First look at this CLS 'Special edition'?

Totally beautiful but with typically terrible MB reliability.

Totally beautiful but with typically terrible MB reliability.

Thadon5 you need to make yourself familiar with the latest Consumer Reports study of reliability. To my knowledge it is not associated with JD Powers and it is new news. The April 2005 edition has some interesting lists:

For example "most satisfying" - out of 32 cars which scored highly in this area, only one Mercedes (the SL) made the list compared to 5 Lexus models (LS, SC, RX, GX, LX). BMW had 2 the Z4 and M3.

Predicted reliability - the top 3 are Scion, Lexus and Toyota. The bottom 3 are Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Land Rover

Individual model predicted reliability for 2005 models -

Most reliable sporty car: Lexus SC
Least reliable sporty car: Mercedes SL (Mercedes
CLK was also in the top three least reliable)

Most reliable sedan: Lexus LS (Lexus IS and Toyota Camry were the others in the top 3)
Least reliable sedan: Mercedes S class

My understanding is that the Consumer Reports research is conducted among thousands of real folks who drive real cars and have real world opinions. Unlike Autospies, Consumer Reports is not swamped by advertising from Mercedes.

Other real world data, check out Mercedes sales calendar year to date both worldwide and in the US - down 10-20%. Remember Autospies predicts a strong 2005 for Mercedes!!!