One way to evaluate whether something is expensive is to compare it’s cost to the total cost of owning the car. Synthetic fluid is virtually nothing compared to the cost of buying a new car; or installing a new motor or transmission.
My dad used to say, “penny wise and pound foolish.” It was interesting to watch him, because he was the most penny wise and pound foolish man I knew in my life. Good man, but he would get so wrapped up in some small item, he’d let the big things whiz by him.
In the Fifties, someone bailed our hay and left the bales on the ground, and we’d have to muscle them onto the wagon, 100 bales at a load. Sometimes we’d see black clouds coming from the West, and were frantically trying to get as many under the roof as we could. He’d stop us, carefully sweep a few cents of chaff into a basket from the wagon, while a couple hundred bales of hay were about to get soaked.
Keep your eye on the big picture, as well as the small items.