My wife owns a 2007 E350 wagon. This car has been in the shop the last couple of weeks having the balancer shaft replacement done. This car was outside the known affected engine numbers, but still required a balancer shaft. We’ve had a 2005 W164 ML350 W164 as our loaner for the last few weeks. Its an interesting comparison as the ML and now GLE have basically killed off the E class wagon. From what I understand the E Wagon is being withdrawn.
After three weeks of driving the W164 ML350 I’m left scratching my head as to why these cars were so much more popular. The E wagon is a better car in nearly every respect.
My first impression of the ML was the quality (or lack thereof) of the ride. After driving the two cars back to back, the difference was stark. The E350 is quite comfortable on Sydney’s rough roads, whereas the ML bounced all over the place. I also found myself getting queasy as a passenger in the ML, something that never happens in the E. I find the E350 fairly nimble for a big car, however in driving the ML it felt very big and ponderous around the curves and roundabouts where I live. Visibility is also better from the E class.
The other thing I noticed was the cheapness of the interior plastics compared to the E class. Before COVID, I used to travel a lot for work and experience many rental cars. The interior plastics in the ML were not much better than a mid range Chevrolet. That would be ok if it cost the same as a mid range Chevrolet, but this was a pretty expensive car. The interior just wasn’t as nice a place to be. In addition, the instrumentation was very basic on the ML, lacking even a temperature gauge.
The E wagon is more practical too. It has the folding rear seats for children and can carry seven people. To get 7 seats in the Mercedes SUV range you needed to go to the gargantuan GLS model. I understand early ML models did have a 3rd row option. Being a longer car, the E class wagon has a much more useful rear cargo area when the seats are folded flat. The cargo area is slightly wider and a lot taller on the ML, but length is generally more useful than height. The lower ride height also made it much easier to get heavy objects in and out of the E class.
While the W164 ML350 is slightly less efficient, being taller and heavier (more than 250kg), there is not a huge difference thanks to identical drive trains. The ML does have a much larger fuel tank, so cruising range is longer. It has more head room in the back too. Having said that, I never had somebody tall enough to complain about head room in the back of the E class wagon, and the 3rd row seats are for children anyway. I suppose this extra room could be useful for those who have a beehive hairdo.
Where the ML does really outshine the E class is towing capacity. The ML can tow 3.5 tons vs 2.1. I don’t own a trailer so this isn’t useful to me. The ML is also 4×4, so is suitable for light offroading. This isn’t a serious offroader like a land cruiser though. Despite all that, the E class has much better road holding, probably due to the 250kg of extra weight the ML is carrying. Even though the tyres are good on the ML, it was tail happy in the wet, a trait not shared with the E350. The ML also has a higher driving position, which many like.
After struggling to find any reasons to choose an ML350 over an E350 I looked up the original selling prices. It then all became clear. Comparing the same year (2007), the ML was $87,900 compared to $132,500. Given the ML is bigger and has a 4×4 system the E class lacks, it seems like the profit margin on the E Class would be much higher, despite it being a high quality product. I wonder if the reason why the ML/GLE killed off the E class wagon was not really demand, but rather because Mercedes-Benz priced them that way?
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