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<---service advisor for 25 years with various dealers (13 different car lines overall)
I will NEVER put my wife in anything other than a German car (for safety), will NEVER drive American (reliability issues) and will NEVER buy any car thats not Made In Japan (I will lease anything else)
So what type of SUV would you recommend? The 350 model? I have had a Mercedes sedan before, and it was excellent.
I have an in-law who lives in Montana who has a Mercedes SUV. It's a model Mercedes makes for expedition and military use, and they offered them for a while as a civilian outfit, dressed up with a few amenities to civilize them a bit, like leather seats.
Damn thing rides like a bucket of rocks, leather seats or no, but it can climb over walls and can swim like a duck. It cost him a fortune, of course. Personally, it's way too purpose-oriented for me, and most likely, him too, but he loves to go out and beat it up. To each his own.
If I was to look around for a vehicle that was good for all weathers and rough driving, my choice right now would be one of the new Ford 150 or one of the Chevy Colorados, a new mid-sized truck. Both get good mileage, can be had in all degrees of trim, and are ready to do a lot of work around a place in the country. I like Fords, but I sure like the size of the new Colorado a lot, and Chevrolet trucks have served members of my family very well forever.
I have an in-law who lives in Montana who has a Mercedes SUV. It's a model Mercedes makes for expedition and military use, and they offered them for a while as a civilian outfit, dressed up with a few amenities to civilize them a bit, like leather seats.
Damn thing rides like a bucket of rocks, leather seats or no, but it can climb over walls and can swim like a duck. It cost him a fortune, of course. Personally, it's way too purpose-oriented for me, and most likely, him too, but he loves to go out and beat it up. To each his own.
If I was to look around for a vehicle that was good for all weathers and rough driving, my choice right now would be one of the new Ford 150 or one of the Chevy Colorados, a new mid-sized truck. Both get good mileage, can be had in all degrees of trim, and are ready to do a lot of work around a place in the country. I like Fords, but I sure like the size of the new Colorado a lot, and Chevrolet trucks have served members of my family very well forever.
must be talking about the G Class... only thing more "tank-like" is a MB Unimog..LOL
So what type of SUV would you recommend? The 350 model? I have had a Mercedes sedan before, and it was excellent.
the number designation on any MB model is just the engine size. The letter designation is the model.
SUV's MB makes or have made (in the US) are:
GLA
GLK
GL
new- GLE
ML
GL
R
G
Its not so much the model thats bad as much as the production years. I would personally figure out which model fits your needs/lifestyle best then try and learn which the best years of that particular model are.
ex: GL they made a 350bluetec, 450, 500, 550, and the AMG model 63, and I believe a 400 hybrid soon based on the older s400 technology.
any of the models are fine (except the R class), just a matter of your needs and budget
I had an ML320 and it was nice. A little weird that the CD player thingy was all the way in the back of the car but still nice. It was in Bordeaux red...my favorite color.
Last edited by mistyriver; 05-10-2015 at 08:54 PM..
must be talking about the G Class... only thing more "tank-like" is a MB Unimog..LOL
Yes! That's it!
While I like the guy a lot, I thought his choice in SUVs was a tad bit excessive, but he lives up in Paradise Valley among the millionaires, although he's not one of them. Things get weird living in the middle of a lot of money. I don't think he's ever washed it, and it always looks like a pigpen inside and out, and has a walloping crack in the windshield. Sort of a reverse way of showing off, I think, as I've seen other high-priced SUVs there that look the same.
Snobbery takes on strange ways. I've gotten many a truck looking might bad while in the rough places, but I always cleaned them up as soon as I could afterward. They all cost me too much money to allow them to get past a certain degree of funkiness.
I don't live in Idaho, but I did move to NW Arkansas, and wanted something AWD that could handle snowy mountain roads that don't get plowed. I bought a Grand Jeep Cherokee with Quadra Drive II and a HEMI. My best advice is to RUN FAR AND FAST! from ANYTHING! Chrysler. Just save yourself the heartache and buy something reliable, like a 10 year old Mercedes from a shade-tree mechanic shop, or a BMW that's been in a flood, or something else that will last longer than a Chrysler.
2010 Grand Jeep Cherokee, bought at 68K miles, so far...
---Front control arms replaced due to rotten bushings
---Water pump replaced (again, was done at 62K miles before I got it)
---Transmission out at the dealership for leaking...it's still leaking.
---Recall ruined 4WD, I had to buy a module from Canada that missed the recall to get it to work again. Chrysler still has no fix for their recall.
---Sunroof guide (cheap plastic) broke. Screw it. I hate sunroofs anyway, it's a glass top, now, lol.
---Gas cap replaced (meh, why not list that, too).
Quirks...surges at idle randomly. Shudders when taking tight turns. Spark plugs need replacing every 30K miles.
But it is pretty quick with the 360hp HEMI, and the QDII AWD is flat-out amazing on ice.
My next SUV will probably be a Subaru, or a Lexus/Toyota product. Chrysler can suck a fat one. Ford makes nice stuff, but it's so bloody slow. I require a bit of motivation, as I'm used to sports cars. BMW and Mercedes are nightmares (Chrysler products were all designed by MB until just recently) when they break, but otherwise are pretty nice.
For an SUV...think "Boring". Like Toyota. Lexus. Etc. Subaru is boring too except for their turbo model foresters. Looking hard at that...
We took our Forester out for a 6 hour SoCal mountain drive yesterday, to see what it could do (being gentle, while breaking it in!). Absolutely amazing. Not boring at all! It takes those switchbacks like it is just doing neighborhood driving. We are so impressed! And the rough roads are a breeze. Kudos to Subaru!
BUT...one small complaint which we really hadn't anticipated: There is no room at all for small doodads. In the CR-V we've had two little enclosed spaces in front for "stuff" such as binoculars, Tylenol, business cards, all that kind of stuff that accumulates, in addition to a coin drawer. But the Forester has one open space in the middle of the console, and the nice compartment in the arm rest is really for CDs and electronics, and can't be filled up with junk, and I keep the glove compartment locked, so that isn't going to be easily accessible. So I miss my little junk spaces...
Other than that, a superb vehicle so far! It'll be great for NID!
We have a 2011 Grand Cherokee with the hemi. All suspension is actually Mercedes so it drives real nice. Interior on the 2011+ models is light years ahead of the older ones. Great in snow, very reliable. Put 40k on it no issues. Push rod hemi is simple and reliable.
I've owned plenty of chrysler products and they have all been good to me, just maintenance for the most part. Parts are cheap and easy to fix if something breaks.
Don't think my srt8 will do too well next winter in Idaho lol
I do like the hemi and the power in ours and I was wrong about the year...it's a 2014. Nice interior too. But just tired of the issues. It's going into Spokane today to take care of the recall on the airbags. We have a lifetime warranty on it so we'll drive it out but if we didn't, it would be gone.
Last edited by mistyriver; 05-11-2015 at 12:49 PM..
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