Mercedes Benz ML350 Rental Florida and New York
Mercedes Benz & Mercedes Benz ML350 M Class Rentals in NEW YORK - NEW JERSEY - FLORIDA
The ML-Class SUV Rental is the original luxury sport utility in the Mercedes-Benz lineup. Comfortably sized, it seats five with room for plenty of luggage, drives like a sedan, and is a capable off-roader.
Mercedes Benz ML-class Luxury SUV Rentals is available in four models. The ML320 CDI is powered by a 3.0-liter turbo-diesel V6 generating 215 horsepower. The ML350 is powered by Mercedes' latest-generation 3.5-liter gasoline V6, generating 268 horsepower. The ML550 uses an upgraded 5.5-liter, 382-hp V8 and the top of the line ML63 AMG uses a 6.3-liter, 503-hp V8.
For 2008, the extensively equipped M-Class includes standard features such as stability control and active front head restraints, as well as front, side, and side curtain airbags.
The Mercedes Benz M Class Luxury Car Rentals When Mercedes-Benz lifts the covers from the 2009 ML-Class at the New York auto show next week, it's going to look a little different -- and sound a lot different, thanks to the new diesel engine under the hood.Benz' push in New York will showcase its trio of diesel-power sport-utility vehicles, including the crossover R320 BlueTEC, the larger GL320 BlueTEC, and the mid-size SUV that started it all for the brand in America, the ML320 BlueTec. Each features the new AdBlue system developed by Mercedes that uses a special exhaust aftertreatment spray to treat diesel emissions, reducing nitrogen oxides.
The ML-Class, along with the new diesel engine, gets a visual revamp with a new front bumper and headlights, a new lower ribbed grille, fog lamps and more chrome trim. Benz says the look will give it a stronger face for the 2009 model year -- a new fashion for the New York crowds, we suppose.
In back the M-Class, as it's popularly known, gets a refreshed rear end as well, with dual exhausts, a reshaped bumper and skid plates. And inside the Benz SUV there are reupholstered doors, lumbar for the driver seat, a new steering wheel, Bluetooth and iPod connectivity. An optional harmon kardon Logic7 audio system and rear-seat entertainment system have been added, along with voice recognition.
New standard safety equipment adds on Mercedes' PRE-SAFE system to the M-Class' portfolio. PRE-SAFE uses sensors to detect when a vehicle is in danger of an imminent crash -- from throttle and brake and steering inputs -- and prepares the car for impact. Seatbelts are tightened, the front passenger seat moves into a better position and the side windows close (and if the system predicts a rollover, the sunroof closes as well).
Mercedes-Benz promises fuel economy will be 20 to 30 percent better in the diesel versions of its sport-utes. The EPA shows the ML320 CDI rated at 18/24 mpg, with the gas-engined ML350 at 15/20 mpg. Mercedes-Benz SUV Rentals also promises a cruising range of up to 600 miles.
The diesel-powered Benzes go on sale later this year in all 50 states.
Stay tuned for more coverage from the New York auto show as The Car Connection hits the Javits Center
Until a 2008 M-Class was assigned
to me for this review, I had kind of forgotten that Mercedes redesigned this
luxury SUV two years ago. Sure, I knew about the update when it was first
announced, but I hadn't noticed the
SUV in commercials, on the road or in weekly
newspaper ads. After a long, 10-day loan, however, I started seeing new ML350s
and 550s all over the Chicago area.
That bit of psychological auto trickery may already be familiar to other drivers
out there, but believe me when I tell you these full-time
M-Class drivers might be on
to something: The new M-Class is one alluring SUV.
Styling
Like the
ML350, the silver
ML550 I tested had a big,
bold grille with a large three-pointed star in it. This predominant feature lets
everyone on the road know some money was spent on this SUV. I'm not sure if that
was the intended effect, but if you want status, the M-Class has it displayed
right out front.
The emblem doesn't detract from the overall styling, though; everything about
this SUV is big and bold. Unlike the middle-of-the-road previous generation, the
current M-Class can stand out
on the road. Small details like carved taillights and numerous creases along the
body show that Mercedes spent some time on the design. Silver is, of course, the
most boring of car colors, but matched with the large exhaust outlets, the
metal-topped sideboards and that grille, it looked great. During the 10 days I
had this car, I passed a number of models in black, white and dark red that were
all equally striking.
Inside, the cabin is dark and elegant — dark because the black leather in our
test car covered every inch of interior space. There's little room left for the
dark wood accents, which I thought were too subtle in this color scheme. Gray
and tan leather are also available, as is aluminum trim.
Performance
The nice thing about being able to afford the ML550 is the 382-horsepower V-8
under its hood. Calling this SUV "fast" is an understatement. Mercedes says it
goes from zero to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds. That's muscle-car fast. This muscle SUV
had me flooring it whenever I could to get the engine to come to life. Even so,
I'm sure even my most enthusiastic driving didn't put the full power of the
ML550 to the test.
There are shift paddles on the back of the steering wheel so drivers can select
any of the automatic transmission's seven gears manually at any time. The
location seems odd in that they're essentially hidden from view, but
ergonomically they make a lot more sense than the funky column-mounted
gear-selector stalk you use to move from Park to Neutral to Drive to Reverse.
I'm not a huge fan of paddles if they don't do a better job of accelerating than
just plain mashing the gas pedal, but I surprisingly found both methods of
joyriding enjoyable in the M-Class for rent.
The other big surprise was at the pump, where I realized I was getting more than
16 mpg during all this pedal-mashing and lots of stop-and-go rush hour traffic.
