Test drive Mercedes Benz ML class W166 since 2011 SUV

All photos Mercedes Benz ML class W166 since 2011

Outsiders in ...

What a strange couple did you choose for the dough? The one who needs a real alternate will not even look towards this Mers! Such a reaction is understandable, because so far few people know that in Russia, ML sales with the so-called Off-Road package have begun.
Mercedes-Benz ML350

The second generation of an all -terrain vehicle is represented by the public at the Detroit car dealership in 2005.
Engines: gasoline 3.56.2 liters
(272510 hp), diesel 3.0 and 3.2 l (190 and 224 hp).
Gearbox: 7-speed automatic.
Configurations: individual.
Price in Russia: 61 800 125 000
($ 78 500 158 750).

Range Rover
He has been conducting a pedigree since 1970. The next generation debuted in 2001 with BMW engines; In 2005, restyling underwent.
Engines: gasoline 4.4 and 4.2 liters with turbocharged (306, 396 hp), diesel 2.9 (177 hp).
Gearboxes: 5-, 6-speed
automatic machines.
Summary: HSE, Vogue, SuperchaRged.
Price in Russia: $ 100 900 125 900.

And with him, the SUV acquires the properties of adult all -terrain models. Since there are no concessions! The opponent will be serious, we chose a ranger.
How the steel was tempered

So, Mercedes-Benz ML350. It is intended primarily for the US market, and it is collected there. In a country where such machines are often equipped with a drive for one axis and where the exit to the lane does not happen more often than Halloween, once a year according to the promise. What can be expected from the off-road package in this situation? As it turned out a lot! The brilliant protective plates on the front and rear bumpers were not at all fake, but by the most steel; The motor compartment is covered with a solid shield, there are practically no protruding parts under the bottom.
As soon as I end up in the cockpit, I notice the transmission control handle. Wow! There are interdess and rear inter -axis locks, reducing gear. The pneumatic pendant with the adjustment of the road clearance is supplemented by a considerable arsenal.
Range Rover responds with dignity. Its assets, of course, also have all -wheel drive, but locks exclusively in the jurisdiction of electronics (anti -boom systems). In addition, there is also a pneumatic suspension. We will leave the mud duel for sweets, but for now we concentrate on other qualities of our worthy pair.
For business

Why are they buying cars like ML or Range Rover? Of course, not only in order to get to the suburban mansion after the February blizzard. Both cars are potentially suitable for representative purposes: prestigious names, solid dimensions and prices comparable to real estate. Mercedes, in addition, is also a suitable color. Looking at the car, you involuntarily pretend how it will look at it with a tricolor and a blue beacon.
We are in the center of the capital, slowly rolling past the Duma. The guard is in no hurry to drive us, you never know who sits on the back sofa. In the black salon, you feel protected for nothing that the glazing line is raised. If you move closer to the window, it is convenient to admire the facades of the old new Moscow from the ML height. But the city blackens under the onslaught of the night, and the garden ring is left behind.
With access to suburban tracks in the rear seat, ML is no longer as comfortable as with urban 4050 km/h. The fault of this is a tangible shaking. The transition to a comfortable adjustment mode of shock absorbers does not save: Mercedes is still too tough in small irregularities. The destiny of this car is an ideal coating. Then ML seems to soar over the road, striking with excellent sound insulation.

Range Rover is the only car in history that was once exhibited at the Louvre Museum (France) as the highest achievement of automobile design and technology, the section on the English car on the official website of the company opens. If the German resembles a banker at a tie, then an Englishman, rather, a lord in Polo, who does not bother with excessive officiality.
It is almost impossible to penetrate into the Rover salon, without applying to the pants to the wet wheeled arch or not to wipe the dust from it. Inside you feel like a fish in water, or rather in the aquarium. You sit open to all your eyes. The width of the salon, combined with light trim and low window sills creates a feeling of space in such a car passengers as if on an endless tour.
The Englishman is slightly noisier than the German, but surpasses him in comfort. Even decent irregularities, Range extinguishes so confidently that the ride is more like a boat walk. It remains to state: Lord Rover is more suitable in limousines.
FOR THE SOUL

It is much easier for the driver of a low -commandment to get used to Mercedes. The landing is typically passenger, quite low, a seat with good lateral support. The steering wheel of small diameter with a pleasant force, the pedals are quite male, requiring a certain work. But to manage Mercedes is undoubtedly rest, not labor. Coming out in the city cycle about 18 liters per hundred, it has excellent dynamics.
The branded, as always, overloaded with the functions of the left steering wheel switch is symmetrical by the joystick of control of a 7-speed automatic Electronic parody on a typically American stoop poker. But the parody is extremely successful! For entertainment, you can attach the buttons on the back of the steering wheel and try to overcome the machine in the speed of switching, but this is unlikely ... In electronic mode, everything is very fast and smooth, except that the inclusion of kikdown requires a few extra seconds.
As for controllability, Mercedes is almost always reliable. Almost, because ML behavior is so passenger that you sometimes forget about it. It was then that the car begins to screech with all four wheels, smoothly slipping from the trajectory and recalling its class affiliation.

