I think people forget that back 30 years ago, the general consensus was that, at 100,000 miles, your car was D-E-D dead, go ahead and dig a hole six feet deep and drive the Coupe DeVille in face first.


Of course, NADA, Kelly, etc STILL hold this belief when they start price quoting a 10 year old car with 110,000 miles as being "high mileage" when some cars (like a Mercedes Diesel) aren't getting broke in good till 150k miles! (Now THAT is an experience - the first time you see what the oil looks like dripping out of an M-B diesel!)



But the 7500 mile oil change interval (I have to do that to keep the car serviced to qualify for the "Free Tires For Life" program from the dealer. What a COOL profit center that program is!) makes perfect sense to me on a car whose first tune-up is at 103,000 miles. So I just take the car in every 7500 miles and throw $25 at them to change the oil (plus then add on all the other regular service from the Owner's Manual) and I get free Michelins. Sweet.


But then.... I'm happy to say that my only self-service knowledge of this car is a vague knowledge of where to put in the gas, and how to load all 6 CDs in one sitting.