I think the question that all owners must ask of themselves when considering car preparation is "am I bovvered?"
I'm not, Tarka is a car and I have had 8 years of enjoyment without doing more than normal cleaning. I did once buy polishing mops to polish the exhausts, but after one go concluded I wasn't bovvered...
I admire those for whom their car is a work of art, to be pampered, fussed over and shown off to others. But I don't want to be one of them.
I also wonder about ultra low mileage cars that are, in effect, garage queens.... they deteriorate in storage, despite looking better than new and when woken from their slumbers many require much mechanical work.
Whatever works for you, enjoy it, but please accept us sluts that feel that as long as it is mechanically sound how it looks is less important, especially in hidden places!