...On the other hand, if you have the money for it I would instead recommend choosing vitamins based on actual relevant factors, like time-release variants (very useful for non liposoluble vitamins), particular variants of minerals that are more absorbable, additional ingredients like provitamins, antioxidants etc.
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You don't think bioavailability is important?
I think bioavailability is good, that's why I said so. Why are you quoting the text where I specifically said so and then try to imply I say otherwise?
Having said that, all ingredients in centrum are plenty bioavailable, although as I said you can pay more to have even better.
Pregeletanized Corn Starch, Modified Food Starch, Alcohols, Dyes, Sucrose (processed sugar), Maltodextrin (sugar), Hydrogenated Palm Oil....this is a list of respectable ingredients? I didn't go into detail and only mentioned one because, well, I didn't want to 
Any amount of these in the diet over "0g" is too much, imho. These ingredients is why Centrum is dirt cheap.
I totally disagree with this. Saying that -microscopic- quantities of these perfectly normal molecules used in packaging are bad is just completely inconsistent with reality, physiology and biochemistry.
Think of the healthiest natural foods you can think of (fruits and vegetables for example) and they will contain way more of the same exact molecules that make up starch, sugar, and fats you listed.
Physiologically there is absolutely no way that these small amounts of perfectly ok nutrients are detrimental in ANY way.
The reason why these are usually 'bad' in a diet is because they are taken in -large amounts- (Hundreds of Millions times greater) -in place- of alternatively better nutrients (essential fats etc).
As far as different amounts for athletes, that's true, basically different metabolic reactions like energy conversion need more vitamin Bs, and you need more antioxidant vitamins like C, more minerals for electrolyte balance etc. Normal Centrum and such are balanced for the average person and activity. But the extra food you eat also has many of those nutrients, so something like centrum can still cover your ground (some useful minerals are hard to find in normal food because of soil conditions etc so a pill covers your basis there), and luckily healthy foods that contain energy also usually contain vitamin Bs and antioxidants, and so forth.
But yes getting a more sports-oriented formulation would be a valid reason to pay a bit more for more expensive brands of vitamins. Looking for one pill that doesn't have a microscopic amount of sugar (way less than 1 calorie anyways) would instead not be a good criteria (if you did that with food you could not eat any fruits or vegetables or dairy or honey etc).
