ML320 Mileage?
 

New owner of a 98 ML320 with 73K. Car runs very well, passed emissions with flying colors, starts perfectly... I drive very little, basically to the train every day. Maybe 3500 per year tops. Anyway - For around town short trips, i've been doing about 12 mpg. Does that sound right? Maybe I should change the plugs?

I had an ML320 loaner for a week and noticed that I got about 17L/100km's in city driving. That works out to 14 USMPG. You might post on the ML forum for more results from owners, but here's my limited experience.

Sounds way low to me, ours gets 17-20. However it's a mix of city and highway driving. If your train stop is really close by that may account for it; mileage is lower until the engine warms up.

I'm with itb76, I get around the same mpgs.

I will add however, that when I'm visiting my in-laws (located in a VERY small town), the short hops around town severely degrade my overall gas mileage.

My wife just drove it 105 miles straight highway and it did 19 mpg, which doesn't seem that bad. It must just be those tiny 1-mile trips that kill the mileage.

2000ml320
 

15 mpg around town; 23-24 mpg on open road @65-70 mph

If it's only one mile to your train stop you're doing very well to get 12 mpg! My other car is a 6 cylinder Golf, which displays average mpg on the trip computer. After I start it up cold it's in the 12-14 range after one mile and you can just watch the mileage go up as the engine warms up. A cold engine runs a richer mixture. Our ML doesn't have the trip computer so I don't know specifically, but you get the idea.

Unless you get a chance to take longer trips every once in a while, it may not be a bad idea to inspect the plugs before you get to 100,000 miles. And definitely change the oil more frequently than what the book calls for!