Thanks All
There was a period of (cough) collaboration of GM & Merc where even stalk looms and various leccy from Corvettes etc were used in Mercs across the range.
The horrid GM 300c etc ( big Vauxhall if you will…has mostly MB cross-corp underpinnings
Tailgates & sunroofs made in a Valencia factory rotted out pronto.
Bits from here and more bits from there…tbh the W Merc era probably saw the last of true MB factory quality.
Even today, the Merc A classes owe much to Euro mills found in Nissans & Reggie Meganno sets etc.
It’s all a massive marketing con. Huge. Caveat Emptor by the bucket.
All in all, unless handcrafted and costing over 150k…most new cars are built to last the warranty and a really utter 
in terms of reliability & robust long termers
Hate to say…but just list the ND headaches…shocking. And yes, I’ll still “risk” a low miles 1 owner RF in a couple of years that’s had any potential griefs seen to.
If I could lay my mitts on a pristine barn find late 70’s Datsun 180B Estate, I’d chuck a few refurb grand on it…and it’d probably out last an ND.
Best solidly built car I ever had but far from the best designed and…erm…kinda short on chassis dynamics etc but best rot protected, was my old school rear drive Celica 2000 ST twin cam.
It’s switchgear felt like my then top of range Sanyo amplifier click-click.
Uh huh, so true. Much as I dislike moaning about the Merc because it was my father’s choice, I recall Clarkson & co generally dissing Mercedes’ build quality and thinking that they were just being nit-picky. But after seeing the black paint on the plastic petrol flap (I mean really, even the 5’s petrol filler flap is metal) being soooo thin that the grey undercoat grinned-through I was just left with the feeling “built to a price” no longer applied. It was somewhere below that.
Like you, I’d like to progress to the ND in time although panning to keep the NC for a good few years yet. It would be nice to have owned one of each mark, when the time comes! Fondest memories of a great driving car of yesteryear would be the metallic green Fiat X19 I had in the mid eighties. The 1400cc engine was just a joy and being mid-engined it had great balance and poise. But it was an 80’s Fiat so it rotted faster than I could repair and at every glance something else would fall off. Like the 5 mk 1, it had pop-ups until one day the offside headlight stayed-put and the servo drove itself through the wing. Heh, those were the days 
I had a vvt MK2 and sold it but picked up a clean MK1 eunos Roadster, as much as I do love my mk1 that vvt engine is miles better to the point where I’m tempted to do an engine swap
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Im a mk1 rs owner .
Rarely get to drive it . Having had i well set up mk2 import i do think they drive better.
Im sorely tempted to get a mk3 bbr . Mainly because i think id feel more tempted to use it more often