Hi guys ! As most of you know, I have more Mercedes than sense. We just bought SWMBO a SLK which she loves ! The flip side to that coin is that we hate driving SL's in inclement weather. The other slight negative is the two passenger thing. 90 % of the time it's fine because we detest carting anyone else around and sometimes each other ! So to make a longer story longer, we need a all weather vehicle. We don't need any more cars, so a SUV seems to be a logical choice. I took all Dgosh's anguish into account and eliminated Rovers . Mission criteria includes: Comfort, All weather capability (mostly rain) style and reliability. I though seriously about a Ford Escape. About the right size and good mileage, plus a million were built so parts are plentiful. As I looked around I found early 2000's in the $4-6k range.
Then I looked at 1999-2003 or so Mercedes ML320's. Similar price range. Now we all know that none of us need 4 Mercedes Benz products in the garage, but hey, I don't live under a bridge either. (yet!)
We test drove a really nice 1999 at a local dealer. 115 k miles for $ 5,500. I was impressed with the mass of the vehicle as well as the appointments. This particular unit had a sunroof issue on the panoramic sunroof and suspension creaks as well as an inoperative low range. So I think this one is off the list, but perhaps I don't know all I need to know.
Of all the forums, the breadth of knowledge on the 107 site seems to be most vast.
Other than giving me a swift kick in the nuts so I get back on the 107 project, who has experience with the ML (W163) class SUV?
Then I looked at 1999-2003 or so Mercedes ML320's. Similar price range. Now we all know that none of us need 4 Mercedes Benz products in the garage, but hey, I don't live under a bridge either. (yet!)
We test drove a really nice 1999 at a local dealer. 115 k miles for $ 5,500. I was impressed with the mass of the vehicle as well as the appointments. This particular unit had a sunroof issue on the panoramic sunroof and suspension creaks as well as an inoperative low range. So I think this one is off the list, but perhaps I don't know all I need to know.
Of all the forums, the breadth of knowledge on the 107 site seems to be most vast.
Other than giving me a swift kick in the nuts so I get back on the 107 project, who has experience with the ML (W163) class SUV?