Superior competition has taken the edge off the Mercedes-Benz M-class in the last seven years, but it's worth remembering that the five-seat SUV was a big, spangled deal when it debuted seven years ago.
The way it freed SUVs from that truck-like attitude that made them all so unpleasant for so long made a big impression on a lot of people, including the 50 independent auto journalists who bestow the annual North America Car and Truck of the Year Awards.
My fellow jurors and I always try to give those awards to vehicles that rewrite the rules in their segments or indeed the industry at large, and we understood how the ML320 did that.
Since then, of course, a whole flotilla of mid-size SUVs have come along with a better ride, more style, higher quality and a classier interior. Some of them have been in the ML's general price range of $50,000 to $70,000, but some of them actually cost less. That's the reality in any segment in today's cutthroat automotive economy.
So for version 2.0 of the ML, which should be on sale here by March or April, Mercedes had to do its best to vault the Alabama-built vehicle ahead of an extremely competent field. Final judgment on that will have to wait until the vehicle has been driven, of course, but the paperwork and images suggest that the Stuttgart firm has done its best.
Time and tide have made the launch even more important for the Toronto-based arm of Mercedes, since buyers have lately been turning away from the firm's luxury cars in serious numbers. In November, car sales were down 35.2 percent for Mercedes-Benz Canada, bringing the year's decline to 15.7 percent.
Some of this reflects a drop in luxury car sales across the market, and some can be explained by an increase in luxury SUV sales. Since the ML is currently the brand's only volume SUV (you can't count the uber-priced G-class for many sales), the pressure is intense on the 2006 model.
Is it any wonder, then, that the German office of Mercedes talks about how the new ML has been ''stepped up another gear''?
Right off, the 2006 ML350 and ML500 look a lot slicker and less truck-like than the old model (the co-efficient of drag is down to 0.34 from 0.37), which is in keeping with the trend in this segment.
The new unibody model is also bigger, specifically 150 mm longer on a wheelbase that's 95 mm longer and 71 mm wider, and sits 9 mm lower. This growth spurt should give the 2006 ML more interior space, and the lower profile should give it a more hunkered-down and less truck-like attitude.
According to the PR office in Stuttgart, ''you need look no further than the design of the new M-Class, with its beguiling blend of heavily contoured surfaces and taut lines to admire the majestic character of the second-generation SUV. The swept-back windscreen, striking front wings and rising shoulder line set the unashamedly sporting tone, a theme developed by the proportions of the body.''
However it looks, the new ML comes with a bunch of new equipment, including three new and more powerful six-cylinder engines, and a juiced-up version of the carryover 5-litre V-8, though we'll only get two of them to start, with a seven-speed automatic transmission as standard equipment.
This model has a redesigned suspension that is said to ''deliver more on-road driving performance and comfort.''
The way it freed SUVs from that truck-like attitude that made them all so unpleasant for so long made a big impression on a lot of people, including the 50 independent auto journalists who bestow the annual North America Car and Truck of the Year Awards.
My fellow jurors and I always try to give those awards to vehicles that rewrite the rules in their segments or indeed the industry at large, and we understood how the ML320 did that.
Since then, of course, a whole flotilla of mid-size SUVs have come along with a better ride, more style, higher quality and a classier interior. Some of them have been in the ML's general price range of $50,000 to $70,000, but some of them actually cost less. That's the reality in any segment in today's cutthroat automotive economy.
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Time and tide have made the launch even more important for the Toronto-based arm of Mercedes, since buyers have lately been turning away from the firm's luxury cars in serious numbers. In November, car sales were down 35.2 percent for Mercedes-Benz Canada, bringing the year's decline to 15.7 percent.
Some of this reflects a drop in luxury car sales across the market, and some can be explained by an increase in luxury SUV sales. Since the ML is currently the brand's only volume SUV (you can't count the uber-priced G-class for many sales), the pressure is intense on the 2006 model.
Is it any wonder, then, that the German office of Mercedes talks about how the new ML has been ''stepped up another gear''?
Right off, the 2006 ML350 and ML500 look a lot slicker and less truck-like than the old model (the co-efficient of drag is down to 0.34 from 0.37), which is in keeping with the trend in this segment.
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According to the PR office in Stuttgart, ''you need look no further than the design of the new M-Class, with its beguiling blend of heavily contoured surfaces and taut lines to admire the majestic character of the second-generation SUV. The swept-back windscreen, striking front wings and rising shoulder line set the unashamedly sporting tone, a theme developed by the proportions of the body.''
However it looks, the new ML comes with a bunch of new equipment, including three new and more powerful six-cylinder engines, and a juiced-up version of the carryover 5-litre V-8, though we'll only get two of them to start, with a seven-speed automatic transmission as standard equipment.
This model has a redesigned suspension that is said to ''deliver more on-road driving performance and comfort.''