Just in passing i went into MB Birmingham for a mooch, to look at the CLS, and a new ML.

The CLS looks stunning, but all i can say is: Headroom on entry.. and ouch..
Is a very weird car, and it only having 4 seats with a permanent wooden inlay in the centre kind of kills the idea for me. Good boot though!

Also the arrogant, customer ignoring staff of MB (things never seem to change) are still apparent even though its now 'owned by mercedes benz'.

The ML was also another interesting model, as i haven't seen the new one yet up close. Bit better looking then the last model, but it still looks odd and too tall at the rear end of the car, and the interior is a lot lot better then the old model, is put together a hell of a lot better and has a much better feel to it. However it still doesn't feel 'special' enough t be a top luxury 4x4, and doesn't feel rugged enough to be a proper 'hard' 4x4 if you know what i mean? So its a kind of soft middle of the road mums 'school run wagon' i would say..

Walked away looking at the massive inflated price lists, with the ML 350 i had been sitting in coming out to just over £47k!

Then walking towards my RRS in the car park i felt quite chuffed, that it looked better then anything i had just seen, and seemed a relatively cheaper & better all round package!

Like it when that happens..

We had the old shape ML, which I thought was a much better vehicle than the press reviews suggested. However, I was in two minds to wait for the new ML to come out or get the RRS. Glad I went for the RRS. The new ML is nice, but not radical enough or different enough from the old shape.
I think when the new G-class comes out soon, this will be more of a contender against the D3 and RRS. The G-class is a larger version of the ML with seven seats and more off-roading capability.

However, I think the new Audi Q7 is the one that may tempt me away from the Range Rover. It may be a bit too long, but it looks the part and has a lovely interior. Matt
-------------------------------------------
RRS ownership for 1 yr, then D3 for 2 yrs. Then cut back to old bangers and working my way back up through two Peugeots in 6 months. Now got Saab 9-5 2.3t and enjoying the performance!