KenSilver-
I know exactly what you mean.... after spending countless hours cleaing, polishing, and waxing every possible inch of my car, from the rockerpanels & wheels wells, to the door sills, hinges, and thhen dressin g thhe trim and tires, and polishing out the tailights etc etc etc, I find it hard to drive my 300DT AT ALL. Thank god I have a car to drive in unfavorable conditions....LOL. Yeah, Its definitely OCD behaviour, but nothhing beats that feeling when you pull a 20 year old car out of the garage that looks, feels, and smells better than new!
Have you thought about a Passat? Also, Volvos have shed their stodgy image, and their cars are really worth a closer look, esp the AWD Turbo variiants... they can proove to be very entertaining to drive, as well as versatile, comfortable and durable, without being SO nice that you would want to add on to your garage to keep it like your SL and SLK!
Not to mention, a 2 or so year old Volvo can prove to be a bargain buy!
And the new S40/V50 starts at a vary humble price, and offers a new level of technological and aesthetic design from Volvo- consider the "floating" dash for example....
Newer volvos are indeed nearly like a Lexuus in terms of reliability... but they surpass Lexus in every other aspect depending on model/engine choices and driveline options!