I hope the original poster is properly reassured regarding the reliability; it's effectively a non-issue with the maintenance regimes in place in the western world. What struck me, though, is his lack of appreciation of what our money actually buys us. The flying experience is, to most of us, incomparable with any other channel for our discretionary currency. I've taken pride in the maintenance and appearance of aircraft I've owned and operated but, in the end, it's the flying experience that counts.
Aircraft are more like boats than like cars: you can expect to have to do little (and sometimes not so little) things to them all the time, whether they are 1 or 50 years old. Getting into the mindset of appreciating the flying experience, and double-checking the critical safety factors (fuel, weather, aircraft systems, ...) is what it's all about. I hope you come to appreciate that in your training but, if you find that you really are in the mindset of wanting to walk in, kick the tyres and light the fires on the newest high performance aircraft you can find, do yourself and your loved-ones a favour and channel your currency into another hobby. Good luck.
Last edited by tecman; 27th Apr 2013 at 10:54.