Automobile's are...in a sense...like a baby...any die hard hot rodder will tell you this and believe it or not...IT'S TRUE!!! You MUST!!!...NURTURE, CARE FOR, and RESPECT your investment if you expect it to last, and if you do, IT WILL!!! The MOST important thing of all, of course is, change your oil, AT THE PROPER INTERVAL! Try to stick to this as closeley as possible! Trust me! I do this for a living and i have seen what happens! I KNOW WHAT oil DOES when left in an engine for a month or a thousand miles overdue! I Know the inner workings of an engine! Trust me you do not want to let your investment fade away bit by bit by simply not paying attention to that interval! There are of course other factors in protecting the overall investment of a "new to you" automobile! Most manufacturers now-a-days are recommending 5k and 7500 mile service intervals. DON'T LISTEN! Synthetic oils are a great investment in protecting your motor but are typically ONLY good for 5000 miles AT MOST! Mobile 1's new Product "GUARANTEED FOR 15,000 MILES" is a great product and I swear by it, BUT, I do NOT trust it past 10k and insist on changing the filter and topping off every 3K!!! Other factors in maintaining a good, quiet, dependeble, trustworthy, long lasting vehicle, include getting all your fluids flushed at proper intervals, most vehicles, most fluids are only good for about 30K, their are exceptions, I have seen a toyota or a honda go as much as 90K miles without the slightest contamination or change of color in brake fluid. This is a factor that depends on the driver, climate, and several other factors, but any fluid in you vehicle that is over five years old, or 90K miles, regardless of visual condion, is something that should be considered that you change when financialy possibly as the "SHELF LIFE" (which is the bottled, unused, and therefore non-wore) factor for ALL of these fluids, synthetic or not, is roughly a maximum of 7 years!!!! Flushing all your fluids in ANY vehicle, every 30 thousand miles is just considered good maitenence practice and should be done as far as i am considered with any vehicle under any circumstances, and that is more than anything else, JUST PROTECTING YOUR INVESTMENT!!!! AUTOMAKERS HAVE BEEN SHORTCHANGING THE CONSUMER FOR 15 years or more! Maintenence items such as brakes, light bulbs, fluid lines, tires, electrical/electronic components, glass, and body panels, that take "normal wear and tear from everyday use, are of inferior quality and they are all part of the reasons that vehicles become so cheap to buy as they do; for the technology is there to provide better product for these systems and elements and has been in most cases for quite so time now. For instance, LED lights ARE in most cases infinately more reliable rhan incandescent type which have been used, but are more expensive. Often technologies are entered prematurely and with incompatable counterparts, for instance, Metalic brake pads are great and very supperior in many ways to most any other brake medium make-ups, though when used with conventional steel rotors, can cause premature rotor wear as the pads are HARDER than the rotors and therefore wear into the rotor fast than the rotor was designed to be used. thus the rotor may wear out before the pad does, costing the owner more money in maitenence. Improper maintenence can also cause premature brake wear as having front brakes done on a car with rear drums, where the rear drum assemblies are not properly cleaned and adjusted at the same time can cause your car to use it's front brakes more than it is suppose to and can wear out a brand new set of calipers, rotors, and pads in as little as 10 thousand mile!!! YES, I HAVE SEEN IT HAPPEN!!! When your suspension is not alligned whe neccesary(or what is coomonly refered to as a 2 or 4 wheel allignment(depending on the needs of the design of the vehicle) then your tires will wear out faster than they are supposed to, thus causing you to either drive on tires that are unsafe or spend more money on a new set of tires before you should have to. Anti-Lock Brake systems, or ABS almost always now have a PUMP which is electronically controlled and has lines going into it from the master cylinder and lines coming out of it going to the wheel cylinders/calipers. These pumps often cost in excess of 1000 dollars and have VERY TINY VALVES inside them which become easily clogged with the slightest amount of debris which can be naturally occuring in a new system as it's parts wear, this is a major reason why it is so vital that these systems get flushed properly when they begin to show contamination! Automatic transmissions nowadays also have very small valves and very fine screens which become easily clogged and this is why it is recommended that these systems be flushed long before buildups and contaminates can cause problems with these systems. Power steering systems are almost always composed of what is called a RACK & PINION, picture a big pin with an angled gear on the end, and a rack of teeth on a bar inside a tube. That is what you have! This Pin (at the other end of your steering wheel) pushes and pulls that rack back and fourth to make your wheels turn. Only its not that simple, to to this, a rod on either end must move in and out of the central housing. Around these rods and around that "PIN" and where the lines that pump the fluid to and from it, not to mention the pump itself and the reservoir that supplys it, ALL HAVE SEALS! these seals are very vulnerable to contaiminates! COOLANT! Have you heard of overheating? Coolant flushes can be of the very next level of importance to oil changes as a recommended mixture of 50/50 coolant/antifreeze and water usually wears out it two full years or 30-40K miles, whichever comes first, and thus can be considered to no longer be doing it's jobs of cooling and dispearsing heat, lubricating the system it's in, and aiding the A/C system in doing it's job at keeping you cool in the summer time. Transfer cases and differential, which are found in mostly, four wheel drive, front engine/rear wheel drive, and SOME front engine/front wheel drive systems, can be considrred to need a fluid change roughly every 20-30K miles depending on the make model, and overall milage of the vehicle(as i said, new parts tend to generate a little bit of initial wear, after a first flush, systems may require less frequent maitenence). Now to cover the Makes in generals. Performance=Porsche above all else, Most every manufacturerer has it's performance models, but for all around enjoyability of driving, dependability(when properly maintained), SAFETY, and STABILITY, Porsches have all the rest topped by a significant margin. Overall dependability= HONDA w/ Toyota in a very close second. Versatility=Jeep(IH Scout's are more versatal but hard to find and maitain; Hummer's still yet more versital but VERY EXPENSIVE) earlier jeep wranglers and 2 door cherokees are amoung the most versatile vehicles in the world when they have been properly maintained(land rovers also a VERY versatile vehicle though expensive and very expensive to buy part for(which they often need wheather the driver knows it or not))... STABILE/SAFE=ALL GERMAN and SWEEDISH BRANDS(PORSCHE, MERC-BENZ, BMW, AUDI, VW, Volvo, SAAB(PLEASE note that in the last ten years, GM bought SAAB, FORD BOUGHT Volvo and land rover, and MERCEDEZ-BENZ and Chrysler Merged, of the big three american corp.'s who now either own or are a part of a formerly strictly european brand, Dialamer-Chrysler has no doubt shown the most overall benefit and progress from there change. Please also not that both Ford Motor Company and General Motors Brand Vehicles have had a tendency to by from the japanese what is already japanese, although already made in america, and try to pawn it off as their own, albeit rather obviously, to the trained eye, keep in mind that you may be paying a premium for something that you could have bought a little cheaper directly from toyota, suzuki, etc. for yourself! Chrysler used to do this with mitsubishi, no more, but keep an eye out for those older dodges and such, with a mitsubishi four cyl. or something of the sort. TO be continued.