ML 350 CDI (231 PS)

STORY

The M-Class was the first modern SUV from Mercedes-Benz, and it arrived at exactly the right moment. It was launched in 1997 and, unusually, built at a brand-new plant in Alabama. The original W163 came on the wave of the luxury-SUV boom in the Americas, and offered car-like comfort and the three-pointed star in a rugged, family-friendly body.

It even reached Hollywood, appearing in Jurassic Park: The Lost World before it went on sale. Early build quality was criticised, but later generations improved the formula, and the M-Class became a genuinely luxurious, capable mid-size SUV.

In 2015 it was renamed GLE to fit Mercedes' unified naming scheme. Its importance is hard to overstate: it set the template for every SUV the brand now builds, and those cars have become the commercial base of the company.