Tune ups

Check your owners manual, but you've got the time frame about right.

ok, cool, thanks!

There is no such thing as a "tune up" anymore. Follow the manual.

What are you talking about? There is such thing as a "tune-up." You're thinking of the manual's scheduled maintenances, which may include a tune-up(spark plugs+wires, belts, ect).

Anyway, just get your car checked out peridodically...if you get a check up every 6 months you should be ok...of course you probably want to change your oil more often than that(which I'm sure you already know).

What, then, is a "tune up", exactly?

Call your mechanic and ask him.

Spark plugs, wires, belts, other items...

I used to wrench for a living (and still do on my own vehicles)--I don't HAVE a mechanic. A "tune up" used to be plugs, wires, coil, cap, rotor, points & condenser, carb mixture adjustment, setting the timing, fuel & air filters, PCV valve, & checking the belts.

Now, most of that is gone: plugs routinely go 100,000 miles, many cars no longer have hi-voltage igniton wires, distributors have been on the way out for 15+ years (my wife's 1986 Buick doesn't have one), points have been gone for 30 years, most timing is no longer adjustable (controlled by the ECU), there hasn't been a new car without fuel injection in the US in over 10 years.

The owner's manual will have a schedule for everything else: belt replacement, air filter changes, fuel filter changes.

Look at most places (Pep Boys comes to mind). Read the fine print, & you see that the "tune up" means you've simply paid someone $50-100 to replace the spark plugs. The last set I bought was for my Cadillac: 8 Bosch Platinum plugs cost me less than $20, & installation was about 30 minutes.

The term is completely meaningless.