Thread: Mercedes ML270

I don't know anything about that particular vehicle, but have lots of experiecne with a particular British car brand.

Thing with Euro cars is if you don't fix them yourself then make sure you have a friend who can, as your average garage doesn't like working on anything that isn't Japanese and you'll be charge accordingly.
My mum has an Audi that failed a wof on a bunch of things including a indicator problem that apparently needed a new wiring loom (that doesn't exisit) to fix it, long story short took me 10 minutes to diagnose the real problem and 30minutes with some solder and a few lengths of wire to fix it.

The other problem is parts, Land Rovers are easy for parts a bunch of places ship from the UK and parts for older models are dirt cheap.
I don't even think about trying Repco or a normal shop, parts are either not available or ridiculously priced.
If you can find a supply of parts and technical data for the vehicle then it's just another car, other than any inherint design flaws or problems with a particular model.

A friend of mine is having gearbox problems with his Santa Fe, was quoted 5k+ for a rebuild, money he doesn't really want to spend.
I've spent countless hours trying to source information about the bloody gear box, bugger all information on any forums of any use and trying to find parts is like pulling teeth.
If it had been a ZF gearbox I could've found out everything I needed to know is about 30 minutes to an hour and been an internet expert on the damn thing.

I guess it comes down to what you are used to working with but any vehicle that isn't a Land Rover is a nightmare (for me at least) to find techincal data for or find out what parts are needed, where as Land Rovers are a piece of piss for me.

Long story short, unless you know someone familiar with them I'm not sure I'd be buying the vehicle in question, but if you do your homework and are prepared to get your hands dirty it may not be a problem.