Agree with all of this.

I worked at BMW and Mercedes... would never really consider one unless some old classic came along at a phenomenal price, like a E36 M5 or something along those lines.

But for a daily driver, I’d have to see Moses split the Red Sea again for me to move away from Lexus.

Will probably move up to the LS!

That’s right. It has been years since I had to think of bmw chassis codes. Was shooting from the hip there. I would also go for a E28 M5...

This slamming German cars as being a nightmare to own out warranty is quite interesting. While many people have had mechanical problems with their German or European cars, It’s not the end of the world once the warranty expires. I myself keep European cars well beyond the warranty expiration date and don’t have really any major issues at all. The maintenance regimen is very expensive and some things need to be replaced, but these are very special cars that work and operate in a very special sophisticated way. The maintenance was expensive before the warranty expired. Now there are some era’s where some brands are known to be truly problematic.

The E55 AMG you have was engineered during the time where Daimler Mercedes was deeply in bed with Chrysler Corp. I personally do agree with you, I would never touch a Chrysler era Mercedes-Benz. They are prone to rust, the electronic systems are sketchy and they can have many faulty parts. People always remember the bad years, but never the good years. There were decades where Mercedes was the most reliable cars on earth. Up until the mid 90’s they we’re known as rock solid automobiles. Modern German cars are pretty reliable overall and yes you will have little nagging things break here and there and it can be annoying, but that’s the price you pay for having the state of the art innovation and technology that may take years to show up in the equivalent reliable Lexus or Acura.

Now I’m am a poster child for the GS. In my humble opinion Lexus did a pretty darn good job matching the Europeans with the 4th gen GS model. I chose the GS because I wanted a reliable fun to drive rear drive bias daily driver. I own several European cars all at once including a rare Maserati and Porsche. I don’t mind those cars so much because their intended purpose of being in my garage is to put a smile on my face and car show trophies on my mantle. But when it comes to my daily driver I don’t want a car that requires very expensive maintenance regimens to keep it running stellar. I tested the E350, A6 3.0T and 535i and the GS matched or surpassed all those cars feature for feature and on performance too.

If it’s your only car and you planning owning it for 15 years with just basic maintenance than yes, your going to run into some problems and most likely one should stick to Acura, Lexus and possibly Infiniti. European cars are special and they require special attention from the owner and mechanic. The more exotic the car the more exotic the parts and less likely for the components to haven't been tested millions of miles on testing equipment and real world test driving.

Here is another indicator the GS is going absolutely no where. A Lexus executive was recently quoted telling Lexus Enthusiasts.com this in a interview

The ES will rely heavily on value as a primary selling point, as the car is sized like a mid-size sedan but targets the entry-level luxury market — Lexus considers the Cadillac ATS, Acura TLX, Infiniti Q50, BMW 3-Series, Audi A4 and Mercedes C-Class as core competitors:.

If Lexus is still considering the ES a entry level model that competes with the Q50 than this is very good news that they have a proper midsize luxury vehicle in the pipeline for the future Lexus lineup.

https://lexusenthusiast.com/2018/05/...nger-audience/

Typical exec. At least he didn’t say the RX competes with Formula 1, but I don’t see either of those cars direct competitors with the ES!