My wife has a 98 ML320 with about 13k miles. We live about .75miles from the shop.

We have only had two warrantee events so far (we will have owned it for 2 years in May), they were an over sensitive alarm system and a jammed rear door latch assembly (I hear this is a common problem). We haven't had any trim problems except for the drivers seat switch knob broke off (they warranteed it although it was probably our fault).

We just had its first service about 4 months ago (I had changed the oil myself at 6,000mi). The dealer did over a thousand dollars worth of warrantee work (they found? no complaints from us) and kept the car a week.

I let them do the car as an experiment to see how we were handled and to see if they would find the tranfercase leak we have. It took two weeks to get an appointment. MB did cover a rental car and the labor for the service. They didn't find/fix the leak.

I normally drive a Porsche but I enjoy driving the ML. I have driven most SUVs and don't find any to compare. I have yet to drive the BMW or small Lexus. The large Lexus/Toyota drives like a truck by comparison as do most US vehicles.

MB wishes to call it a truck so maybe it should drive differently.

------------------
Steve Brotherton
Owner 24 bay BSC
Bosch Master, ASE master L1
26 years MB technician

[This message has been edited by stevebfl (edited 04-21-2000).]