Should I buy an ML320?

[simonlongman]

Afternoon all,

Just after a bit of advice please. I have been offered an X plate ML320 with 45K (FMBSH) on the clock for around £10K. I think this is a good price for it but know very little about the ML or Mercs in general.

I have heard about reliability problems on early cars - should I be relatively safe with such a car? I'll probably keep it for a year max?

Any advice much appreciated.

 

[Seamster15]

Welcolme.
Thats a great price and if its genuine, grab it.

There is a lot of negativity around about the ML, comparisons to the RR and X5, but remember your spending at least 1/2 the amount that you would when buying an X5.
Its a great car, I won't mislead you by telling you that its any sort of racing car and that you would have lots of fun in the twisties, because you won't.

However what you will get is a reasonably built car, from the one of the most highly regarded brands in the world. Fuel consumption is high, parts are expensive, ride quality is not amazing, but overall you can't beat them for the price.

I hope I have given you a fair view, feel free to contact me if you would like futher information.

regards,

Simon

 

[lotusmark2]

I am no expert on these cars but I seem to remember resale being a bit of an issue, if you are only keeping for a year then this may be a major issue.

 

[grober]

Complaints seemed to centre round interior trim and electronics for these USA BUILT CARS. Major mechanicals seem to be sound. see http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/index.php?url=/carbycar/index.htm The facelift cars seem to be better post 2001. I would be looking for some form of warranty if buying from a dealer. Remember repairs will reflect the +£30000 buying price not the £10k you are paying.

 

[fuzzer]

i wouldnt bother ... spend those pounds elsewhere

 

[dougal74]

They are cheap because there is not a strong market for them. If you intend to keep for a while, don't mind a few (sometimes expensive) niggles, and aren't bothered about re-sale then okay but if you might be selling on soonish I'd put my money in something that will be easier to sell on.

 

[Alfie]

Afternoon all,

Just after a bit of advice please. I have been offered an X plate ML320 with 45K (FMBSH) on the clock for around £10K. I think this is a good price for it but know very little about the ML or Mercs in general.

I have heard about reliability problems on early cars - should I be relatively safe with such a car? I'll probably keep it for a year max?

Any advice much appreciated.

I had a facelifted ML 320 with pretty much all the options on it and can say it was great. The build quality was fine and reliability excellent. However, the main issues with these cars are are servicing costs. ML's eat brake pads and disks like nothing else. Economy wasnt bad considering. I averaged about 23MPG with 29MPG on a run. Practical, safe, reliable workhorse. I strongly recommend you go for a facelifted model though (51/02 reg onwards, look for the indicators in the mirrors). The build quality is better and they hold their value better.

 

[simonlongman]

Thanks for the advice chaps.

I'm still undecided on this as I was thinking of running it for a short while and moving it on, which if it's hard to sell may be an issue.

The car has been owned by family friends for the last 2 years si I know the recent history and it cost £20K at an MB dealer in March '03, so £10K seems pretty good. It had 2 owners before that - looks like it may have been a demo for 3 months then a private owner.

It has 3 stamps in the book which to me seems a little under serviced and the last service was nearly 2 years ago. Any ideas what a serice on this would cost?

It is registered Dec 2000 but is a grey bumper model, which I have heard bad reports about as they were early builds.

At £10K + the cost of a service could I run it for 6 months and get my money back, bar any unforeseens?

Ambiguous questions I know but any further adivce gratefully received.

Simon

 

[Subyland]

It books trade @£11500 but being a petrol and early version, these fetch no where near book values...It should loose about £300/month. If you plan on keeping it for a short period and resaling it then buy a more popular version.
Do you know why your friends are selling? If they are buying another car have you asked them how much they were offered for the ML ??

Don't want to sound to negative but you must your facts rights before you make a decision.

 

[Richard W]

Mine was a very similar model and I would say be very careful, all the comments here about handling, quality, niggles and re-sale are true. It took me 4 months to sell mine and it was very cheap at the time - below book, not even traders were interested.
The interior was terrible, found holes in the carpet, squeeks, groans, thumps from the suspension, terrible economy (19mpg - real world average) electrics didn't all work etc etc - this was all in a car which was only just 3 years old with only 42k miles......
In comparison with the C-Class disesl that I'd had previously it was just awful. Just remember there are some very good reasons why it's half the price of an equivalent X5. They say the market finds it's own level.....

[/2p]

 

[bobmedley]

We had a 1999 model from virtually new & unfortunately it was pretty much the most unreliable car we've ever owned, culminating in it nearly killing us when the engine cut out in the fast lane of the M25. Swapped it for a facelift model and - surprisingly - did not have a thing go wrong with that.

Expensive to service (watch out for spark plug change at 50k miles), expensive to insure, never did more than 20mpg no matter how carefully driven & as everybody says they are depreciating like pianos off a skyscraper. Avoid.

Bob

 

[Rose Chap]

My family bought an ML when they first came out. A very poor car by all reasonable standards, lots of problems, lots of recurring issues, shoddy build quality. Definitely not recommended.

They replaced it with the facelift ML, which was a much better vehicle in terms of build and reliability, but still had all the dynamic shortcomings of the previous model.

Not good cars IMHO.