1st gen MLs, specifically the V8s. Mechanically, they seem to be pretty strong, and they're getting cheap. Like... cheap enough i could sell the blue Cherokee and with minimal additional money, put SWMBO in one.
Any reason why driving an ML430 or ML500 would cause a mass execution of cute puppies?
they aren't bad, check for rust if you live in such an area. if the transmission is acting funny, or stuck in 2nd (limp mode) it more than likely is a very easy repair. I forget the actual name , but it sits ABOVE the valve body, and has a magnetic plastic covered round piece, that is used as a VSS. this always cracked, maybe 2 hours to replace and could score you a good deal on one!
Source - 5 years at a Luxury European car shop, lead tech
Edit: Think its called a "conductor assembly"
Edit Edit: sorry had to much caffeine, found it conductor plate
Gotcha, thanks! So maybe i should try to find one that has this issue?
SWMBO drives less than 10k miles a year. Pretty reasonable to expect that with so few miles, time between repairs should be fairly long?
it may be worth a shot, I forget exactly what codes come up during the issue to pin point that the conductor plate is shot, and not the tranny, but I don't know if I would go look for one, it is risky, but I will say I have never replaced a trans in any Mercedes, just those plates, and had a few that had trans fluid travel out the connector, make its way UP the wiring harness, into the TCM which is under the passenger side foot well carpet, and cleaned it out, and fixed said issue.
other than that, they are super reliable, and super comfortable, be cautious of air suspension leaks as well.
tune ups are pricey, the V6 has 2 plugs per cyl cant confirm if the 8 does or not but I would hazard to guess yes
As long as you get the air springs from some place like Arrnot they are not too bad.
Haven't spent a ton of time around them, but they were introduced more or less at the end of the dark ages of Mercedes, and the interior of the early ones showed that a bit. I do remember it also having a surprisingly abusive ride. That was a first-year ML320 that was 10 years old at the time. I'm not sure how different the ML430 was.
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