CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Excellent
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 07/17/2007
Some of this inoffensive behavior can be attributed to the new ultralow sulfur diesel fuel (ULSD), which significantly lowers emissions. ULSD was phased in over the last few years, and now, any time you find a pump selling diesel fuel for passenger cars, it should be ULSD. In the ML320 CDI, diesel power means very high torque along with better fuel economy than its gasoline counterpart.
Our ML320 CDI test car was in form a typical small SUV, with two rows of seating and a cargo area. But this is a Mercedes-Benz, so the level of luxury was way above that of a Mitsubishi Outlander or a Honda CR-V. The front of the ML320 isn't much higher than a sedan's hood, making for a pronounced slope down from the windshield, and contributing to a bulbous look for the front of the cabin. But we like how the rear side windows, behind the C pillar, seem to wrap around the rear of the car. Our ML320 had a few extras including metal running boards and skid plates, all part of the Sport package.
Test the tech: Diesel quest
While examining our newly arrived ML320, we noticed the warning notice on the fuel door and the bright red fuel cap, telling us to use only low sulfur diesel fuel. We knew that, by law, any diesel fuel sold for passenger cars had to be ULSD, but we couldn't recall having seen many diesel pumps lately. For our tech test with the ML320, we wanted to see how easily we could find fuel.
We started out at a random location down the peninsula from San Francisco, in Menlo Park on El Camino Real. This seemed like a good place to start, as the navigation screen showed a bunch of gas station icons in our immediate vicinity. With the first couple just a half mile down the street, we arrived quickly to see a Chevron and a Union 76 on opposite blocks. But we found no diesel pumps at either.
Continuing down El Camino Real, we found a Shell station but were out of luck there, too. So we veered off the main drag toward a small cluster of gas stations on our navigation screen. We quickly found a Quick Stop and another Shell, but still no diesel. It was getting frustrating, but we continued on to another row of gas station icons along Highway 84. There were more Chevrons and Shells, but still no diesel.
Then, on the opposite side of the road, we saw a seedy-looking little market plus gas station called the Gas and Shop. Among their signs was an advertisement for Diesel No. 2, along with a per-gallon price close to that of premium gas. But we were successful, though we hope California has been vigilant about making sure only ULSD is sold for cars, as we wouldn't want to destroy our nice, new Mercedes-Benz. All in all, we tried eight gas stations before we found one that sold diesel. Because we were in an urban area, we had to travel only seven miles to find our diesel.
In the cabin
The cabin of the ML320 CDI has all the luxury we would expect from a Mercedes-Benz, even if it is meant to handle wild and wooly off-roading. Of course, the seats are power-adjustable, and the windows require just one touch of the switch to go all the way up or down. And there is a bit of wood trim on the ML320, covering the lower half of the stack and leading down to the console.
But the controls sitting around the LCD at the top of the stack use the low-rent version of Mercedes-Benz's COMAND interface. Rather than the big metal knob on the upscale COMAND system, this one gets a fiddly, little plastic joystick, with buttons along the bezel of the LCD. The joystick suffers from the problem that, when you push it in to enter a command, it often slides to the side, changing your selection. A touch screen would have been preferable. On the software side, it's not immediately clear how to select menu items because of the faded color scheme, but it's easy to use once you understand it.
On the plus side, the ML320 incorporates an excellent optional voice-command system. We were able to set destinations in the navigation system, choose tracks from a CD or satellite radio stations, and control other functions in the car. The LCD offers good feedback, letting you see what commands you've just made and which ones are available. The voice-command system also has some flexibility, for example, accepting either "navi" or "navigation" as commands to enter the navigation system functions.
The maps have great onscreen resolution, but the system is a little frugal about displaying street names. As we drove along, it failed to show the names of most cross streets, making navigating by map problematic. But we really like its route guidance, which has rich graphics for upcoming turns, gives plenty of warning, and is very good about showing the car's precise location. As for destination entry, it's about average. It can take you to a freeway entrance, an address, or a point of interest. But its points-of-interest database isn't comprehensive. As the ML320 claims off-road prowess, the navigation system also has an off-road mode and a compass screen, which shows GPS coordinates and elevation.
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