I logged almost 1,000 miles during my long loan, and my gas mileage stayed at
that 16-plus-mpg number. That's dead-on with the EPA's 13/18 mpg (city/highway)
ratings. Sure, you're pumping premium into the ML, but these numbers are quite
good for the class, and especially for this much power. On open highway trips of
50-plus miles, the trip computer had me in the low-20-mpg range.
Handling was superb. All models feature all-wheel drive, and the ML550 has
19-inch wheels and tires that contributed to an extremely comforting, planted
feeling at all times. The M-Class suv rental also has an optional selectable
suspension that moves between automatic, Sport and Comfort modes. Many other
luxury cars on the market feature similar setups, but few work quite as
transparently as the M-Class'. The Comfort setting did make the ride smoother on
highways, turning this otherwise bruising
SUV into a great cruiser. The wife
almost enjoyed a long commute in bumper-to-bumper traffic because it was so
comfortable. When you hit the off-ramp, though, you'll want it in Sport mode, as
the suspension stiffens and turns the handling quotient up a bit. The bumps also
make themselves well known in this setting.
I found myself in Comfort mode — why anyone would choose the default mode, I'm
not sure — during long commutes and with passengers in the car. At all other
times, I drove in Sport.
The one failing in the M-Class rental car performance repertoire is its braking
— I'm not sure how you build such a powerful vehicle and don't give it the most
responsive brakes possible. The 13-inch ventilated four-wheel disc brakes
stopped the car, but the mushy brake pedal feel led to poor response at almost
every stop sign, light or congested road. It usually takes a day or two to get
the feel of the brakes in the car you're testing because every car brakes
differently. After 10 days, though, I was still jerking passengers' heads as I
rushed to avoid possible fender-benders at every turn. That's a feeling you
don't want to have when piloting such an otherwise-fine performance machine.
The ML350 costs roughly $10,000 less than the ML550 and features a less
intriguing 268-hp V-6 engine and 15/20 mpg mileage estimate. I'm not one to say
go for broke, but it would take a lot for me to give up the V-8's power.
Features
As we cram more technology into our homes, cars and palms, the ergonomics of
using said advancements should be getting better. Mercedes has a few elegant
systems in cars like the S-Class and new C-Class that allow the driver to play
with all the onboard technology with little headache. Not so in the M-Class. The
LCD screen in the easy-to-reach center dash is perfect for a touch-screen
interface ... except it doesn't have one.
Instead, you have to use buttons lining both sides of the screen that correspond
to functions displayed on the screen. Those functions change with every screen
as you move through radio, navigation and onboard computer settings. There's
also a small joystick on the far side of the dash that can move the cursor
around the screen, but it's difficult to use. I found myself looking for ways to
work around the system most of the time, and after a few attempts at inputting
directions I simply gave up. True, we should all spend time reading the owner's
manual, and owners who live with the car will eventually learn the system, but a
vast majority of the cars I test are intuitive enough to use without referencing
the large book stashed in the glove compartment. Strangely enough, with the
optional iPod connector installed in the glove box, the owner's manual no longer
fit there anyway.
The stereo system was just adequate; it didn't hold a candle to the optional
systems in the C-Class and S-Class.
With all that power under the M-Class' hood, along with its sporty nature and comfortable cabin, it's easy to forget this is still an SUV. That means the M-Class car rentals better do a good job of hauling things. Indeed, the rear cargo area is large, flat and quite tall. The figures come in at 29.4 cubic feet with the rear seats in place and 72.4 cubic feet with them folded. That is considerably bigger than the BMW X5, which comes in at 21.9 and 61.8 cubic feet, respectively. What's also nice is that this room is usable. I fit a golf bag straight into the cargo hold with the club heads against the backseat and the bottom of the bag pointing outward. The M-Class could easily swallow a foursome and their clubs, and I don't want to imagine the vacation that would completely fill the cargo hold with luggage.
To fold the rear seats flat you have to flip the seat cushions up then fold the seatbacks down into the open space. This is an antiquated method I've grown to despise, as other SUVs in every price range are finding simpler, more elegant ways to do the same thing. On the plus side, the resulting extended cargo floor is completely flat.
Safety
As it should be, the M-Class is full of standard safety features like an electronic stability system, antilock brakes, traction control, side curtain airbags, and side-impact airbags for the front and rear seats.
The M-Class Rentals has earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick award, which is the institute's top safety designation earned by high marks in frontal-, side- and rear-impact crash tests. To date, the only other luxury SUV rentals in this class to earn that designation are the Acura MDX and Volvo XC90.
M-Class in the Market
It's a bitter pill for a reviewer to swallow when you see a test car do so many
things so right, yet fall short in a few key areas. Most shoppers — even most
car reviewers — won't get to spend as much time with the M-Class as I did, so I
feel confident in saying that with the M-Class' flaws in its braking and
navigation system, I would lean toward the BMW X5 as the better performer and
daily driver. That said, though, the Mercedes' safety ratings, flashy styling
and overall comfort are mighty alluring.
You should also consider the price. While the M-Class is priced almost
identically or a bit less than the X5 X6, it can get pricey when it's
well-equipped. With all its fancy add-ons, our tester hovered near the $70,000
mark. I used the Mercedes website to build a less-equipped ML550 with the basic
Premium package (there are three to choose from), a cold-weather package, a
six-disc CD changer and iPod integration — you know, the necessities. That took
the $53,175 starting price up to $60,365. An identically equipped ML350 is
$50,370 and still delivers the comfort, utility and looks of the peppier ML550.
These are mighty tricky price-points to be playing at, though, and Mercedes
needs to be at the top of its game to beat out the competition from
BMW,
Land Rover and Audi. It's
almost there, but winds up just shy of beating the BMW.
