[Cyrus]

The LX / LC cars don't have u-joints - they utilize flex-discs (front and back) which are a fiber-reinforced rubber coupler with metal reinforced holes where the bolts pass through.

Mercedes has been using this design since the late 50s and since our cars are derived from the E-class, it has the same design.

It isn't so much because Mercedes, it is because the differential "pumpkin" is fixed to the car frame (because of independent suspension), so there is no movement of the propeller shaft (well basically none) like in a traditional Hotchkiss drive where the differential bounces up and down with the wheels (and thus there is an angle and fore/aft motion of the prop shaft)

I want to say lots of old cars had a similar kind of "rag joint" in their steering columns... normally the kind of thing in your prop shaft is called a Giubo after the Italian guy who developed it, but for some reason, literally everyone misspells it "guibo" (seriously, google both and count hits ) The construction of the thing is very similar to the way a tire is made.

It is much better than u-joint type Hotchkiss because you don't get the jerky motion of the prop shaft made by U-joints...