E36 M3 weighs 3175 lbs. It has about a 13 to 17% drivetrain loss and short gearing. Your ML has an automatic with insane drivetrain loss and tall gears, becuase it's an automatic. Why do people like you ONLY look at max hp? The S14 in the e30 M3 has 192 hp (the US version), and the M50 in the e36 325i has 189. But if you threw an M50 in an e30 M3, it would pull better and be faster than the S14. My point is just because its only 240 hp and 236 ftlb torque, it has torque EVVVERRRYWHERE, which when combined with an efficient and short ratio gear box, is the ONLY reason its 0-60 is 5.4 seconds. How many 240 hp cars can claim acceleration times like that???