Whaaat? I waded through 12 pages of this, and it ends there??? I don't even get to know when mmret got married???

Sounds like the Merc is for you. When you want to get it. But you gotta get what you really, really want. Who cares about technical comparisons with potential competitors, etc.

In your position (young, can pay cash), it's the gut that rules. Plus, a Merc convertible hardtop screams "Oh baby, I'm so sexy."
Need to test drive any car thoroughly though, as I'm sure you'll want to. And more than once.