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They all get rust. The M-B is probably a little more reliable, and the BMW is probably more expensive to fix, only because you've selected about the rarest production model short of the M-cars. For some things on that car, it's cheaper to buy ANOTHER car than to have it serviced at BMW. People with either of those models get used to going in and receiving $2000 bills- regularly.
Nothing is cheap for either the SL models or the big BMW. The 635 does have a lovely (and expensive to fix) straight-6. Those MB models all have aluminum V8's. It's expensive too, but more or less bulletproof. The only issues I've heard of with those cars is the 380SL, the earlier model, supposedly has a weak timing chain. That was fixed with the 450SL.
A friend recently restored a 1983 380SEC, which is like an SL but a longer hardtop coupe. Beautiful, impressive car for the time, and would have been devastatingly expensive to restore if not for his connections in the auto repair industry, and his own incredible patience with taking apart this beast. It did feature a good bit of rust behind the plastic lower rocker panels.
At least they all carry decent resale value when you decide you've had it with fixing them. For me, buying an older one would come down to condition, period. Rusty car? Pass, there are other better ones out there. Come on, people spent $45K on these things 15 years ago... most people kept them garaged and protected their investment.
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '87 244DL/M47- 229K, 88 744GLE- 218K, 82 245T-181K Also responsible for the care and feeding of: 88 745GLE, 231K, 87 244DL, 239K, 88 245DL, 246K
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