I guess you didn’t read what the chart represents. It shows how many days on average each of these cars sits on a lot before selling. People are snapping them up.

As for MB, one of us must have had an outlier experience; my wife only drives MB SUVs, ML, GLE, GLC-class versions. We’ve never had a speck of trouble out of one. Bought one of them (a 2014) used in 2016 with 3 CarFax incidents (all minor parking lot scrapes, but it made the price really low, too good to pass up), and even that one was literally perfect, other than routine maintenance, and not much of that. I’m no particular fan of them but they look decent, work great, and are not a pain to drive when we’re together. Although she’s loved the Defender so much since June that she always wants us to take it when we’re together, and says she’s going to test drive the smaller (GLC-sized) RR/LR options when it comes time to replace her 2019 GLC.

 

Since the 2000s I had probably 5 MLs and 1 GL. All of them (except for the first one), had exactly the same issues - oil cooler. Is a ~ 4K job to replace a design fault which costs about 150 $. All of them (including the GL ) had all sorts of electrical gremlins - from a trunk opening while driving, to dashboards lighting like a Christmas tree, unexplained engine stalls ... while driving, and many, many other gremlins - expensive ones. On the last GL I owned, we had a total engine failure at 95000 miles. Thanks God it was a CPO. The dealer fixed it, but they have tried every thing in the book to deny the claim. However, all my maintenance was done at the dealership, down to the wipers ! Eventually they had to pay for a new engine, and flat out told me - after the engine replacement - "get rid of it, fast". No warranty for the new engine (even though it had a MB certificate), and a nice and polite "don't come back" .... Don't get me wrong: it feels like a ride on a cloud when the vehicle was operational. But more often than not, at least one vehicle was in the shop. If some one thinks JLR has problems, think again. It is not even close.
You have been lucky - seriously. But then again, I am cursed by the gods of Mercedes ...

 

I often wonder how much comes down to just buying new and maintaining it. I've owned 4 new cars and never put more than tires and wipers on them. The used stuff I owned when I was younger and couldn't afford new broke down every 2-3 months. IMO few people actually maintain their vehicles. Then you have the DIY'ers which may just as often end up being a cure worse than the disease. The end result is very often buying used you end up owning someone else's problems. I'll personally never buy a used vehicle again. For me to buy used again I would have to know the owner and know they had it in for all of the scheduled maintenance and know how they drive it. With that being said I must defer to the actual Mercedes owners to comment on the brand's reliability, I was a loyal VW / Audi guy before buying a Defender, bought them all new and never had a problem. Only thing I can think of is the brake harnesses went on the 2018 Q5 but it was a warranty repair.

 

We either buy new or late-model, low-miles used most of the time, but the 2014 ML 350 was a break from that — I think it had 38,000 miles on it and 3 CarFax reports of body repairs (minor). Bought it from an Acura dealer for $27k — it was exactly the (unusual) color inside and out and the spec that my wife wanted, and we couldn’t find any other used ones in that color, and the new ones had dropped the color for 2017. So we took a chance on it and put over 30,000 additional miles on it and it was perfect. Like I said, our MB experience has been perfect. But usually we buy new, keep past warranty (on years) but rarely past 60,000 miles. We change them out because it just “feels” like time to get a new car, not because we’re starting to have trouble.

But I’ve had great luck with new or late-model cars from Porsche, Audi, all the major Japanese makes, and even GM, down through the years. Had crappy service from a few Jeeps (Wrangler, Cherokee and Grand Cherokees), but loved them for what they did well when they weren’t in the shop. The Wrangler was the worst by far, including a new engine (long-block) at 15,000 miles. Like you, I used to buy whatever I could afford, always older, always out of warranty, and that was a crap shoot that I usually lost (and often wound up fixing on my back on the side of the road.)

But then, cars from the 70s and 80s just plain sucked once they got some miles on them, and that’s the pool I was buying from.

 

Man, I have to ask: 6 straight vehicles with the same expensive problem? And you kept buying them? That’s hard to understand.

 

I've had no problem with my '21 e-class, but it's a lease so i won't own it post-warranty and judging by the used prices being higher than my current buyout, I might not even make it past the halfway mark of the lease term. That reminds me, I need to ask my JLR salesman if they do direct lease buyouts with MB.

As for the original chart, no surprise seeing the Defender and Bronco in the top 20 despite their relatively niche market appeal. Neither Ford nor LR can deliver enough to even come close to demand

 

Friend of mine tried to do that with a Merc. She was almost down with the deal and the F&I guy came in and said "just heard back from your leasing co... they won't allow a 3rd party buyout, you have to buy it first, pay sales tax (Florida) and then trade it in to us".

Apparently getting more common as they try to force turn-ins instead of flips.
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https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wh...se-11626365791

The worst part is the leasing company makes $0 off of forcing you to pay sales tax and I'm pretty sure virtually nobody says "oh, well, then let me buy another Benz (or Honda, or whatever) instead of this other car I really wanted."

It's completely passive aggressive for no benefit.

 

I agree, I don't see where deterring people from getting out of one car and into a newer one is going to benefit dealers as a whole, it could potentially even lower sales a bit IMO. Probably not a good gamble.

 

Ugh bummer