Haven't seen it myself but my mechanic colleague tells me that the soft top mechanism is mainly plastic - yuck...have you seen how much Stainless there is in ours.
He also tells me of soft top problems with Jag recommending periodic fluid changes (at 180UKP a hit) when not needed....but that's main dealers for you. Bet MB isn't different here I'm pretty sure.
Thankfully I avoid them - main dealers that is!! Stick to the SL in fact forget the XK8/R and buy a R229
