Although it’s likely some people will be impressed as you pilot around a Benz SUV; in truth, you will be much more dazzled by the Mercedes-Benz M-Class from behind the wheel than those gawking at it from the curb will be. This is particularly true if it’s the highly contented ML400 like the one in which I recently cruised the streets of South Florida.
Car is king in South Florida where you are as likely to pull up next to a Benz at a red light as you are a pickup truck in San Antonio. I wasn’t surprised when no one gave it a second glance for the long weekend I was there. But, from my driver’s-seat perspective, I was smitten.
With a base price of $62,900, the ML400 isn’t even at the top of the M-Class pecking order. Nope, the $98,400 ML63 AMG towers over it in price and performance. Four distinct engines determine the M’s four trim levels. Anchoring the M price ladder is the ML350 with its 302 hp 3.5 L V6. With fewer ponies and cylinders, the ML250, armed with an all-new 200 hp 2.1 L turbocharged diesel, is next in terms of cost. These are followed by the ML400 with its all-new 329 hp 3.0 L turbocharged V6. And, finally, the ML63 AMG, boasting a 518 hp 5.5 L turbocharged V8.
