The e-cvt box in a Toyota is no more like a manual than a Tiptronic box in a Mercedes. And I`ve just covered more than one quarter of a million miles in an E220 cdi Merc without fault.
What needs to be remembered or perhaps learnt, is that the term "for the lifetime of the car" relates to the lifetime of the production of the vehicle, ie 7 years. So, if the first time of registration is the first owner, then he has 7 years of trouble free worry. If the second owner buys the car when it is halfway through the production run, he has 3.5 years of trouble free worry, and so on.