I'd only buy one in warranty and then only if the dealership was within a mile of my job and treated me nice.
Consumer Reports has been ripping MB a new one for the past 7 years! Things are tough in Germany these days (coincidence?) and I think the strategy they chose actually helped Daimler stay profitable but in the long run its gonna hurt. You can't keep having $60k+ cars rolling into the dealership every other month for a hood pad

Three tries on a hood pad give me a break! Thats time out of your day each time you have to go to that dealership to replace a stupid hood pad or a rain sensing wiper that comes on without a cloud in the sky

My favorite quirkiness has to do with the spare tire needing a different set of bolts on some MB's, if you try and use the original bolts you will incur $3k worth of damage or some ridiculous amount, apparently its happened a lot to new owners. You need instructions to change a spare tire Cracks me up everytime!