Several comments.
Thanks DslBnz for that link to the article on the 6.9 (I never knew there was a 6.9...but I'm reletively new as a MB fan, 3 yrs). But that was what I was referring to and the time when MB produced cars not to necessarily be "politically correct" in the automotive sense of the term, but just to produce the best damn cars on the road.
To Turnne1: If I had paid $96,000 11 years ago for this 500SEL I would agree with your assessment 100%. But, when you can acquire one of these fine automobiles for less than $12,000 and have virtually no problems then it's a good deal considering the unsurpassed luxury and safety. I will admit that the car suffers from lousy Becker audio componants (my cd changer is totally in-op), but that is more a problem of Becker than MB...actually it IS a MB problem as they have used Becker for way too long and don't see the error of their ways.
Perhaps I was wrong about the M-class factory in Alabama. I would have sworn that was an old Chrysler plant. Whatever the case, the M-class has an absolutly horrible repair record and I can't imagine it is simply coincidence.
And finally in response to dtkw....you are absolutely correct. We won't know the results of this particular thread for 10-20 years from now: Will the current models being produced last that long and become legends like so many MB have in the past, or will they simply be littering junkyards like every other make out their because of more concern from bean counters than engineers.

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1996 SL320 97K miles
1996 C220 130k miles
1992 500SEL 170k miles <---sold
1986 300E 216k miles <---sold