I agree with your post Jim....a couple of points though...It seems that the newer cars (last 10 years or so) are being "turned" more often...no doubt due to the popularity of leasing.....this couple with some that are a little nervous about owning one of these cars out of warranty creates some churn in ownership,and also creates quite a market for 3-4 year old used cars with low mileage
I guess one could argue that a car that was leased may not have been taken care of as well as one that was purchased as the original owner didn't care about the car long term......but some cars early 140's,3.5 litre diesels(double whammy for me) inherently had some problems....my car for example....one owner,non-lease vehicle,sold and serviced at the same MB dealership...in other words a perfect example of what I was looking for....I followed this same rule with the other 2 MB's I have owned and it worked well for me.....
but due to problems with the car...repair bills have hit about the $23-24,000(90% warranty) in the last 2.5 years...and my tech at the dealer has stated that all of the repairs are not unusual for a 140 ...it will be interesting to see in the next 5-10 years what will occur interms of maintenance as the newer cars are much more complex and expensive to repair

Warren
1992 300SD 126K
Columbus Ohio