as to reliability of this 2006 cl500. i have its maintenance history, now. in 2 years and 2 months, the lessee only took this car in for scheduled maintenance. in 19,675 miles, no maintenance out of the scheduled.

i think you can conclude that by the manufacturing end of this model, daimler had gotten it right. and this particular car may have been the last 215 manufactured[10/06].

regrettably, in the jurgen schremmp[sic] era, first year versions were not so stolid.

this history goes back into the 140 era. prior to 1996, you didn't want to acquire one.

post 1996, they became pretty bullet-proof.

the same can be said for all of the "command" vehicles. from 2000-2004, i think that the record is clear that they were garage queens.

when you are acquiring any vehicle, never acquire the first model year. i learned that lesson the hard way with the first e300 in metro-houston. a lovely car in many respects. just not prepared for an area with incidents of heavy rainfall and high humidity.

so it goes.