The only complaint was caused by the brakes of subjectively absolutely reliable, when measurements, they gave out a noticeable spread in the brake track
Range Rover representative of another school. A huge steering wheel with a thin rim, a set of multi-colored plastics, leather and wood on the front panel, the finish of seats in the spirit of the 60s at first all this is dumbfounded and causes associations with a yacht. Gaze through the windshield in front of you extends a suitcase of the hood
The pace of movement is dictated by Range's tendency to the rolls with a very comfortable suspension and an uninformative helm. And in corners, the centrifugal force seeks to land you out of the chairs that did not hear about lateral support.
By engine power, the Englishman surpasses the Germans by more than thirty horses, but the 6-speed machine does not work so quick and logical. As a result, a promising roar from under the hood is drowning somewhere in oil washing the gears of the transmission. On the other hand, it is visible so that the yachts are worn like a mad? Their movement is sedentary and beautiful.
For confidence

So it's time to bring cars in the most responsible part of the test. We will not storm impassable ravines and sink in the mud lakes. Just try to make our way to the best of the remote corner of the Moscow Region in the Memorial by flexible ruts and to the best of steep slides.
The Mercedes has in the standard position the declared clearance of 181 mm. It can be stepped step by step to 211261291 mm, while the maximum speed in the highest position will drop to 30 km/h. The rise in the rise is smooth and quiet, takes up to half a minute, in the most hungry state, ML acquires a somewhat comic look.
Touching, and immediately it becomes clear: it will not work faster than 10 km/h. The fact is that the holler suspension moves are practically chosen, so the riding is accompanied by a terrible shaking and slaughter with breakdowns. Pretty quickly the Merce burns in the sand and gets up. We go down the step below and turn on the locks of differentials. Soon another halt we turn on the lowering gear. In this mode, the Mercedes confidently overcame the slippery hill and climbed the edge, here calmly turned around, without paying attention to the rut, and safely went back. On the descent, we rated the DSR system, which allows you to forget about the pedals, the car itself kept the specified 18 km/h.

And what about our lord? By publishing a snake hiss, Range Rover quickly rose from 225 mm to the upper 275 mm and moved in the footsteps of ML. Unlike a German, the Englishman’s suspension is significantly larger. On a reduced gear, he played playfully in a small ravine and climbed into a won mountain, while the driver did not need to make stops and connect this or that mode to everything electronics. But it was in it that the snag was! Sometimes an electronic collar so zealously fought with slipping that he simply strangled the motor. But this only drop of tar was still not able to spoil honey. The descent from the mountain was remembered for a long time! He was accompanied by the variable trills of alarmed parking sensors, and a system of control of movement control under the HDC slope cracked from under the bottom.
The result of the fight was unexpected for many of us. The elongated ML with an off-road completed off-road exercises, maybe not as easily as the Range Rover, but did not think to give up. So from the category of parquet, it can be moved to the league of real all -terrain vehicles. In the city, Mercedes is transformed and behaves as a spacious station wagon. The Range Rover is large and calm, confident on off-road, but not as multifaceted as ML. Both are related to the main thing: inscriptions like outsiders are prohibited for them.

Mikhail Gzovsky:

ML turned out to be a worthy opponent of the rangor-rover on the off-road, but during the measurements he showed unstable brake qualities, which influenced the final assessment.

Mercedes-Benz ML350 one of the most universal all-terrain vehicles in the market combined a high level of comfort, elegant appearance and cross-country ability.
General assessment 8.4
+ Excellent dynamics and handling, high off -road opportunities combined with urban comfort, thoughtful controls, convenient seats.
- Not the most effective brakes, noticeable shaking in the back seat.

Range Rover, like almost any English thing, has a specific design and manners. A solid car that is good on straight and bad roads.
General assessment 8.4
+ Spacious rear sofa, recognizable design, good brakes, comfortable suspension.
- High fuel consumption, non -informative steering wheel, not the highest quality of the finish.