The Brabus programme also enhances the ML’s driving dynamics, which you’d have to say sounds like no bad thing when you consider how much more power it’s putting down. Not that this vehicle was ever a slouch, despatching the 0-62 sprint in 6.8 seconds in standard form and displaying a level of handling that puts it right up there among the best drivers’ cars in the entire 4x4 market.Well, now it’s better than ever. You do have to push pretty hard to find the improvements in what was already a superb set-up, but there’s less body roll on turn-in and greater stability throughout. The vehicle remains as planted and grippy as ever, but it’s now smoother and more fluid through series of sweeping bends, making it easier to drive fast without upsetting its suspension. It’s also easier to drive fast full stop, of course, thanks to all that extra power. The ML420 was already a quick SUV, though in standard form your speed builds in a torquey surge rather than leaping upwards at a prod of the throttle: now, it’s still very good at gathering momentum as you join the motorway or whatever, but it’s even handier at overtaking. My initial impression was that there was a little more noise than we were used to, but that’s from memory – and of course, with so much more output the engine can do more of its work in a higher gear, so it’ll spend less time spinning hard.
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