So My brother has a 2001 ML320 - eats a quart of oil every 600 to 1,000
miles.  He has to carry a quart or two with me at all times.  But that
is within manufacturer's specifications so its OK.  Did the Germans
design it to eat oil?  Since I'm a product of the American public school
system I guess I'm too stupid to understand this "feature."
Then there's the leaking transmission.  Twice, once under warranty and
once out.  The sunroof leaks.  Covered under warranty - two weeks out of
warranty it happens again.  He declined the $1,100 repair.

Then there's Dad's 2004 ML350.  Another transmission leak all over the
garage floor.  Covered under warranty.  Happened again - technically out
of warranty but the dealer decided to give Dad a break and only charge
half.  How generous.  The 350 has 65,000 miles on it so far.
The rear window decided to break - the gear busted.  $1,000 to fix.  I
cheated, found a wrecked ML and took the part off the derelict and had
it installed by some old dude down the road.  $40.
Both MLs have the build quality of a Dodge. Check out the felt on the
left hand side A-pillar.

http://www.imagebam.com/image/d6b73042261469

This is the kind of crap I would expect from a Chevy with a sticker
price of $25,000, not a $40,000+ luxury SUV.

Here's a list of the Top Ten reasons/excuses MB seems to imitate Chevy
these days.

10.  Its only a problem with the US built ML series.  Vehicles built in
the Fatherland are flawless.
9.  The oil consumption is due to your brother's driving.
8.  The transmission issues are because you actually drove the vehicle
on a road other than the Autobahn.  How dare you?
7.  You should expect this kind of quality from a low end vehicle.  If
you want better quality get a ML63 - peasants deserve low quality.
6.  In Germany motor oil is taxed.  By not buying oil (and thus not
paying the tax) you are a lag on society.  This is simply Mercedes' way
of forcing you to pay your dues.
5.  Opening the hood is a privilege.  In Germany we pay a tax every time
we want to look at our beautiful engine.  It costs us €5.00 per hood
opening - enforced by CCTV cameras.  It costs an extra €0.75 if we want
to squeeze one off.
4.  Two words: Glory hole.
3.  Arbeit macht frei!
2.  Quality Control Engineers were too busy watching German scat DVDs to
give a rat's a.s about some a.shole's tranny.  The only tranny they care
about is the one getting sh.t on in at 0:41:11.
1.  Auto workers were too traumatized when they realized the vagina
getting pummeled on aforementioned DVD was actually that of a shaved poodle.