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30/01/2012
REVIEW by EWAN KENNEDY
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After our trip to Detroit to report on the important North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) we spent a couple of days in Santa Barbara, California, for a preview drive of the upcoming all-new Mercedes-Benz M-Class. Not just any M-Class, we started right at the top, getting our backsides into the red hot AMG ML 63 version.
The big Merc SUVs are built in the States so it made sense to sample them in the territory for which they are principally designed. At least that’s our excuse for taking time out to thaw out after four days in a wintery Detroit as guests of Mercedes and General Motors-Holden.
The AMG ML 63 has already attracted advanced orders from Australian buyers, and having sampled the SUV that thinks it’s a sports car we can assure these people they haven’t wasted their deposits.
We survived the dangers of the Californian freeways - where the local drivers spend even less time looking at the road than do Australian ones; had an impromptu drag race with a new Dodge Challenger driver who didn’t expect a ‘furrin’ Mercedes SUV to whop his car off the line; and finally took a beautiful run up through the mountains then down to Santa Monica for lunch. Life doesn’t get much better than this!
The guy in the Dodge presumably didn’t realise there was a 410 kW bi-turbo V8 engine under the Merc’s striking bonnet, or that we had the advantage of drive to all four wheels to put the big 760 Newton metres of torque to the road with minimum wheelspin. (Note that these figures are part of the Performance package fitted to our test car, the standard AMG model isn’t shamed, producing 368 kW and 700 Nm.)
There’s a lot more than sheer grunt to make this AMG a highly desirable machine. These days AMG engineers work closely with the factory designers at Mercedes-Benz, resulting in thoroughly engineered cars with plenty of sophistication in the suspension. We were impressed by the flat cornering offered by courtesy of a body roll stabilisation system. This not only made for a smoother ride, but also even better road grip as the tyres sat virtually level at all times.
The ML 63 AMG we sampled is a member of the third generation Mercedes-Benz M-Class. The first arrived in Australia in 1998 and frankly wasn’t all that good as it suffered quality control problems in the American factory. Problems that were sorted reasonably early in the M-Class’s career.
The original M-Class was significantly smaller than the model that replaced it in 2005. The upcoming gen-three ML series is similar in size to the second generation, but is lighter thanks to the use of aluminium in many areas. There are plenty of visual similarities in the new model that build on the looks of the successful first two series of the big German SUV.
New Mercedes-Benz M-Class will arrive in Australia in May or June this year and already local dealers are experiencing a number of advance orders, particularly of the AMG.
Prices and final specifications of the complete new M-Class range will be announced closer to the launch date Downunder. Mercedes-Benz Australia says rises will be minimal, perhaps even non-existent, due to improvements in manufacturing techniques and the continuing strength of the Australian dollar.
The AMG model we reviewed is expected to arrive within weeks of the standard ML range midway through 2012. |
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