On par with the course!

It is nearly two metres high and weighs over two tonnes. Continuous four-wheel drive to add. And what can you expect from a 3.2-litre engine?

The M-class returned figures of 8.5kmpl on our 100km of the highway fuel efficiency course and 5.5kmpl for in-city driving with the air conditioning switched on. The fuel efficiency figure for the period the ML320 was with us, undergoing rigorous testing at places as diverse as NCAT at VRDE, national and state highways as well as the expressway and some dirt tracks in the hills around Pune, was 6.7kmpl. Considering that cars weighing half as much, powered by engines that are less than half of the capacity of the M's 3.2-litre powerplant return fuel efficiency figures of less than 10kmpl, is 6.7kmpl bad for the ML320? No, not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it is quite creditable.

The fuel efficiency is further helped by the precise shifting automatic gearbox as well as by the torque converter lock-up which is activated at low road speeds. The dual spark plugs per cylinder also contribute by increasing the efficiency of the engine.

The fuel tank of the M-class takes in 83 litres of unleaded petrol (including 12 litres reserve) which gives it a range of 556km for normal driving and 705km on the highway.