^^^ “mechanical empathy” 👍 I like that.
You drive something long enough, you can “feel” the subtleties of what the machine is doing internally. I think that is one of the most valuable abilities I learned growing up around mechanically minded folks. If you know how something is put...
My ‘97 LX had the HG replaced at ~ 40K by a Lexus dealer under warranty in ‘98. Now it’s at ~ 350K and still has great compression.
So…, not the original HG, but it is a 1998 HG that has over 300K on it and is still going strong.