All vehicles develop problems sooner or later. That's why there are statistical records, over the life of all vehicle models & makes, designed to monitor and illustrate, in an educated and statistically oriented manner, where they stand in component & build quality against the available competition.
Using the available accumulated industry data, analyzing/comparing the existing model TSB's (gravity of the problems), analyzing the various vehicle/model repair & failure benchmarks performed by various neutral and non-neutral entities, analyzing your own and other people experiences, tracking various forums for years, and tracking for 40+ years the history & quality of various vehicles, models, and brands, it provides you with more than enough information to make an educated guess on how to rank and compare various vehicles/models/brands.
I love my MB ML's, and even more my 2005 ML 500, but it is light years behind the quality MB used to offer in their past generations of vehicles. We all have admired Mercedes for 50+ years, so when they begin to go south, as they had in the late 90's, we the real owners need to have the balls to say it the way it is so that corrections can be made.
Just closing our eyes, adoring a shiny emblem, and trying to ignore serious problems/issues, does not help Mercedes or us, and will just ensure that Mercedes becomes a brand owned by shiny emblem lovers instead of owned by people that love and appreciate high quality, technology, engineering, and customer service.
In addition, Lexus, Acura, and other vehicle brands, have become what Mercedes used to be in the past. It is up to Mercedes Benz to choose if they want to keep with the quality brands or with the bottom of the pack..
If you see the quality report table in the link below, you will see the ML at the complete bottom of the list. That is the last position out of 30 high end and completely generic models/brands. There are various quality industry reports that practically show the same trend.
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/atta...06110844pm.jpg
I talked to some people, in the past, who told me that if I say anything negative on the MB/ML's, then the value of our ML's are going to go way down. First of all, it is what it is no matter what color you want to paint it. Secondly, the values of the ML's are already way down, and I am too busy with life/work/family to be spending my time stranded or fixing my ML all the time. Last year (2006), my 2005 ML 500 spent 5 weeks in the shop for engine, power steering, and other repairs, which is almost 5 weeks more than what many of my friend's Lexus vehicles have spent since they bought them in the late 1990's.
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