Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong and from previous experience of Mercedes it is unlikely anything will, as long as it is serviced correctly.

General Comments:

Fantastic compared to the previous W163 version. The W164 is refined and holds the road well.

Great driving position gives a real commanding view of the road.

The car has a few nice extras which are definitely worth hunting out when purchasing:

Hands free telephone

COMAND system (extremely effective, I have had experience of BMW and Mercedes sat nav and the Mercedes beats the BMW hands down. Easy to navigate, has postcode entry and less chance of getting frustrated with a fiddly i-Drive knob!!)

Privacy glass

18" alloys

Parktronic (Definitely a must for such a big car)

The SE was chosen over the Sport mainly because of the seats. Full leather is by far more easy to maintain (with children) than the half leather/suede of the Sport. Although the alloys and lights on the Sport do make it look more aggressive.

It is excellent on the long journeys, and I can't fault getting 35-37mpg out of it. Plus running it with a Bio-Diesel blend helps with the guilt of owning a 4x4.

By far the best out there for the money... looked at Range Rover Sport, but the 27mpg put me off.

Getting the 320 over the 280 was definitely the best decision, it is no AMG, but it is no slouch when you need to push it. The standard auto box actively encourages you to drive smoothly, and when you do it's silky smooth.

Faults:

Nothing yet.

General Comments:

I bought this car for my wife, as a 25th year anniversary. She seems to like it, but I do not.

The performance is abysmal; on the freeway, if you put your foot to the floor, it will eventually start speeding up, and this is the V8 model. My 745Li pulls harder, and that's a saloon.

Inside of the Mercedes, the quality of the materials has degraded so much, the rear doors are basically a piece of hard black plastic with some wood thrown in, not at all soft to the touch. My old Mercedes S-Class before my BMW was much better, and the materials plushness was out of this world.

The center stack is incredibly clustered around the navigation system, and it took a week for my wife to figure out all the buttons.

Also, the Mercedes dealership salesperson that I dealt with was an absolute ass, he treated me and my son like someone not worthy of this type of car. It wasn't until we were deep into the test drive that he asked what kind of car I drove, and I told him a BMW 745Li, and all he said was "oh." Then after that, his attitude took a u-turn, and from then on he was kind and generous with the explanations and such, and I could tell he was embarrassed.

In the show room, when I asked him why I should purchase the ML over a BMW X5, he told me that there is no reason to, and I should never buy a BMW, which was rather offensive, as at the time I owned the most expensive BMW out there.

For spending 70 grand on a vehicle like this, I expect much better materials and an overall better vehicle, and the customer service to be pleasant.

Mercedes does not meet these, and for that they lost a one-time customer.

Faults:

The vehicle gave me an oil lamp warning a week after I got it home. The oil was low and the dealer placed oil in it for free. The lamp came on again a week later and the oil was low again. The problem has not came back since.

The parking lamp bulbs keep blowing out. Each time they blow out I must wait two hours to have MB service replace them.

General Comments:

The SUV caught my eye when I purchased it. It was one of the first 2006 ML's on the road. It is comfortable and quick. The dealer service is terrible and the scheduled services are way too expensive. BMW did not charge for the first few scheduled services and they continue not to charge.