I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: the number of different models offered these days by Mercedes-Benz is staggering and utterly bewildering. Being spoiled for choice, however, doesn’t appear to have put off buyers in this region – a key Merc stronghold for decades – and I find it weird that, whenever I drive around in a car that I’ve never before experienced here, suddenly I start seeing them all over the place. And so it is with the ML 500. I’m constantly surrounded by M-Classes wherever I go and, after a couple of days with the 500, I can see why, because it’s truly an excellent piece of kit.
It’s not all that large by SUV standards, which is definitely part of its appeal for me, and it doesn’t feel like I’m piloting a small country – unlike certain others. And, at Dh330,876, it seems like terrific value, when you compare it to some of its key rivals, such as the BMW X5 and the Range Rover Sport.
Naturally, you can dramatically increase your spend if you start going mental with the extras list but, even with a standard GCC specification, the ML 500 makes a strong case for itself as a viable purchase option.
Appearance wise, the M-Class is much improved over older variants and it manages to look both modern and fresh without being overly flashy. Whatever you look at, whatever you touch, just oozes quality and a sense of well-being – a sense that you know exactly where your money has gone. Which is reassuring, to say the least. Open the large doors, climb in and the sensory delectability continues, with beautifully finished surfaces, clever detailing and clear, intuitive controls that even I can master without having to resort to either the owner’s manual or my teenage son for guidance.
The ML 500 isn’t sitting on top of the pile, though, because there’s a storming ML 63 AMG version, with a twin-turbo, 5.5L V8 that will dash from rest to 100kph in a sports-car-like 5.3 seconds. It’s a lot more expensive than the ML 500, though, and this car takes just 0.3 seconds longer to perform the same trick. So why on earth would you go for the 63 when you can have this? Unless it’s badge snobbery and an insistence on having the biggest and most powerful of everything, I can’t fathom that one. This genuinely seems like the sensible option.
Not that the word “sensible” is often used when describing cars capable of this sort of performance. The V8 engine is a peach: a low-revving muscular powerhouse that delivers a whopping 600Nm of twist from as little as 1,600rpm. This makes for truly effortless overtaking – long journeys are an absolute joy. Flex your right foot and watch everything else disappear in your rear-view mirror: simple. And all the while there’s a deliciously deep V8 rumble permeating the cabin.
Mercedes-Benz does claim that the M-Class is a capable off-roader, but I have to confess that I’m still to drive any Merc on the dunes. But the clever four-wheel-drive transmission does make for exceedingly secure progress on terra firma. An optional “On & Off-road package” is available for extra control over the car’s handling characteristics and the “Curve Assist System” – also an option – increases stability on both the road and off the beaten track. Standard equipment in the Gulf, though, is Merc’s “AIRMATIC” active-damping system, which allows the driver to manually switch between sporty and comfort-biased settings. This active suspension set-up is also self-levelling, meaning that the car won’t droop down at the rear when carrying heavy loads or towing a hefty trailer, and it automatically drops the car’s ride height by 161 millimetres at high speeds, lowering the centre of gravity, reducing aerodynamic drag, lowering fuel consumption and improving stability.
The effect is impressive, to say the least. Hit a corner at speed in this thing and it simply goes round with no fuss; just flat and controlled composure. A car this tall shouldn’t be able to behave like this and, when you stop to think about the physics at play here, to make a vehicle of these dimensions behave like a sports car, it’s mind-blowing.
As my spell with the ML 500 draws to a close, I start to worry that I might be going soft; that I might be starting to lean towards SUVs as a possible personal-transport choice. But the fact is, when they’re this good, they’re impossible to ignore.
What I would ignore, though, is the AMG, simply because this offers 99 per cent of that car for so much less outlay. Not many people would consider Dh330,876 to be loose change, but the ML 500 is a comparative bargain – and unless you need to transport more than five people around all the time, it’s possibly all the car that you could wish for. It comes highly recommended.
