All have forged steel connecting rods, one-piece cast crankshaft, iron-coated aluminum pistons and a magnesium intake manifold.

Like the M112, a balance shaft is installed in the engine block between the cylinder banks to deal with vibrations in the 90 degree V6 design.

First fitted to the CLS350 CGI, it produces 292 PS (215 kW; 288 bhp) and 365 N⋅m (269 lb⋅ft) of torque while lowering fuel consumption.

[3][4] These complaints led to a class action lawsuit against Mercedes-Benz (Greg Suddreth and Paul Dunton v. Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC), which alleged the M272 engines are equipped with defective balance shafts gears which "wear out prematurely, excessively and without warning, purportedly causing the vehicles to malfunction, the check engine light to illuminate and the vehicle to misfire and/or stop driving.

[6] However, a second class action lawsuit was filed in October 2012 in Northern California,[7] covering Mercedes-Benz models manufactured between 2005 and 2007.

The plastic lever that operates the opening and closing of the variable length intake manifold can break prematurely.

There are a number of third-party companies that sell a replacement lever made out of metal at a much cheaper cost.