Mercedes-Benz ML500 Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Mercedes ML500
Prices: £52,314-£54,761 - on the road
Insurance Group: 20
Emissions: 319g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 6.9s / Max Speed 146mph
Fuel Consumption: [combined] 21.1mpg
Safety: Twin front, side and curtain airbags / ABS / ESP
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height mm 4780/1911/1815

GIVE ME FIVE

Our Rating: 7.1 / 10

The Mercedes ML500 Is A Big Hitter With A Big Reputation. Andy Enright Judges Whether It Lives Up To The Hype

Don’t you just love those lists in the Sunday supplements that inform you that those products you never even realised had come ‘in’ are now completely passé? If that is indeed the case, then the Mercedes ML500, a car that most would see as a pretty hot ticket, must be about as ‘over’ as it comes. Drive one and you probably won’t care if it’s in, out or shaking it all about. Luxury 4x4s don’t come a lot better than the ML500 we take a look at here.

It may be big and clever but for most of us, the ML500 isn’t hugely relevant. ‘Normal’ folks will buy the £39,000 ML 300CDI diesel while the super wealthy will prefer the awe-inspiring 510bhp ML63AMG version. The ML500 is a compromise. It’s a super refined, beautifully finished all-wheel drive smoothie that’ll leave you with enough change for a half decent meal out from £50,000. Two versions are offered, both saddled with identical price tags. Customers choose from a well appointed SE version or a more focused Sport model. Both are very appealing but it’s worth framing the ML500 in terms of its direct competition.

Being perched near the top of the M-Class range prices the big Mercedes out of reach of the likes of the Volvo XC90 and the Jeep Commander and into direct comparison with the Porsche Cayenne S, the BMW X5 4.8, the Range Rover 4.2 and the Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI, vehicles with power outputs of 385, 350, 390 and 309bhp respectively. The Mercedes manages 302bhp, so it can’t lever the power advantage usually associated with the three-pointed star. To do that, you need to pay a whole lot more money for the AMG touch. This is genuinely tough competition and every model here has the sort of image that Mercedes hoped its old M-Class would garner. That was a car that had the looks and the badge but fell over in terms of perceived quality. It got better as the years passed by, but by then the damage was done. This generation of M-Class needed to be right from Day One and fortunately it is. It now feels like a proper Mercedes-Benz product.

It goes like one too. Sixty mph from standstill is dispatched in just 6.9 seconds en route to a top speed pegged at 146mph. Try matching that in any of the aforementioned rivals. It isn’t going to happen. Suddenly you twig that in offering the quickest car with the lowest power output, Mercedes might have stolen a march on the opposition. A kerb weight of 2,100kg helps to explain things. That’s fully 380kg less than a Range Rover and also helps lend the Mercedes an agility and deftness of touch that the more tank-like 4x4s can’t hope to hold a candle to. The benefits of advanced construction mean the ML500 is able to offer supreme build quality without weighing as much as a Federal Reserve bank vault. This has repercussions in terms of fuel economy too. Drive the M-Class in a halfway sensible fashion on open road and you’ll achieve 27.2mpg. Exercise similar restraint in the diesel Touareg and you’ll only get 28.8mpg – and that’s not exactly a case of comparing eggs with eggs. In the Porsche 25.2mpg. Now you’re beginning to see the measure of Mercedes’ achievement with this model.

The efficiencies aren’t solely attributable to a clever chassis design either. That 4,966cc V8 engine is a very efficient and refined unit, emitting 319g/km of carbon dioxide. While that sounds a lot, it is way better than all of the aforementioned rivals, bar the BMW which squeaks it by a mere 2g/km.

Drive is transmitted to bitumen via a seven-speed automatic. Stay with us, here because the automatic is no ordinary slushbox. It’s got more in its locker than mere wafting, and with seven ratios to blur between, you’re always plugged right into the meat of the torque curve. The column-mounted Direct Select shifter takes a little getting used to and points to the M-Class’ American heritage, but if you’re set to do a fair degree of traffic-bound commuting, the 7G-TRONIC is a wise choice. Steering wheel-mounted gearshift buttons are also offered.

The exterior if the ML500 is, if anything, ev