MERCEDES-BENZ added its current entry-level ML280 CDI to the ML range in 2006 - a year after the second-generation ML range was launched. A makeover in late 2008 brought primarily cosmetic changes. Using a detuned version of the brilliant 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 that Mercedes uses in everything from the Vito van to the S-class, the ML280 CDI may lose out on power and torque to its $13,000 more expensive sibling, the ML320 CDI, but this entrée to the M-class is arguably the pick of the range.