We purchased our Mercedes Benz ML350 used in October of last year with about 77,000 miles already on it. My husband and I love this vehicle. The ride is smooth and clean. In nearly a year of ownership, we haven't had a single issue with it. The styling and comfort of the interior are superb. We are both on the shorter side, and the seats adjust well to allow us to drive or ride comfortable. The fuel economy is great for such a large vehicle. As a stay-at-home mom, I can run errands with my child for a week or two without ever needing to fill up, and longer trips don't necessitate lots of stops to refuel. Our family is expanding to four, and the large backseat will make adding a second car seat a breeze. Living in an area with lots of snowy days in the winter, I never have to worry about being able to get around in this vehicle. The 4Matic systems works great in all conditions. All in all, an excellent vehicle, even at 8 years old.

The look of the 1999 Mercedes ML320 is nice on the outside, but rather moderate on the inside. The seats look and feel nice, but the plastic parts, such as the cup holders and ash trays have a cheap feel and look. They are not very substantial, and one cup holder as broken. The interior wood-look trim looks nice, but has cracked over time. There have been a few interior rattles, even when the vehicle was newer. Electronics have been good. The speakers for the stereo system have a bit of a buzz to them. Performance and reliability are fair. This vehicle is a gas guzzler but it has an eight-cylinder engine, so that's to be expected. The seats are quite comfortable on a long trip. There have been problems with it burning oil recently. At times, when I step on the accelerator hard enough to pull out onto the highway, a large plume of smoke comes out of the tailpipe, and it won't accelerate very quickly at all. The air conditioning system has required several recharges over the past few summers, and this year it needed to be repaired completely. Any repairs to a Mercedes vehicle are costlier than other vehicles because the parts are more expensive. The electronic system that tells you how many gallons of gas you have is not very useful. When you get down to 50 gallons, it starts flashing the word "fuel", but doesn't tell you how many gallons you've got left. It really should be more specific than that and display the number of gallons to a much lower number than that to be really useful. The rear seat can be folded down or removed, offering plenty of room to carry just about anything. We have also slid fairly long pieces of lumber under the back seat and were still able to close the hatch.

I owned the previous version of this SUV and loved it so much I bought the newer model. The current model drives like a much smaller care, with tight handling and a very responsive steering. The build quality is second to none, with everything working as it should. The dashboard is a little cluttered and confusing - more so than the previous model - but everything has a solid feel to it. Overall, gas mileage is okay, but the car does feel heavy at times, contributing to the somewhat poor fuel consumption. As mentioned, and despite a very powerful engine (5.5L), the car does feel a little underpowered. However, the transmission is the best I have ever experienced - I barely feel the gear shifting. In sum, a great vehicle that could only be improved with better gas mileage.