loss. It was a little punt I took and appears to have paid off
We decided that we wanted an SUV as something to use for our business and for it's general practicality, which is nice to have when your only other car has two seats and a tiny boot. I really didn't want a diesel or one of the BMW X5/6's so narrowed the choice to a 2 year old (old shape) Range Rover Sport Supercharged or similarly aged (but new shape) ML63 AMG, hopefully both of which will have done a chunk of their depreciating.
The RRS was a genuine surprise - we had a diesel one before but the Supercharged was VERY impressive. It wasn't as fast as I expected a 510hp car to be (despite taking into account it weighs similar to a small house) but it was so smooth and refined compared to the diesel. It was also significantly cheaper than the Merc.
Today we went to see the cheapest ML63 at MB Grimsby and have to say I wasn't that crazy about it at first - it didn't initially feel any better to drive than the RRS and certainly wasn't as refined.
However, it is fast (truly very fast) and not just for an SUV - it's quick plain and simple. It's much more car-like and encourages a more sporty approach than the more relaxed RRS but it does have fantastically direct and well-weighted steering. The air suspension with AMG ride control dampers is mighty impressive too - on a bumpy B-road it's amazing what it can do for a car of it's size as it literally obliterates the road, flattening bumps and undulations. Then, when you go to tip it into a bend, you expect it to heave over but it just doesn't - the active anti-roll bars keep it virtually flat which is quite a surreal feeling.
Sound wise, it's my first experience of the 5.5 Bi-Turbo and it is a lot more muted than I expected (although still much louder and more aggressive than the RRS). It still has the traditional AMG character, but with the dial turned down to 7. It's very different to the AMG 6.2 in any application I've tried (C,E and SLS).
Looks wise, I struggled to like the new shape ML but in AMG form with the wider arches and huge 21" wheels giving a very wide stance, it looks very purposeful. It definitely looks much better in real life than in pictures. I reckon it needs the side steps and as the missus struggles to get in and out of it without them, we'll be getting some next week.
A couple of disappointing aspects though - it's seems to be just as creaky in bends as the RRS. I expected this of the RRS from the last one we had but I hoped the Merc would be 'tighter' - in all honesty, it's not bad and 99% of people wouldn't notice but I guess it's typical of large bodied cars which are naturally going to flex more than a normal car. Also, it has noticeably more wind noise than the RRS, although admittedly that car is double glazed.
The ML was £13k more than the RRS and I was trying to decide which one was the less risky in terms of depreciation (I appreciate both are fairly risky in this aspect, hence wanting to minimise that as much as I could). In the end, the ML was newer with less mileage, it's a current model and it looks more contemporary than the RRS.
We decided on the ML and I ended up paying £8k less for it than the next cheapest ML63 currently for sale. WBAC also quote just £3k less than I paid to buy it today, which is about as good as it gets when buying from a main dealer.
So, we did the deal and drove away in it this afternoon, although I have to say only after what was the worst purchase experience I've ever encountered (and I've had a few). The salesman's attitude was appalling pretty much from the moment I first spoke to him a couple of days ago yet all I wanted was straight answers and to get to a point where I could buy the car quickly...from his point of view, I should have been seen as a dead cert! He preferred the smoke and mirrors approach and just made the process painful - it got to the point this afternoon where I was going to walk out on the basis I just didn't want to buy from that dealer - thankfully, I decided that the price of the car meant I'd be biting my nose of to spite my face if I walked - I ended up dealing with the sales manager who, to be fair, tried his best to recover the situation.
The car is metallic diamond white with cream leather and.....wait for it.....burr walnut trim (yuk!). The wood and the relatively isolated location of the dealer are probably why the car was so cheap and, whilst we hate the trim, we can see past it as we'll just get it changed. Rather than replace it with the typical wood or aluminium trim, I'm going to see if we can get it covered in alcantara....and I feel another AMG visit coming on It has very few options with tinted rear windows, 21" wheels and that lovely wood being the only extra's, but it's very well spec'd as standard anyway.
Here's a couple of pictures taken tonight at my outlaws - the light's not great so I'll try and take some better ones tomorrow.
With the SLS still in Germany and only our BMW M3 to take to the MB Club stand at TRAX next week, something had to be done....so I've bought an ML63 AMG for the event.
