Well I guess you cannot get into an accident if you are in the shop!!

All anyone has to say is "I don't give a damn about realibility and just want to go fast and walk away if I crash." Here ya go sir, here are the keys to your Bimmer....

If you say "I want to drive this car for 10 years and have minimal maint problems and not really have road feel." Here ya go sir, here are the keys to your Lexus/Acura/Infinity.

What no one has said is Mercedes has gotten their heads beaten in the last few years with quality issues.

To Wagners point don't think there is a bias in as much as the emperical evidence speaks for itself...I had three high line Japanese cars and no major problems. I had that X5 and got ass raped, but I was not prepared for the little things and the amount of attention it would require compared to what I came out of. If CR polled me I would have handed BMW thier ass on a platter with negative feedback....but it was a blast to drive and broke my heart to dump. If I brought another one I would be better prepaid mentally to deal with the little pain in the ass things that come up.