World's fastest SUV - Mercedes ML 55K
 

I found an article in a danish online car magazine. It's here but it's in danish, so you properbly won't understand a word.
I'll translate the essentials..
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Danish Kleemann and Jason Watt sets new record

The danish tuning company Kleemann A/S and the race driver Jason Watt has broken a new world record. On the high speed raceway Nardo in Italy, Jason Watt drove a Kleemann Mercedes ML 55K at 282 km/h (176 mph).

They broke Porsche Cayenne's existing record at 266 km/h (166 mph).

Kleemann is a specialist in kompressor tuned Mercedes engines, and the company wrote history last year with "the worlds's fastest 4-door sedan" -an E55 going 338 km/h (211 mph) on Papenburg raceway in Germany.

Now the danes have given Porsche something to live up to, if they want to reclaim the title as "The world's fastet SUV". The 5,5 litre V8-engine produces 607 hp. 0-60 mph is done in 4,9 sec.
-Nice performance for a 2,5 ton car!
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So now you know what to wish for next christmas.. ;)

Re: World's fastest SUV - Mercedes ML 55K
 

You can put earings on a pig...but it's still a pig.

But I'm sure the Porsche was a factory-built vehicle. It set it's record without any other assist from Kleemann or the like.
Maybe MB will eventually put the V8 Kompressor motor in the ML55, then it would be a different. It would be a production vehicle.

Gilly

176 mph in an ML:eek: :eek: :eek: .....Uhhhhh.......no thanks

Note the controlled proving conditions...;)

But yeah, great for bragging rights...like the 1000-HP Cadillac.

Otherwise, I would have to agree...no WAY I would care to try that in an ML...I get white-knucked doing 90 in that thing! :eek:

Howdy Tracy!

I have to agree that the ML is likely a perfectly acceptable ride into the low triple digits. I know even my G320 cruises very nicely at 90+ mph.

Have you evey gone 150 in a car? In my old 944 Turbo I found that anything above 140 required some serious concentration. The trip to 150, then 160 was VERY intense. My new(er) Porsche will do 170. I have had it to 150. Driving an ML at 150 is most likely a harrowing experience at best. It is too tall and lets too much air pass under itself to be a truely stable machine at those speeds. I assure you that travelling at 150 is very serious business, adding another 20-25mph to that is most certainly a BIG deal. Just the fact that it is a well engineered MB product does not ensure that it is going to be an easy ride at those speeds.

BTW, the published top speed of the ML 55 is 145 mph

I agree. I've spent a pretty good deal of time cruising above 150 (lovew some of those Western US roads) and spent some time at 188, and while I also have a ML 55, I certainly wouldn't want to be in such an aerodynamically unstable, and softly suspended, behemoth above 150.

115-120 in my ML 430 was actually an easy cruise, but sucked a bunch of gas (probably due to the 4 bikes on the roof).

There was a cop after me... ;)

Re: World's fastest SUV - Mercedes ML 55K
 

Great news! Thanks for posting it. The previous fastest ML was the Brabus MV12 which also made it into the Guinness Book of World records as the fastest production off-roader:

http://www.brabus-online.de/special/03bbe.htm

PS. 150 MPH is not so fast, as least not for this German Autobahn driver. Got a call recently in downtown Munich if I could make 8 PM that night in Berlin. After 3-4 hours at and above 240 km/h I made it on time. Used dynamic traffic guidance around jams (MB Audio 30 APS in a W210).

Wolfgang

where in munich
 

hello wolfgang,
where in munich are you located?
i lived there for quite a while.

my first ml sighting was a fully equipped ml320 in munich with rear tire carrier in azure blue in fall of 1998.

i then knew i had to have it and ordered it upon my return to us in 1999. dealer had me wait 3 mths, but that was fine with me. but dismayed couldn't get rear tire carrier in us.

does dot really think they have higher safety standards than tuv? safety stds here i think are a little bit of a joke compaired to what you go thru with tuv.

anyway i do miss going 250km/h on autobahns (when traffic is ok). it really makes long distance trips a non issue. i had a bmw740i in munich and it made 250km/h drives a true non issue. very effortless. you get used to speed after a while.

hi speed driving
 

BTW:
I wouldn't go 240km/h in most US roads. They are not levelled properly like the german autobahn.

German autobahns cost an avg 3-4 times more to pave than US highways, and for a reason. There cannot be any undulations or sudden dips as you find in many US highways, as they can cause a car to go airborne at 200+km/h...

Roadsession, the drive was from the Schellingstrasse in München where I was visiting at the time, to the new Sony Center in Berlin at the Potsdamer Platz. That's a great high speed autobahn, particularly the last few hours into Berlin. True, the road is flatter than in the US. On US roads the suspension needs to absorb the unevenesses at speed for example MB's 4 wheel hydropenumatic can do it, but it was not sold often in the US since it was deemed to be too complicated to maintain. A Midas can't change any shocks on it ;-) The new M-Classes' Airmatic is probably better in this respect.

The fastest M-Class I have driven on the Autobahn is the ML 400 CDI. It tops around 230 km/h, tracks straight and feels very solid, using 19 MPG at that speed. I had planned to take a picture at 230 km/h with the voice recogniction lever on the wheel for my website, but forgot to take the digital camera along... Maybe next time ;-)

Wolfgang

400 common rail diesel
 

yes. i would love for them to start selling the 400 cdi (common rail diesel) here. kinda ironic - all are now going to be made in alabama, incl the diesels, but none are sold here.

wonder if there's some backdoor way to get em

Re: hi speed driving
 

There are a great many highways in the Western US that are suitable (minimal traffic, level, no sudden dips) for high speed driving.

western highways
 

Maybe someone can create a small list of highways that are suitable for autobahn driving from the perspective of smoothness, no undulation, and safe (from cops and from live animals)