USED Mercedes-Benz M-Class 4x4 (98 - 06)

My car

Used mainly for towing - an excellent towcar with short rear overhang and masses of low down torque.

Difficult to see front near side when manoeuvering. Let down by patchy dealer service and inablility to get small parts e.g. retaing clips for sun roof visor, where it appears you need to buy the whole thing for the sake of a clip worth about £2.

Seat adjustment without the electric memory seats (v. expensive) is not too good.

Service costs for 30,000 miles have been much lower than for previous Discovery.

Nearly excellent, and certainly difficult to choose a replacement with the same size and torque at a matching price.

My car

This is the worst car for reliability I have ever owned. In the past two years, my car has been in the garage many times, and has needed a gearbox, steering system, climate control system etc.

The service I have receieved from Mercedes is not what I would expect and does not warrant the investment I made in a luxury brand.

My car

The vehicle has been owned for three years and has now covered 85,000 miles.

It's excellent for long-distance travel, very comfortable (the electric ajustable seats allow you to sit in any position) and quite wonderful with cruise control.

It's very economical for a large car (33-35mpg on a long run) uses no oil between services, which are variable and can be checked any time by pressing the odometer button twice.

The rear seats fold flat, and split 60/40, 60 being the passenger side which can be very useful for carrying long objects. Most other 4x4s split the opposite way round making it difficult to carry long objects and one or two passengers.

It's a good tow car, and has a low gearbox if you need it (press a button on console when stationary, eat your hart out Land Rover and BMW owners!)

The auto gearbox is effortless and stepless - it's almost impossible to feel changes unless you are really pushing it - and excellent for overtaking or getting away at lights.

Now for the downside. It's not best suited to twisting country lanes due to excessive body roll on corners and your bum sliding on leather seats.

It can be heavy on brake pads, discs and your pocket if Mercedes components are fitted, £800 for new discs and pads.

An expensive car means expensive repair bills - £800 for new inlet manifold at 70,000 miles. (I never heard of a inlet manifold wearing out) and three weeks out of warranty, don't expect any favours from Mercedes after-sales.

My car

I have had the displeasure of driving this as a company car for 18 months and can't think of anything good to say about it.

For this class and cost of car, it is not up to standard.

The engine is too hesitant, the seats are not supportive enough and you slide around. The fuel economy is not good, the running sosts are too high (£250 for the tracking to be checked), it wears the front tyres un-evenly, bits drop off, etc etc.