Auto Delivery in Europe
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DRIVETRAIN: 3.0-liter, 215-hp, 398-lb-ft V6; AWD, seven-speed automatic CURB WEIGHT: 4817 lb 0 TO 60 MPH: 7.9 sec (mfr) FUEL MILEAGE (EPA COMBINED/AW OBSERVED): 23/27.5 mpg While the ML has always been a good ute, the diesel option makes it stellar. The ML 320 CDI, even though the stats show it to have 215 hp, a number that seems too meager for hauling the 4817-pound SUV, has lots of torque: 398 lb-ft is available over much of the rev range! At cruising speed, the engine purrs barely above idle; at 65 mph, it turns less than 2000 revs. Credit this in part to a seven-speed transmission (a five-speed with two overdrives). For the two weeks, it averaged 27.5 mpg, more than 4 mpg better than the EPA estimate. Ask J.D. Power and Associates, which makes a living by forecasting such trends. Power predicts diesels will rise from today’s 3.2 percent share of first-time registrants to make up 15 percent in the United States by 2015. And Mercedes-Benz is doing all it can to fill that desire with a 3.0-liter, turbocharged, six-cylinder diesel stuffed into three models: E-, ML- and GL-Class. Diesels are not new to Mercedes—the company has sold them here since 1960; during the 1980s, 80 percent of its U.S. sales were diesels. With relatively cheap gasoline prices, demand for diesels here waned, and the company stopped selling them in 1999. In 2004, Mercedes renewed its diesel commitment. The ML we drove is 45-state legal. In 2008, Mercedes will roll out its BlueTec line of clean diesels; those powerplants will be legal in all 50 states. The new diesels feature a particulate filter, and the engines must burn low-sulfur fuel, as federally mandated last Oct. 15; Mercedes diesels went on sale Oct. 16, 2007. To clean up emissions further, in 2008, the diesels will have a system that adds urea to the exhaust, making them as clean as gasoline engines.
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