Being a mechanic by trade I look at it like this. My '78 Jeep J10 is extremely easy to work on. True it gets lousy gas mileage, but that is more than offset by the cost of insurance and not having to have a car payment every month.
My '87 F150 is also easy to work on. Too it was made when Ford had a good idea and had the sense to not change it. If I remember correctly there is about a 90% parts interchangeability from about 1982 until 1992, and even further than that for certain parts. Now days it seems like every year means about 90% of the new parts are different, regardless of the brand.
We've also got a '97 Suburban and an '02 PT Cruiser. From a maintenance standpoint the PT cruiser is a nightmare to work on. Try changing the timing belt and you'll all but lose your religion. To change the spark plugs means pulling the intake manifold. To get to the starter means pulling the left front wheel, drive axel, moving an oil cooler, etc, etc. Yes it can all still be done, but at what cost in time, and labor cost if you can't do it yourself.
On the Suburban, my wife bought me a factory service manual to go with it. To that end I will say this. I can take a Chiltons, or Hayes manual and d a complete rebuild to several year model Jeeps with a boom that's maybe an inch thick. The service manual for the Suburban is nearly 4 1/2 inches thick. The section just for the heat and air system takes more pages than a manual that would allow me to completely rebuild the Jeep.
Personally I will never own a new vehicle as long as I can still buy and get parts for the older ones. Yes the fuel economy might be a little worse, but, again, that is more than offset by the maintenance costs involved when it HAS to go back to the dealership to be diagnosed and repaired.
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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