Q on ML320 reliability?

Shopping for a family size car these days, wondering about the reliability of ML320 in particular? The car itself is about 7 yrs old, and I'll take it for a garage checkup first, but from checking the web, the reliabilty reports are split about 50/50 on this particular make/model. Any user opinions out there on how this applies locally? I see a fair # of these on the st so they can't be all that bad, right?

They got some bad reps, but gf's sister has one for over 5 years and have no problem what soever.

apple&dog, I think that's a bit of generalization.


Certainly most cars in HK have a very easy time of it. Low mileage and no cold weather, meaning no corrosion from salt and such. Modern vehicles tend not to rust very much either, so the rain is not really a problem.


One negative factor is the constant city driving.

I drove one for a couple of years and had very few problems with it. Interestingly the parts for it that needed were actually cheaper and more available than their Japanese counterparts spares. I was told that the reason is there is a parallel importer for them and BMW parts, whereas the Japanese cars have dealerships with control over the parts and thier price. Also Mercedes and BMW have more standard parts where Japanese cars apparently change the part for each model.

hope that helps a bit

chatterbox, there are parallel importers for pretty much most common or garden cars on the road, but you need to be careful. Parallel imports sometimes means inferior items made in China and branded as original. The proliferation of standard items on Japanese cars ended back in the 1980's and the parts bin is actually less than the equivalent European model nowadays. Cost v cost on road will always see Jap cars cheaper to repair here as most garages are geared up for them. The cheapest of all Euro cars to repair or get spare parts for is Benz due to the popularity of that brand.


This version of the ML itself was considered by some in European writing circles as not true to the MB mark. The interior came under critisism for looking like it came out of a 1990's Korean car, the general styling was never well received and suspension and handling was also critisised. The general build quality was often mentioned as a weak point. It did possess a strong engine range which was updated a few years into the model life. Doesn't matter as much in HK as the badge means all here and the car could be made from lard but as long as it has the badge it's fine.