***2006 Mercedes M-Class Arrives in M?hldorf!***

[cawimmer430]

Shhhh.... official presentation of the car is this Saturday, but with my internship at the dealer, I get to see all these cool new cars coming in. The other day, there was a CLS55 AMG here and I was able to snap quite a few shots of it. And I get to drive so many cars that I can't even photograph and write reviews about: on the used car lot! [:P] Boy, those first generation A-Classes and M-Classes were CRAP! The original A-Class has a really cheap interior, feels so breakable and has the absolute shittiest manual transmission I have ever driven, next to the C208 CLK manuals of course. Absolute trash.  

So anyway, I was just leaving to go home when the new M-Class arrives. It was an ML350 in black with really small tires for some reason. But it was the body I paid the most attention too. It looks very sleek actually. On pictures, the new M appears very muscular, but to me, it appeared sleek, well-proportioned and a little small actually.

The interior looked really good. Today, I had the pleasure of rearranging two M-Classes, a first generation ML270 CDI and one of the last ML400 CDI's. Boy, the ML270 CDI, which was one of the early M's had one cheap interior. The plastic felt attrocious, the leather was worn and torn, brakes appeared broken, and the 6-speed manual was so vague and just plain shitty. On the ML400 CDI, the interior was much improved, but it was still cheap. Well, the new M-Class looks to possess a HQ interior. The materials looked smooth and soft and panel gaps were considerably less visible than in the ML270 CDI and ML400 CDI I drove today. On Saturday, I will be able to examine the car in more detail.

Verdict: LOOKING GOOD.  

[BMWDave]

Cool!  Nice pics! :)

[R33 GT-R]

Way to go Wimmer, rock the cashba.

[cawimmer430]

Some new pics of the same ML350 on C&D, Pure Luxury.    

[Catman]

I like it much better than the old one.    

[TBR]

I like it much better than the old one.  

As do I

[BMWDave]

I like it much better than the old one.   

As do I

As do I.  The old one was too "minivanish" for me...and the interior was sub par for a Mercedes vehicle.  The new one fixes many aspects of the old one, and looks better to boot.

[TBR]

I like it much better than the old one.   

As do I

As do I.  The old one was too "minivanish" for me...and the interior was sub par for a Mercedes vehicle.  The new one fixes many aspects of the old one, and looks better to boot.

Exactly, plus it has the fantastic new 3.5l V6.  

[giant_mtb]

The last gen was too up-right, tall, and thin.  This one looks shorter and wider so it looks sleeker and faster.  Big improvement.

[Raza]

I will not accept that it has a column shift.  I don't care how high tech it is.  Fucking bullshit.

[BMWDave]

I will not accept that it has a column shift.  I don't care how high tech it is.  Fucking bullshit.

I dont like the column shift either, but this is a elegant (at least its intended to be) luxury liner, not a sports sedan Raza.