I hear you on the cutting part. It's one thing when you can go to the store and get a new one, quite another when you need 2-3 days for mail order plus the added cost of shipping. I used a Lokar universal kit for my truck. They are great but expensive, and in my case was missing one of the adjuster nuts, so the cable would get stuck in the wide open throttle position. It took a while to figure out what was wrong, but summit was great about sending a new one, even though a few months had gone by since I had purchased it. These kits are also expensive so one cut too short is a expensive mistake!
I had to laugh about the expense vs. ease of install too! It always seems the stuff you dump tons of money into, is the stuff, that slaps right on.