The point of the posting was not to say the car is terrible, but rather it was intended to inform a potential buyer of my experience with the car he's considering (2006 R500). No doubt, some of the referenced services were merely scheduled maintenance, some were expected wear and tear, and some were more or less minor problems. The problems I've hinted at are the same as regularly surface on this board (i.e., hard shift 2-1, transition locked in limp mode, leaking power steering pump, groaning power steering reserve (twice), loose steering column, burnt out rear taillights (twice) requiring replacement of the entire wiring harness, failed A/C control locking temp at 60 degrees, stuck window child lock requiring replacement of the entire assembly, sunroof came off track, &c., &c. as well as the normal stuff, such as new brake rotors, pads, change transmission fluid, bleed brake fluid, coolant.) My point being, when I was thinking about buying this R500, I would have never expected to have it in for service every six months, especially a car that Mercedes had inspected and certified. I hesitated on value of a $3k+ extended warranty. With hindsight, I probably still would have bought the car but would not have hesitated a moment on the extended warranty and zero deductible.
As to your question, should the repairs be expensive? Well, maybe. I agree it's a $70K+ car (when new in 2006) and a good portion of that cost, I imagine, may very well be directly related to the cost of better technology and higher quality parts. The braking system with its ABS and various senors, no doubt, costs more to manufacturer and more to keep operating perfectly. Safety's worth something, no. But with that said, should the brake pads cost so much more than other manufacturers. Also, for instance, should a power steering pump cost $600? I'm really not sure. If the pump is that much better than the offerings of other manufacturers, why does it fail? Crafting a pump that doesn't fail at 40k miles or simply does not leak isn't unique to Mercedes. (I fully appreciate that quality doesn't necessarily mean reliability. High performance or technical wizardry may be more important. Maybe reliability wasn't Mercedes chief concern when making the power steering pump, but on such a prosaic part, what other concern could have trumped reliability?) I more than happy to pay for quality, but it seems sometimes that Mercedes "charges an arm and leg" and still doesn't deliver the "reliability" of lower cost parts of other manufacturers. Following, the same example as above, I have had the power steering "fixed" three times. I guess I thought "you get what you pay for" meant if you buy something cheap, don't be surprised it if breaks. And conversely, excessively expensive purchases should be bulletproof.
I fully agree that not citing what was required at each service clouds the story. As mentioned above, some of these services were wear and tear (it is a five year old car, after all) and some of these services were merely scheduled maintenance, which all German cars require with good practical reason. (It's better to discover a problem at an annual inspection than at midnight on a dark, lonely road.) I don't, however, accept the suggestion that I've stretched out or, in some sadomasochistic way, slowly savored the car's ailments, simply so I can have more service appointments. Although I'm there almost every six month, I hate going. I bring every known problem at once, and I suspect that I'm in the great majority.
I love the car and agree that it's a great family mover. I have a family of six and can't think of a better people mover--save maybe a mini-van. I also truly love the sound and power of the V8, which may be part of the problem: Any noise that deafens that V8 kills me.
