Time changed, I won't say we were stupid.
Hey, my other two I bought in that era, one is the James Bond's gun, the other is the famous 1911, they were no better. They ALL needed to be fixed. Particular the Gold Cup, it was expensive at the time.
I am buying a Glock this week, I have to see what is so great about it. People said they never fail. I have to see whether the new generation is really that much better in reliability.
$400, I won't buy the 459 nor the 659 where you can get a brand new M&P or Glock for $459 MSRP. I am not saying the new one is definitely better, but why buy something from yesterdecade for almost the same price as the new one. It's one thing like me that already own it and made reliable already. It's another thing to buy a USED one almost the same price as a new one today. I'd take my chance on the new one.
Another thing that might be more important, you don't know how many rounds the former owner shot through the gun already. People all said you can put 10K, 20K rounds through a gun and it's ok. That is not my experience. I broke two guns, one is the Ruger Mark II bull barrel .22LR that was a target gun. The Baretta 950, a small 25ACP. I put about 6000 round on the Mark II, the main spring housing broke. More importantly, it SHOT LOOSE. The grouping started to get bigger before it mainspring housing broke. I put about 2000 rounds through the little Berreta, also the main spring broke. The aluminum frame kind of worn out also.
Of cause you can always replace parts and make the gun last longer, BUT can you guaranty it's not going to break at the time you really depends on it after a few thousand rounds through it? I depends on my 659 for home defense, I put about 1000 rounds total, A few hundred rounds after I fixed it to make sure it's absolutely reliable. I am NOT shooting it anymore when the gun is still new.
I shot much more round on the gun I don't depend my life on, I shot with my Gold Cup for target as it's accurate. The 659 is NO WHERE consider accurate.