Should I create a maintenance plan for my database or use jobs? I tried creating a Maintenance Plan on my SQL Server 2008 database and was impressed by some of the things that are available out of the box.  However, after it was created, it seemed difficult to customize.  This left me wondering if I should have just created SQL jobs with the activities I wanted done.  Are there any benefits to using the maintenance plan over manually creating SQL jobs?
I can't think of any benefits, but I am also biased towards using my own jobs for maintenance.

I think that MPs are very good for new or accidental DBAs, as they allow for some maintenance activities to be done (which is better than having none at all). But as most DBAs progress in their experience they tend to start developing their own custom scripts instead.

HTH