[c_moscardi]

This is so true. I was really surprised not to find more posts like these, because working on your own car is very fun, gets you away from the computer for a bit, and definitely embodies the DIY mentality most of us on this site have.

That said, if you're in the market and inexperienced [or maybe even experienced], take a prospective car to a professional mechanic. Don't buy a junk car and expect to be able to fix everything yourself, unless you want a fun side project which will require a ton of man-hours [and more money than you'd expect] to complete. But on the overall, doing your own maintenance and fixing smaller problems you encounter [timing belt issues? no biggie!] is very very enjoyable.