I never had to take that one ('01 C240) in for maintenance. It was already there.
Seriously, didn't mean to pooh-pooh the brand. I just had a lemon. I'm sure Lexus has their share of them too.
Probably bad luck since that was a Pre-Chrysler Mercedes and was properly built. I would happily drive a 90s W124 or R129 even today.
A 2002-2005 Mercedes is the one you wanna avoid since they were the worst built Mercs on record. You can blame Jurgen Schrempp for cost cutting although now they are back to building proper cars again (after accruing losses in billions) although Lexus is probably still better in reliability.
Any Mercedes from E-Class and above after 2010 is a good old tank with the doors still possessing that vaulty thunk, the seats feeling like chesterfields and the plastics not feeling plasticky.