OP, i know few people who have amg gt and they have no issues with the car , so I guess some cars suffer from what you mentioned above. Amg gt couples sell well I think over GT roadsters, not sure why.The GTC( 550 horses, 500 lb ft torque) is a real powerful car that you can feel the torque rushand has rear wheel steering like 911 which makes a big difference in cars agility . 911s have much better resale value compared to amg gts

look into the amg 6.2 liter v8 headbolt failures. I owned a c63 with that engine.

Because other small manufacturers choose to save r and d money and use an existing engine doesn’t make it legendary.

Its off putting to me if the engine is shared on too many platforms. Porsche does it with Audi on a few.

I suggest your friend sign on to one of the merc forums and read about some of the issues. I researched MB for almost a year. Seemed like owners of merc were always complaining about maintenance issues. Big problems with rock damage to front radiators.

I always complain about maintenance issues on my Mercedes and on my Porsches. Ironically, the only car I have right now that doesn’t seem to give me issues is a Ferrari (which does driven on a weekly basis).

- My 991.2 GTS was at the dealer for 2 weeks running down an electrical issue. They gutted most of the interior and found a short in the harness running through the body over the left rear wheel. On the upside, I did get to know the Macan really well over that time (spoiler, don’t buy a base model).
- I get more flats on the GTS than any car I have ever owned and each time it has to go back to the dealer for tire replacement (centerlocks and I do have tire-and-wheel protection). It costs just $50 each time but it’s a massive PITA.
- My brand new Panamera Turbo S E-hybrid Sport Turismo was in my hands for just 4 hours and 20 miles before the check engine light lit up. It’s been at the dealer for 10 days now and the latest is that they are going to install a test wiring harness for the engine to see if they can isolate the problem. The Cayenne the dealer gave me off the lot (not a loaner, dealer plates) is better than the Macan. I’ve put 1k miles on the Cayenne, pretty happy with it but I would prefer a turbo next time. Maybe if they end up buying back my Panamera, I’ll get one.
- My AMG E63S had the front brakes done, $1k a piece for the rotors and $600 an axle for pads. Nothing exceptional, just normal wear-and-tear at 36k miles... but it’s the 3rd time around for brakes on this car. I didn’t get a loaner but a month earlier when I was in for a strange noise coming from the pedals (which resulted in a new pedal assembly being installed) they gave me the GLC crossover and it drove surprisingly nice... much better than the C class they gave me 6 months ago when the lower control arm bushings cracked in half.

All these cars have maintenance issues and given the complexity and cost of parts, I wouldn’t own any of them out of warranty. As for radiator damage, the first thing I did on my GTS was install Zunsport grills on the crap catchers in the front bumper.