The guidance of Doc Love, relationship advice for guys was misleading at best. Your father advised anything to do with women or wheels spelled trouble. Your habitually divorced and chronically broke uncle agreed, and then grumbled something about prenups. And while mom was eager to chime in, her suggestions were all “nice girls” whose alphabets clearly lacked the letter “O.”

Turns out that there was a great relationship adviser in the family after all, but it was in the garage. There are in fact quite a few things cars can teach you about relationships -- like the finer points of compromise between high-performance video lust and the still-attractive but more practical realities. So before your creepy cousin with the molester van weighs in on the things cars can teach you about relationships, let us show you some useful advice.

Never buy from a friend

It seems logical enough on the surface. Since you rarely know the full history of a used car, why not buy from a trusted source? During your buddy’s time with the car, you got to know its strengths, its quirks and its overall personality. Maybe it wasn’t a long-term thing with him, but there’s no reason it couldn’t be if you had the car, right? Not bloody likely, and it’s even truer in relationships.

There’s no such thing as an easy project

We see a formerly hot car and we want to rescue it. Or take the unappreciated and cosmetically bring it back. Maybe there’s a quirky one that’s a little rough around the edges but could be a lot of fun with some refinement. In reality, few guys have the patience and resources to see it through. Relationships are no different. You may want to be a Better Man overall, but you don’t want to be forced to fit an idealized relationship. Don’t expect her to change to accommodate yours either.

Flashy cars get noticed

Subdivision activity came to a reverent standstill recently as we piloted the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG press car toward some isolated twisting roads nearby. Months earlier when we positioned our BMW 750Li xDrive tester far away from other parked cars, we returned from our quick store run to several sets of footprints in the freshly fallen snow around the thankfully untouched car. It’s similar with attractive girlfriends. It’s an ego stroke to be seen with them, and while they can take care of themselves, it’s still worrisome knowing the evil that men do.

Take a test drive before you commit

You figure out the cars you like and begin searching for them in person and online. You definitely don’t buy sight-unseen; you don’t even commit to the first car that seems like the right one at first glance. Many are going to seem right, but you’ll never really know without spending quality one-on-one time on a test drive. It’s just like relationships. Going all-in without going all-in is what your ancestors did. And why do you think they never smiled in those old pictures?

Listen to your car

From time to time, we take our cars for granted. As time and miles go by, we get wrapped up in other things -- like our careers, our kids, hanging out with the guys, whatever. Then one day, out of the blue, there’s a major and total breakdown. The tow truck driver can’t believe you didn’t hear anything wrong beforehand, like when your camshaft launched itself a half mile down the road. You have to be a Better Man and listen in your relationship too. You can’t ignore everyday distractions altogether, just listen to her more.

Sexy rides are usually high-maintenance rides

You can argue with us all day, but we firmly believe cars have personalities. That said, take a typical exotic car owner: He gets as much or more pleasure showing it off as he gets from one-on-one time. That’s because he’s rolling the dice on the car’s personality with every start of the engine. Will it be breathtaking, or a several-thousand dollar heartbreak? We everyday people don’t see the extensive and expensive maintenance that’s part and parcel of ownership. Now, equate that to the Creamsicle riding shotgun and you'll understand the correlation.

If you find the prospect of “tying the knot” stressful, you may want to consider very real evidence that married or partnered men are healthier and live longer than their single counterparts. Contrary to conventional wisdom, men in committed relationships experience less stress, reducing the chances of chronic disease and sudden illness. Health and marriage and the benefits for men are undoubtedly closely related.

The health benefits of marriage seem to come from lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, but it’s a combination of factors that makes walking down the aisle toward a committed relationship healthier than going it alone. Certainly, there are advantages to maintaining a perpetual string of one-night stands, but the concept of health and marriage may trump the idea for some men.

The complex link between health and marriage

A 1996 Rand Study, titled Marital Status and Mortality: The Role of Health, states men in their 50s, 60s and 70s have lower mortality rates compared to never-married, divorced or widowed men, but the reasons are complex.

One suggestion is that marriage encourages healthy behaviors that include not smoking, avoidance of excessive alcohol intake, better nutrition, and care in times of illness. Men who are married are less likely to engage in risky behaviors like substance abuse or drinking and driving. Parenting within a marriage further promotes healthy behavior.

Stress hormones lower for married men

Researchers from the University of Chicago found that marriages and romantic commitments lower stress hormones.

Dario Maestripieri, Professor in Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago, and lead author of Between- and Within-sex Variations in Hormonal Responses to Psychological Stress in a Large Sample of College Students, says that "although marriage can be pretty stressful, it should make it easier for people to handle other stressors in their lives. What we found is that marriage has a dampening effect on cortisol responses to psychological stress, and that is very new."

The study was conducted on 500 masters degree students who were given a series of stressful computer games. Among the group, 40% of the men and 53% of the women were married or in a relationship. The researchers collected saliva samples to measure cortisol and testosterone levels, before and after the games.

The surprising finding at the start of the study was that single men and women had higher levels of the stress hormone than married participants. Men in a committed relationship had lower testosterone levels -- findings that the scientists say happens in primates and birds when males engage in fatherly behavior. Single students in the study had higher testosterone levels that “can potentially influence many aspects of an individual’s response to environmental challenges including tendency to take risks, psychomotor function and coordination, and cognitive performance.”

 Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif and Akshay Kumar in their Qawali number for Farah Khan’s ‘Tees Maar Khan’. The song has Sallu and Akki in a pretend-fight over Kat (hmm…imagine that!).

The real question is – Were Salman and Katrina fighting during the shooting? Nothing of that sort it seems. Apparently the couple (or former couple) were fairly cordial to one another and had fun while shooting the song (thanks to buffers Akshay and Farah maybe).

While Salman and Akki were dressed in colourful vests, scarves and caps; Kat made for a rather sober picture, considering she plays an item girl in the movie.