....unless its towing capacity that you want.

I did this comparisson a while back and figured that I would share it with you folks and see what you thought. I think what surprised me most was that the RX has significantly more cargo room, despite having to house a big battery pack

So RX400h vs. an ML320 CDI.

Mileage: 31/27 vs. 21/27 [Today: 26/24 vs. 18/24]
HP: 268 hp vs. 215
Torque: 222 (gasoline) vs. 398
242 (electric motors)
0 - 60: 6.9 seconds (AWD) vs. 8 Seconds
Weight: 4,365 lbs vs. 4,817 lbs.
Cargo Room: 38.3 Cu Ft vs. 29.4 Cu Ft.
Towing Capacity: Towing capacity 3500 lbs. vs. 5000
Ton of CO2 anually: 7.1 vs. 10.1


Base Price: $42,580 vs. $44,455
Tax credit: Yes vs. No
Warranty: 8 years, 100,000 miles vs. 4 years, 50000 miles

** I colored the Mercedes specs. blue

 

Interesting.

Does anything change with the new ML 320 Bluetec?

 

Im not aware of any ML 320 Bluetec.

 

SLegacy99 is right. Isn't bluetec just the technology provided by the ML diesel engine, I don't think it's a series. But anyways IMO the ML320CDI is not worth getting for $45,825 (MSRP base). Plus diesel prices aren't cheaper than regular octane fuel, at least on the west coast. RX400h is the way 2 go, if you were comparing the two. The performance surpasses the ML320 CDI.

 

Diesel fuel is 3.69 a gal. here. Not desirable.

 

Yup, gas prices are just a bummer!


Hope the next step Lexus should take in consideration would be the Hydrogen fueling technology, which could be our alternative source of fueling.
I know that the BMW 7 Hydrogen Powered vehicle was one breakthrough for alternative fueling.

 

From my trip a couple years ago.


Sweeetttt....


I live in central PA. Diesel fuel stations are few and far between for some reason. However, we do have a natural gas and a hydrogen fueling station. So campuses busses run on them and its pretty nice to not have diesel exhaust in your face as you walk to class.

 

It's not here yet. Only the E-Class gets the Bluetec technology. The GL320 and ML320 are CDIs.

 

The ML CDI is useless IMO.

Cost of diesel used to be cheaper then gasoline. Now they run parallel almost with some places gas being cheaper.

 

the new hydrogen 7 doesn't look too bad either!

 

Does anyone think Lexus is likely to make any of their vehicles E-85 compatible (flex-fuel)? I've never read anything to indicate that, but it's something I would like to have in a new vehicle.

 

Alternative fuels are always impressive on paper, but where do you fill up a hydrogen vehicle? I can't find a single hydrogen dealer in Texas. Is there an E-85 pump in your neighborhood? There are 12 in a 150 mile radius of my house. Wonder how long the lines are?

If I bought an alternative-fueled vehicle, I suspect I might have to get a flatbed to haul it around on so that I can get to the next pump.

 

It's not worth it because the it costs more to run E85. Though E85 costs less at the pump, your mileage will plummet.

 

When I was in DC for the holidays I saw E85 at a Chevron station, and of course cheaper but knowing the disadvantages I thought what some of you above were thinking.

In Mexico, I see vehicles with the flex-fuel badge on the back, but no way in a 1000 years will they have E-85 vehicles, because the last time someone suggested it, people noticed the price of corn would have gone up and since corn makes the tortilla, the staple food here, you can imagin there was a fit.

 

Yea, E85 was a bad idea all around.