It took me about a year and a half or so, though a bit of that was doing the extra program setup by Ford (their program had a lot more time devoted to electrical theory and testing, as well as working with full sized, actual cars instead of the cut apart trainers the rest of the school was basically).
Yeah, getting used to the size of the car I'm driving is pretty much the one thing that makes me nervous when driving unfamiliar vehicles (I'll usually angle the mirrors down far enough to see the lane lines in relation to the car while still being able to see properly).
-Worst car brands that are actually cars (otherwise it would go to any one of those awful, tiny little Chinese/Indian "cars" with all the accident protection of a tin foil lasagna pan) would probably be Hyundai. Best is much trickier, as I have always been more of a classic car guy, and a lot of car companies these days are moving towards a bland, crossover singularity and seem determined to kill small/medium sized cars.
-Most important is probably going to be brake fluid. While it doesn't need to be done regularly (about every three years, depending on the climate), due to it's properties it does go bad and lose it's ability to withstand the heat bleed off from the brake pads. Air filters, both the one for the engine, and (if you have one in your vehicle) the one for the AC system. Also worth noting, if you have a car that has a GDI engine (gasoline, direct injected) you will need to clean off your air intake valves as they will build up carbon on them. This is because, for emission control reasons, unburnt vapors from the combustion chamber are vented back into the air charge for the next cycle. Normally, most vehicles mix the gasoline and air charge before it enters the cylinder through the valve, but GDI engines work similarly to diesel engines and spray the fuel right into the cylinder. Also, check your tire pressure. Running them too low (tire sags, wears out the outer edge or "shoulder", and damages the sidewall) or too high (tire bulges out, inner portion of tire wears faster than outer) can cause extra wear/damage to the tire.
-Unneeded? Tire slime/fix-a-flat. Never use it. Not only will it ruin the TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) sensor inside the tire, it will leave a horrible mess for us to clean up once you bring it in. Transmission fluid should be able to go about 100k miles before needing to be flushed, but always check your owner's manual for the vehicle for the maintenance schedule (and check which climate/usage schedule it is, a car driven sparingly in farm country midwest will need maintenance less often than one driven in stop and go traffic in 110+ degree weather in Los Angeles).
-Eh, on the one hand I kind of agree that people need to learn to use their mirrors properly (and remember they can look around too), on the other I have seen some rather small and poorly shaped mirrors that made it real awkward to look out of, not to mention times such as glare from the sun making it difficult to actually see.
