e430 4matic or ml 55 ?
 

I am planning to get an all wheel drive benz to drive in the snow weather. at the moment i'm debating between whether to get the 01 e430 4matic or an 01 ml 55. they'll both serve the purpose of being all wheel drive. But in terms of reliability and the factor of breaking down I need the expert advice of this forum.
Kindly suggest.

The AMG will cost you much more in parts cost. But, it does have the "cool" factor :)

How is 300+ horsepower a good idea for driving in the snow?

between your choices, I would go with the E car. I've driven the 4 matic 210 car and it was good in the snow...didn't have winter tires on it so it was not outstanding.

I've gotta say, the ML55 may be the dumbest car the company has ever made. The car has a bad reputation for reliability to begin with, and I can't imagine those AMG bits and pieces being affordable.

Personally, for a winter car, I would buy a front wheel drive sedan (japanese) and throw some good winter tires on it.

My vote is for the G55 kompressor.

Ml55
 

When my new '01 C320's delivery was still a week away, my dealer wanted my trade-in C280 so they loaned me a one year old ML55. After the novelty of the horsepower wears off, about one day, one fixates on the fuel gauge needle which seemed connected to the gas pedal. 10MPG. Then I thought I might wash the beast. Turned out I needed a stepladder. There is little chance a car hobbyist would be able to easily maintain the exterior because of the size of the thing. The only use I got out of it was hauling sixteen bags of bark home.

When I returned it, I asked my salesman what the mission of the vehicle was. He said he really didn't know but that seemed to come back after about one year. He also pointed out that they were pretty much useless off-road because the tires were too large.

And now that the NEW ML has been revealed, the old one doesn't look so hot. Buy the wagon.