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It depends on what you're looking for.
I had a coffee yesterday witha friend with a 1991 ES250 Lexus. Very nice car when new. He's owned it since new, and has taken care of it. It has only 146,000km's on it.
It runs great, and has had few repairs. Reliable? You bet!
However, compared to my 1990 190E with over 2x as much mileage, here's the difference:
The Lexus' doors are starting to sag. The frameless windows leak air like crazy. My 190E's doors slam shut with precision like the day the car was new.
The Lexus' seats are sagging badly and all the interior bits are faded and old looking. My 190E's interior is in great shape.
The Lexus' paint is faded and looking pretty tired. My 190E's paint shines and many people think the car is 2-3 years old, not nearly 15.
The Lexus has been reliable, but is visibly worn and getting very tired. Our rough roads have taken their toll on this car. It rattles quite a bit now (the 190E does not).
So, what's the diff? The Mercedes-Benz cars may have a spotty repair record (the ML is the worst of the non-S-Class cars...) but time may be on it's side. I can't speak to the newest models, but in my MB experience, they age better than just about anything else on the road.
If your priority is 5-7 years of reliable motoring and you can live with the car aging rapidly past that point, then most any luxury make will work very well for you. Lots of people feel this way, and they have lots of great cars to choose from. If you want a car that feels great at 15 years old, you're stuck picking between various MB models...
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