MB M-Class Owners: Photo Gallery

I wasn't the only other SUV that day, and was joined by a '98 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. Let's just say that live axles and the higher centre of gravity did not work to the Jeep's advantage that day. My entry speed into just about all of the maneuvers was about 10-25 km/hr higher than anything it could manage.

I tried the ML with ESP on and off and found that it a significant difference when activated (as expected), especially in the double lane change emergency exercise. So much so that I just left it on permanently. Afterall, that's the way I usually leave it...on by default. The system corrected the intial understeer and then the mild oversteer right after flawlessly, and I completed each of the exercises without clipping any cones. Not bad for a 4586 lbs vehicle that stands 5.825 feet tall!

I could definitely feel the ML's permanent 4WD system and ESP working to the vehicle's advantage in that (among many other) maneuver. Interestingly, ESP didn't activate every single time. In fact the majority of the time, the system was inactive and it was only when I truly went in fast and made really late/abrupt maneuvers (I was following the instructor's signals) that it intervened to correct my driving line. The ML felt completely stable and composed, even when coming in at 60 km/hr and swerving + braking hard. At no point did I feel like I was going to be tipping over, even when ESP did not activate, or was not fully activated. There were a couple of times though, that I went in far too hot and too tight into a turn and ESP could only do so much to correct my mistake. I did manage to "eat" a few cones here and there, and was once again reminded of how important the "look where you want to go" concept is. The brushguard/skidplate came in helpful in a few situations, however there were no paint marks from the cones (which is more than I can say for some of the cars like the Z3 roadster) ;-p

Braking was excellent with the ML's large discs and Brake Assist (an unfair advantage, I admit ) applying maximum brake boost for me in the panic stops. I managed to repeatedly stop quicker than some of the BMWs from 70 km/hr! No sign of brake fade whatsoever, despite 5-6 consecutive panic stops from 60-80 km/hr. The cars without ABS had a disadvantage here, with many locking up the rear wheels as the weight transfered forward. The instructors were extremely impressed with the ML's brakes and ABS, especially in comparison to some of the other vehicles out there. It intervened when necessary and with the appropriate number of pulses. Some systems pulsed/cycled the brakes too frequently and the stops were longer than necessary. This was very obvious while standing on the outside and watching the other vehicles.

My on-road/off-road biased Dunlop Grandtrek TG35 tires worked surprisingly well when inflated to the max cold tire pressure limit of 44 psi. Though I had accelerated wear around the edges, I was still better off than all of the cars, probably because of the thicker thread blocks. The Goodyear Wranglers on the Grand Cherokee definitely did not hold up as well, upon inspection before and after the day.

The most difficult exercise of the day was the reverse slalom + lane change exercise. Yup, that's right, we had to do a slalom run in reverse, followed by a lane change! It was extremely tough with such a large and (more significantly) high up vehicle. My first time around, I must have ran over 5 cones in the lane change part of the exercise. However, I improved the next couple of times and managed to go through the exercise faster and without clipping a single cone.

The following pictures were taken by our club photographer, and or by myself:

Drag race with the other BMW 3-series! Nah, just waiting for my turn

Emergency lane change/moose avoidance test

Don't hit me! Actually, I was supposed to brake hard and stop in front of the instructor, but it was signaled so late (hence his hands positon) that I had to swerve hard to the right at the last moment. The ESP triangle lit up that time, I can tell you!

Slalom run:

Coming in way too hot (my 2nd run of the day) in the braking and turning exercise. Just about to clip a cone with the skidplate:

You can see a lot more pictures here:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=137587&a=12271823&f=&sp=1&vt=vpall

Most of them are available in full-size (1600X1200). Simply click on the picture itself to enlarge it.

You can also see the BMWCCBC's summary of the day's events here, courtesy of Thomas Fink, the director of photography:
http://members.tripod.com/~tomsevents/ds05/ds05.htm

Drew
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