OK, thats not strictly true as that would be a little extreme, but I have taken advantage of the fact I got a cheeky deal on the new M3 a couple of months ago and am able to move it on now with virtually no loss. It was a little punt I took and appears to have paid off
We decided that we wanted an SUV as something to use for our business and for it's general practicality, which is nice to have when your only other car has two seats and a tiny boot. I really didn't want a diesel or one of the BMW X5/6's so narrowed the choice to a 2 year old (old shape) Range Rover Sport Supercharged or similarly aged (but new shape) ML63 AMG, hopefully both of which will have done a chunk of their depreciating.
The RRS was a genuine surprise - we had a diesel one before but the Supercharged was VERY impressive. It wasn't as fast as I expected a 510hp car to be (despite taking into account it weighs similar to a small house) but it was so smooth and refined compared to the diesel. It was also significantly cheaper than the Merc.
Today we went to see the cheapest ML63 at MB Grimsby and have to say I wasn't that crazy about it at first - it didn't initially feel any better to drive than the RRS and certainly wasn't as refined.
However, it is fast (truly very fast) and not just for an SUV - it's quick plain and simple. It's much more car-like and encourages a more sporty approach than the more relaxed RRS but it does have fantastically direct and well-weighted steering. The air suspension with AMG ride control dampers is mighty impressive too - on a bumpy B-road it's amazing what it can do for a car of it's size as it literally obliterates the road, flattening bumps and undulations. Then, when you go to tip it into a bend, you expect it to heave over but it just doesn't - the active anti-roll bars keep it virtually flat which is quite a surreal feeling.
Sound wise, it's my first experience of the 5.5 Bi-Turbo and it is a lot more muted than I expected (although still much louder and more aggressive than the RRS). It still has the traditional AMG character, but with the dial turned down to 7. It's very different to the AMG 6.2 in any application I've tried (C,E and SLS).
Looks wise, I struggled to like the new shape ML but in AMG form with the wider arches and huge 21" wheels giving a very wide stance, it looks very purposeful. It definitely looks much better in real life than in pictures. I reckon it needs the side steps and as the missus struggles to get in and out of it without them, we'll be getting some next week.
A couple of disappointing aspects though - it's seems to be just as creaky in bends as the RRS. I expected this of the RRS from the last one we had but I hoped the Merc would be 'tighter' - in all honesty, it's not bad and 99% of people wouldn't notice but I guess it's typical of large bodied cars which are naturally going to flex more than a normal car. Also, it has noticeably more wind noise than the RRS, although admittedly that car is double glazed.
The ML was £13k more than the RRS and I was trying to decide which one was the less risky in terms of depreciation (I appreciate both are fairly risky in this aspect, hence wanting to minimise that as much as I could). In the end, the ML was newer with less mileage, it's a current model and it looks more contemporary than the RRS.
We decided on the ML and I ended up paying £8k less for it than the next cheapest ML63 currently for sale. WBAC also quote just £3k less than I paid to buy it today, which is about as good as it gets when buying from a main dealer.
So, we did the deal and drove away in it this afternoon, although I have to say only after what was the worst purchase experience I've ever encountered (and I've had a few
). The salesman's attitude was appalling pretty much from the moment I first spoke to him a couple of days ago yet all I wanted was straight answers and to get to a point where I could buy the car quickly...from his point of view, I should have been seen as a dead cert! He preferred the smoke and mirrors approach and just made the process painful - it got to the point this afternoon where I was going to walk out on the basis I just didn't want to buy from that dealer - thankfully, I decided that the price of the car meant I'd be biting my nose of to spite my face if I walked - I ended up dealing with the sales manager who, to be fair, tried his best to recover the situation.The car is metallic diamond white with cream leather and.....wait for it.....burr walnut trim (yuk!). The wood and the relatively isolated location of the dealer are probably why the car was so cheap and, whilst we hate the trim, we can see past it as we'll just get it changed. Rather than replace it with the typical wood or aluminium trim, I'm going to see if we can get it covered in alcantara....and I feel another AMG visit coming on
It has very few options with tinted rear windows, 21" wheels and that lovely wood being the only extra's, but it's very well spec'd as standard anyway.Here's a couple of pictures taken tonight at my outlaws - the light's not great so I'll try and take some better ones tomorrow.
