I guess old habits die hard, as I prefer letting the car sit, letting everything settle to the bottom, then pulling the plug and letting the crud out (I have no problem getting a little messy). However, I do agree that the positioning of the plug could be better. I also agree with the comments regarding the fleece filters, they are a great step ahead of the basic paper ones.

Playing devil's advocate (as I am prone to do here). If the "suction" method is so great, and MB endorses it, why even have a drain plug? MB obviously put it there for a reason, as they have no problem doing other crazy things on their vehicles that require special tools, so why not just force folks to do suction by deleting the plug? After all, I am sure we are all in the minority of MB owners, as the majority of US owners would never even think of working on their own car, especially those who generaly buy Benzes. So if most are going to the shop anyways, why not make it suction only?