Really? Our old GL550 was had solid too, there were a few electrical gremlins in the beginning but they were all solved pretty quickly. But quality of materials has gone up noticeably, on the dash and doors especially. As to resale value in 2008 we bought it for 89,000 otd and 120,000 miles later traded in for in Jan '14 for 23,000. Compared to LX's of 2008 with 120,000 go around 35-40k retail so trade in would probably be 32-37k. MB are fantastic vehicles usually unless you get bad one out of the batch or you don't keep it properly maintained.

 

I've always liked my MB's cars, as long as they were under warranty. MB Was controlled by engineers and they were built not to a price point. My 1984 SL and my 1987 450 were works of engineering art. My 2004 SL500, not so much. My 2008 SL550, 2009 CL550, 2009 CLS63 AMG were great cars but I felt the accountants were too involved. I had the high performance package on my CLS63 AMG, needed new brakes at 6k miles and did not drive it hard. Toyota/Lexus is engineered for long term quality and dependability, where MB does not seem to in this day and age have the same focus on dependablity. JMHO