Years ago my wife and I took a trip out into rural Queensland, Australia in this crappy old 1976 Toyota Corolla. I had already replaced most of the car's moving parts and had a wide range of spare parts in the trunk. Still it seemed crazy so when I got to a pub in Quilpie, I asked the bar keeper what sort of cars the locals drove. I expected him to tell me that everyone drove Range Rovers or super reliable 4-wheel trucks. Nope, people around there didn't have much money so most of them drove around in old Japanese wrecks much like mine. Local opinion was that it was safer and cheaper to drive a cheap but repairable car and bring along a complete set of tools and parts.

If I was on the surface of Mars, I'd be much happier in a spacecraft that I could repair versus a super reliable spacecraft that was unrepairable.

Gary