My Opinion
  Let's talk Dollars - not Cents
  First I needed to know, how much did this car cost me, before repairs:
 
Lease Payments  36x$625

$ 22,500

Cash Down Payment $ 2,500
Trade-In MB 300TDT mint condition * $ 8,000
Extra Extended Warranty $ 2,500
   
Expenses/Investment $ 35,500
  Then there were moneys lost because I missed sales- and service calls. I am not a dreamer - I know that no manufacturer will reimburse me for that - but I cannot help it: This figure is not getting out of my mind.
 
Although the car was for more than 70 days out of
order, I was able to save some of these sales and
services by using/sharing our van. **		 $ 35,000
  The vehicle cost us over the last 3 years approximately $70,000... a lot of frustration and some customers (our strong part is turn-around time and the flexibility and availability to work on Saturdays and Sundays).
   
  Mercedes-Benz and Lone Star Inc. (Calgary) acknowledge, that something serious was wrong with this car. They came up with a special price and a non-profit deal - however, they calculated this deal on a $0-down lease.
  The first thing what caught my eye was, that my vehicle had a buy-out value of about $36,000 - if they would sell it at that price, it would be fine, but Canada-wide they had 3 of the 1999 M320 Elegance on the lots and here are the selling prices:
 
Dealer Mileage (km) Price
Three Point Motors Ltd.

58000

$ 41,900
Overseas Motors (Windsor) Inc.

63629

$ 42,900
Elite Motor Cars Ltd.

42000

$ 43,900
     
Average Price   $ 42,900
  If Lone Star Inc. (Calgary) would have thrown this $7,000 'profit' into the deal, their offer would have looked far better.
   
  * I am aware, that the vehicle was traded in on on paper for only $4,000. During the negotiations I was told, this is to keep the average price for the 'used' demo-unit up in the new-car price range. However, the marked value of the 300TDT in mint condition was in 1999 between $8,000 and $10,000. I searched Mercedes-Benz' web site for a 14-year old diesel wagon and found only one (as per 08-01-2002):
 
Dealer Mileage (km) Price
Three Point Motors Ltd. 252862 $ 13,900
  This listed car is one year older than the one I traded in, but has 40,000km less on the odometer.
  ** I got into this vehicle, because I didn't want to loose clients over the fact that I could not get out of my driveway or because my car would not start. Well, if the car was available, it would start and get me out of the drive way, but it was simply too often at Lone Star Inc. for unexpected repairs.
  We are using both vehicles at the same time for different reasons. Firstly, my wife has a job, to which she needs to drive - if she is not working, she is doing pick-ups and deliveries. Not having the ML320 available, crippled our availability and response time.
 

After all of this: "Never a Mercedes-Benz again"