FYI, MB ML Road Rally Driving Event
 

Got an invite for this in the mail yesterday. I might just go--I enjoy driving someone else's car around a road course. It could be fun. Did something similar with the new 7 series cars a few years back at Shea Stadium. It was awesome, going from the Lexus LS430, MB S430, and new 745Li back to back to back, flogging them around the course with a pro in the seat next to me. You can probably call and sign up.

Did it a few weeks ago when they were here in Charlotte... Not bad. I like that new ML. It's a lot bigger than I thought (and certainly A LOT bigger than the previous one) -- a nice car overall. I'll stick with the X5, though. :)

Juan

Were you really able to drive the thing like a rental? :dunno: ;)

Oh heck NO!! The "road course" is nothing but orange cones outlinining a "road" in a large parking lot. You can't really do much, even if you wanted. The MB people are right there, giving you instructions, and telling you how fast you should drive it through the course. If you're lucky, you'll drive the car for a whopping 60 seconds. If you want to experience driving the car, go for a test drive at your local dealer.

Juan

I also got this email last week. The closet location is in Long Island or NJ. Don't want to drive more than a hour for less than 60 seconds of test drive. I will go to the dealer 5 min from my home. Thanks, Juan.

They are in Norwalk the 29th and 30th of July. But it sounds like such a blast that I think I will pass. :mad:

Probably a wise choice if you have to drive an hour to the event. Aside from the the free coffee and biscotti, there was not much there that you could not get from a visit to your dealer. It may be different by you, but the one they had here in Charlotte was lame. I've been to several of these "road rallies" in the past three years (MB C-class, Mazda), and, to be honest we were disappointed in this one. Matter of fact, we thought it was lame considering the price point of the ML.

Juan

Juan - good input. I got the invite and thought it might be fun, but I think I'll pass. BTW, we had one of the very first ML 320s and it was terrible and we couldn't wait to get rid of it. We traded it for an X5. The MB dealer we worked with was clueless ("Your ML is on the boat this week"), we waited 9 months and it didn't come in the way we wanted it (after verifying the specs every month with the salesperson for 9 months) and the repairs that were done were a joke - a blown right rear stereo speaker was never replaced, but they replaced the good left rear speaker. Hey...don't get me started.