If I already bought it, was the negativity needed?

I spoke with local non-dealership Benz mechs, they said 2006-2009 can be terrible due to the Daimler Chrysler joint. And it is these that are being bought at a more rapid rate due to their more recent affordability. Thus the reasoning behind the "horror" repair stories.

And that info played into the fact that the 2007 4matic (which I heard is crap) was cheaper than the 2005.

He said for the most part 2005 and older are built from a solid piece of granite. And the only major thing I may have to look forward to, is a supercharger rebuild, otherwise it should hit 300K.

I had a 190E in high school that had 238,000 on the clock.