Larry, I couldn't agree with you more... They are different animals. While both strong cars, I would tend to trust my life more with the Mercedes. And the Benz is easier to live with, less fussy. The only thing a BMW does well is give the driver an excellent feel of confidence, and I swear its engineered in to the car. BMWs are no better than anything else, but they are designed to make the hardest of corners easy to take. They also exaggerate sensations to a great degree, where a Mercedes hides you from them. You could coax a Benz to do it just as well, it just wouldn't be as easy. A Merc is like the girl at the dance who doesn't like to dance. But she could if she had to....