I recently bought one of those. Canadian spec. Had 54000km (34k miles) now has 65000 km. It's an awsome ride and I really enjoy it.
I have couple questions:
1. Any problems with this particular year?
2. I get 16L/100 km (15 mpg??) in city. Does this sound fair?

On a side note, I jacked it up to check bottom of the engine. There seems to be some oil leaks around oil pan. I think I will take it to the dealership and get them to change the gasked under warranty.
Other than that I really enjoy the car and boy does it ride nice

 

anyone?

 

As you can read thru the forum, those models have inconsistent quality.
We are driving ours for 7 basically trouble-free years, when other can't take the spell of theirs.
Enjoy the car and make sure you got it checked well, before warranty expires.

 

I read a lot about the ML320 and it looks like you just need to be lucky with the car?! Despite all the mixed reviews (bad and good), I decided to go with it anyway. I bought a 2000 that was very well taken care off. I will change the oil myself every 5000 miles with high quality synthetic. I would also recommend trying to change the brake pads yourself as it looks like those wear out fast and dealers overcharge for their replacement.

Other than that, I'm just hoping for the best. We definitely love the car and i'm also impressed with its offroad capability; might come in handy for some snow driving this winter...

Good luck!

 

Our flexible system allows us change the oil every 13000 miles, what usually happens every 18 month.
Hauling heavy boat doesn't seem to have affect on the oil changes.
Don't expect too much of off-roading performance from the car.
The traction control is having about 1 sec delay. That is enough to get the spinning wheel digged to it's axle on gravel. or dirt.
The HR tires required for it don't offer superior traction on the snow and when I took mountain trail on my Generac, they got badly beaten on just few miles on low-difficulty rocks.
I wish there was a way to turn the computer off on those thing. When I was able to find ice-covered, empty parking lot and went for 4-wheel skidding, the darn thing cut-off the engine power. I had gas pedal on the floor and the engine was on idle. Weird feeling.

 

Well I bought mine in May 2005 and haven't had any probs with it yet. One day I jacked it up and noticed a bit of oil leak around oil pan. Probably needs a new gasket. I will be taking it in next week to get it done while it's still under warranty. So that's the only problem I noticed

2nd one is gas milage. On higway I get 10L/100km which is 24 mpg when crousing 110-120 km/s (70-75 mph). I am fine with this. What about city? Isn't 15 mpg little bit too much or it's normal for this car??

Thanks for all input

 

I'm definitely not using it for heavy offroading. I like to hike and every now and then you need to take a dirt road or have to deal with some snow. I just really like the clearance on the car but I guess that's because I'm not used to that. My other car is a low 2-seater...

For the average person, its off-road capability is probably better than other SUV's. I don't think a Lexus RX330 with - pretty much - a Camry chassis will do better ;-).

 

I think they originally advertised it to be 16-20mpg city/highway. I haven't paid too much attention to it yet but I definitely get over 20mpg for the highway. Unfortunately, city is indeed more around 15mpg. I think your numbers are pretty much right.

Something else, did you ever change your transmission oil? Even though they sometimes say stuff is lifetime, changing it every 50k miles definitely doesn't hurt...

Maybe good for another thread...