LMN my brother, I'm going to give an answer regarding the car question may sound like a joke but it isn't. It is, howeve, 100% a personal perspective.
The Merc holds only slightly more than zero interest for me. I say "slightly more than zero" because a Porsche holds exactly zero. I IF I were going to get a "vanity" car it would be a mid-80s El Camino tricked out as a lowrider. Why would a middle aged white dude want that? I spent a lot of time in New Mexico and lowriders looked REALLY fun. An El Camino I worked on would be a labor of love -- getting it working and looking good would be the point, not driving.
But I can't pull that off as a middle aged white dude. Just bought a car recently -- I considered the Camry and Prius. Did the former. Still own my older Camry, which Mrs. Zip and I use as a second car. I get no pleasure out of driving -- it is a way to get from point A to point B, period. Don't need more car than that.
But my DREAM car? That would be a '74 Gremlin. Am I joking? NO!!! Why? I had one as a teen. Bought it for $75. Only the passenger side door worked. Stalled all the time and something weird went on with the starter solenoid. BUT I LOVED THAT FUCKING CAR!
I replaced the transmission with my buddy. Two stoned dudes listening to the dead working on the car. Loads o' fun. I still remember the time we forgot a can to catch the transmission fluid and used the can we were using to store nuts we took off. Burned out three solenoid a so we decided to drill a hole into the engine compartment and ran a heavy gauge speaker wire out to it -- would press a switch inside to start. Used to tell girls it was a Led Zepplin car 'cos you "went in through the out door". If a chick doesn't find that shit funny she isn't going to fuck a dude that drives a Gremlin anyway. So it was a screening tool.
What does that piece of crap car mean to me? Youth. Fun. Friendship. Good memories. Cruising to the "hippy hole" in the Jemez (a hot springs where you'd mostly get naked and smoke dope).
And you CANNOT get that for the $100K you'd spend on an S550 (or whatever you lease it for). That piece of crap AMC kicks ass compared Mercedes, Porsche, Lamborghini, etc.
AMC -- BORN TO BE FREE!!!