Road Test: Mercedes-Benz ML 350 BlueEfficiency

Ray Leathern ponders the enigmatic intangibles that make a great motoring experience just so, well… tangible.

“Oh my gosh, being a motoring journalist is the best job in the world!”, or so I’m told every time I meet someone at a party. This seemingly inescapable truth is reinforced to me repeatedly, as it was yet again last night at an art exhibition opening I attended. “So all you do is drive a new car and write an article about it?”, a wafer-thin, trust-funded, hipster pronounced with just enough sarcasm for it to be noticed by everyone in the immediate vicinity.

“Yes”, I replied, while at the same time not wanting to come across as an egotistical prick holding the keys to a big, luxurious Mercedes-Benz M-Class, as it so happened to be on this occasion. I inevitably try quelling such potentially backhanded adulation by saying something like, “well, the pay is s#!t”, or “sure, but the car market has kind-of leveled out lately”. Which it hasn’t really, but that depends on which manufacturer you’re asking. Even my gracious, self-flagellating riposte rarely seems to dampen the enthusiasm, but shall I let you in on a little secret Mr. wafer-thin, trust-funded, hipster… you’re right, absolutely f#!king right. Motoring journalism is the best job in the world!

Sure, the pay is as described above, the constant air travel can be brutal, on occasion you can face criticism from manufacturers of favouring one over the other, or for not featuring enough affordable cars, or environmentally friendly cars, etc, etc. It can get difficult, but despite these occasional niggles, it’s all completely worth it when, on that rare occasion, you find yourself at the top of a deserted mountain pass, next to a low slung sports car that’s ticking itself cool after a merciless thrash and the sun is rising over a sleepy city.

That’s what my kind of motoring is all about; the freedom to move and appreciate metal in free-form expression. Not just in shape and colour, but in sound, power and presence. Being the conductor at the helm of a whirling, mechanical symphony, however good or bad, brutal or comfortable it may be. Savouring the journey rather than the destination; though finding somewhere pleasant at the end of the journey always helps too.

It is this enthusiasm for driving however, I’ll admit, that works both as a blessing and a curse when reviewing cars. While enthusiasm helps dissect a product on one critical level, it also goes someway to separate my experience from that of the everyday man on the street. I’ve driven well over 111 vehicles in 2012 alone and I’ll admit I’m hardly you’re atypical motorist. My list of things I absolutely adore on a car, which if present and correct will allow me to overlook any unredeeming feature, is short and quite peculiar. A small steering wheel, a manual gearbox, tightly grouped pedals and a hazard light switch within fingers stretch of the gear lever. That’s it. It’s no wonder that the best car I’ve driven in the last five years is probably the Honda S2000.

This is where the job gets trickier Mr. hipster, because of course one can’t let a fondness for such critically acquired tastes get in the way of the job. Like when you find a Mercedes-Benz ML 350 4Matic BlueEfficiency parked in your driveway for instance. It is a car that has none of the features that make a perfect car in my eyes. In fact, you may have noticed by now how far you’ve gone down this page and I still haven’t discussed the car yet. This is no accident. The Mercedes-Benz M-Class does nothing for me on any level. I’m not being critical of it. I’m just admitting that I don’t get it.

Okay, I do get that customers want a tall driving position and they want the size and effortless luxury of a big SUV. What I don’t get is how a high-riding, 4 800 mm long, two-ton-plus SUV like the M-Class isn’t offered with seven-seats? Yes, you might be saying to yourself, but the BMW X5 doesn’t have seven-seats either. Correct, I don’t get the BMW X5 either. For all its height, length and girth, the ML is no more practical than a Mercedes-Benz B-Class on the inside.

I know the new ML 350 will be more powerful, faster and more efficient than the old M-Class it replaces. Great, this is something I can work with in my story. My test unit was fitted with a normally aspirated, direct-injected, 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine, a seven-speed 7G-Tronic Plus transmission and permanent 4Matic all-wheel drive. The engine produces 225 kW and 370 Nm of torque. Mercedes-Benz claims it will consume just 8.8 L/100 km and the CO2 figure is 206 g/km. The engine is 25% more efficient than the previous ML 350 petrol offering. I should probably confess at this juncture that I never saw the fuel consumption drop below 14 L/100 km during my test drive. Peak torque starts from 3 500 r/min and peak power arrives at a peaky 6 500 r/min.

The relatively high power band means you’re encouraged to keep your foot planted into the carpet a lot of the time to keep it on the move. The fuel consumption, allied to permanent all-wheel drive, suffers as a result. The on-paper performance figures are still pretty healthy though, with a 0 – 100 km/h sprint in 7.6 seconds and a top speed of 235 km/h. Despite this, I believe I would’ve been better convinced on the worthiness of the M-Class if I’d had the 350 BlueTec V6 diesel or the lighter, 4-cylinder 250 BlueTec diesel to test drive.

Misgivings over the engine aside, what didn’t surprise me was the on-road civility of the M-Class. Mercedes-Benz rarely struggle in this regard and the silky smooth 4Matic all-wheel drive system, combined with the 7G-Tronic Plus transmission moved the M-Class around seamlessly and with utter sophistication. The variable power steering felt soft and tactile as you wafted along,and the damping control also allowed you to choose how firm you wanted the ride to be, ‘comfort’ and ‘sport’ being your options, with the ability to raise the ride height at speeds below 70 – 80 km/h.

The biggest issue with the ML 350 4Matic BlueEfficiency for me though, is that it is so derivative. It feels to me like just another car in the car park. I also genuinely don’t understand why anyone who wants a big, all-wheel drive SUV would want it over a Land Rover Discovery 4. The Land Rover SDV6 has 600 Nm, a third row of seats and will drive through Africa with all the drama of a man twiddling his thumbs. I know because I drove one 2 500 km through Malawi and Tanzania to the Serengeti, earlier this year. The Discovery may not have a 6-cylinder petrol option, but the R809 900 Land Rover Discovery SDV6 HSE works out cheaper than the ML 350 after you add the necessary toys to its R752 000 starting price. It’s an absolute no brainer.

What we like…

• More powerful than the old ML 350 petrol.
• Good ride height, ride quality and woolly steering to ease the tedium of the daily commute.

What we would like…

• Something a little more distinctive on the styling front, inside and out. I think the older model had more presence.
• Seven seats and less thirst.

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