On Wheels by Brooks Peterson
Saturday, August 12, 2000
DaimlerChrysler's ML55 picks up speed
The redesigned SUV reaches speeds up to 150 mph sporting a fully loaded interior
When Daimler-Benz was ambushed in the early '90s by the new breed of Japanese luxocars - Acura, Infiniti and, most of all, Lexus - it came as a shocking wake-up call to a company that had grown a little complacent, even arrogant, over the years.
That wasn't prudent. Not prudent at all.
As so often happens, however, a bit of adversity wasn't necessarily a bad thing. For one thing, the Stuttgart colossus (now, of course, the dominant component of DaimlerChrysler) was spurred to trim back the prices on its offerings significantly. Better still, at least from the enthusiast's point of view, it broke out of the solid but somewhat stodgy confines within which it had been operating. Case in point: the retractable-hardtop SLK roadster, the most wild-'n'-crazy vehicle to wear the three-pointed star . . .
Until this one, that is: the ML55 sport-ute-cum-top-fuel-eliminator leads us to suspect someone has stirred a big dollop of locoweed into Stuttgart's lager. After a solid week, it continues to amaze, impress . . . and daze.
What the heck is going on here, anyway?
It started out more or less reasonably. Surveying the U.S. market and taking note of American consumers' love affair with sport utility vehicles, the guardians of the three-pointed star heaved a big sigh and conceded the obvious: M-B would have to get an entrant into this particular race.
A challenge to passengers
And so, in due course, the M-Series made its way to market: first as the ML320 (V-6, 215 horsepower) and later as the ML430 (V-8, 268 hp). Its look - shared, to a striking degree, with the competing Lexus RX300, which hit the streets about the same time - was and is a bit off the beaten path. Departing from the gussied-up-truck look that typifies most SUVs, the M-series Mercs came up with a sharply differing persona. You see it, you think: "minivan."
True, it's body-on-frame, like most of the SUVs that have pretensions of real off-road ability. And it stands tall, presenting something of a challenge to driver and passengers. Pitons, anyone?
Once inside, you're confronted with what could very well be a truncated minivan, albeit sans sliding doors and/or third-row seating. Just the thing for Cub Scout den mothers, gardeners toting big bags of sphagnum moss, swim team sponsors and so on.
Hot-rod treatment
For the survivalist in you, be advised that you do have full-time four-wheel drive and electronic traction control. You would not want to take your M-Series into a venue that included serious crashing and bashing - but for the occasional off-road foray your ML 320 and ML 430 will accommodate your wanderlust . . . within reason.
And that brings us to the wild child of the trio: the ML 55.
This machine has gotten the full AMG hot-rod treatment. (AMG, you should know, is the outfit that heated up any number of Mercs in recent years. It has been so successful that Stuttgart finally paid AMG the supreme compliment: It bought the company.)
Modestly, the elves of Stuttgart characterize the ML55 as "one part cheetah, one part billy goat, one part rhino." A little overheated, perhaps, but pretty close to the mark.
Pop the hood: You're looking at 5.5 liters of M-B V-8 that deliver a cataclysmic 342 horses. And a torque output of 376 lb.-ft. at 3,000 rpm. Major grunt. (True, it delivers a woeful 14 mpg city/17 highway in the process - but as the scenery flashes by, you probably won't be troubling yourself too much about such minutiae.)
Slightly tippy vehicle
Know this, pilgrim: The speedometer merely reads all the way up to . . . 160 miles per hour? Modestly, the company claims only "a top speed of nearly 150 mph." Aw. Is that all? (No: Zero to 60 comes up in about 6.5 seconds.)
Got to tell you, though: I'm not sure I'd want to be in this machine - as driver, passenger or cargo - at anything approaching that velocity. I'm not doubting all the engineering genius and ingenuity put into this machine, but still: At the end of the day, we're still talking a tall, stiffly sprung (in comparison with the tamer MLs) and - at least to the perceptions of a first-time visitor - slightly tippy vehicle.
Not ruinously tippy, you understand. Not sick-making tippy. Nothing there to get you into trouble so long as you use a modicum of common sense. In the wrong hands, though, - say, those of an overly exuberant adolescent male - a miscue could be, ah, troublesome.
With that caveat out of the way, however, there's a whole lot to like about this machine. The interior of the ML 55 represents a quantum leap from the original MLs, which in some respects (notably the overuse of plasvinyl pieces) displayed a decidedly un-Mercedes-like cheesiness. None of that here (or in the other two MLs, for that matter): Steps have been taken.
A bodacious ride
And you get the full maharajah treatment when you step up - way up - to the Mother of all MLs. Heated leather seats, wood-and-leather steering wheel, sunroof, power everything, Wagnerian stereo (with the CD and cassette receptacle cunningly hidden behind the video screen for the navigation system) . . . For 65 bills, you want content, and, by George, you get it.
Those of you who are familiar with my coolness toward SUVs as a class will understand that my 65 grand would probably go elsewhere. Were I a member of the Mystic Brotherhood of Sport Ute Devotees, however, this would be . . . well, the summit. The ne plus ultra. The absolutely bodacious ride.
Finally, a note to all you civilians out there: If you're piloting a well-tuned 'Vette, you probably have nothing to fear from the ML55. However, if you (like most of us) are tooling around in something less lusty - say, a clapped-out '80s vintage Camaro or 'Stang - and a brawny, boxy shape looms up beside you, with enormous 18-inch wheels and a rumbling exhaust note - don't even think about it. You'll save yourself some serious embarrassment.
