I'd like to address something that was mentioned in the original post here, the hard shift when cold. Was this shift really hard or just delayed?? My understanding is that all Mercedes have a delayed shift when cold due to them warming up the smog equipment faster for lower emissions and better gas mileage. This makes sense and hasn't ever really bothered me. On my Benz a dirty tranny filter caused it to "flair", acting like it was slipping out of gear when changing from 2nd to 3rd, warm or cold. When I took the pan down for the filter change I was surprised to find nothing gunked up or caked up in the pan like I'd seen on many other cars before. With the new filter I have had smooth as glass gear changes. The cold delay still occurs but now I don't even think about it any more.

My .02 cents worth

210,000 miles on a '91 300SE, runs like a new one and many have thought it was brand new.

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1991 300SE (my ride, 279,000 miles, looks almost new
1954 Cadillac (21 yo son's car, he bought when age 15)
1972 SeaBird 19 ft runabout (old but solid, slant six, Volvo sterndrive perfect condition, undergoing complete overhaul and refit)
1998 Toyota Rav4 (my sons daily driver when he is in the Continental US, PROUDLY serving in US Navy)