Hi All, I'm looking for a car that I can work on myself. This is proving to be far more difficult than I imagined. When I was a kid, I was a Shade Tree Mechanic (STM). I had a Camaro with a carburetor. It was easy to work on; I replaced the alternator, plugs, wires, and a bunch of other things. This all saved me a ton in repair costs (until I later wrecked it at an intersection, but that's another story). Anyway the market has dramatically changed since then. 80% of new cars go out as leases. At first I thought, "Great! I'll just buy a lease return with 36k miles, and get a lightly-used vehicle at a good price!" Nope... controlled market. These cards are bank-owned; they are sent to auction, where ONLY those with a Dealer License [1] can bid on them. They then mark them up $3-5k, and happily resell them, taking a fat profit. The cars have also changed; they are all "computerized." Everything is run through the onboard computers. "Awesome!" I thought. "I'm a computer programmer! Give me the passwords, and I can do a lot of analysis myself!" Again, this is controlled; they do not permit access to OnBoard Diagnostics (OBD) [2]. They are clearly not happy about all the money that the STMs were saving. What is the easiest car to work on nowadays? A friend of a friend told me that Ford allows access to the Onboard Diagnostics (OBD), allowing the user to plug in and load 3rd party software to drive the control system. ET, please help! Woe is me! How can I win this game? Everything seems to be locked down! I don't want to get gouged on a new car! Sadly, a friend says that the Shade Tree Mechanic is dead. 1. https://www.dmv.org/buy-sell/car-dealers/dealer-licensing.php 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-board_diagnostics
The easiest car to work on is the one that rarely breaks. Just purchase a new Toyota, follow the maintenance schedule and you will have a reliable, high resale vehicle that you can drive for 10-15 years without much headache.
I agree, I use to be obsessed with exotic, or semi-exotic, sports cars and self-image and a sense of self-worth. -- But now, I'd rather just buy a used Toyota Camry...and get it over with. A Camry is cheap and reliable to get you from Point A to B, and has relatively high resale value...it's so liquid. What more can you ask for for transportation,
You can buy apps that will let you access at least some of the error codes. Some makes, eg VW/Audi, have proprietary systems that require you to buy some software to use. You can still do a lot of the work yourself. Just be prepared for a lot of dismantling of hoses, etc to get access to the engine. The main problem is that it is just so difficult now to get to things. Cars are smaller and there is a lot more crap packed in there. A lot of the things that used to require service, stuff like points, plugs, plug wires, distributors, carbs, etc are either not there anymore or more reliable and seldom in need of service. The downside is if you have a problem with the computers, you are basically screwed. For reliability, hard to beat Toyota. You sound like a guy who would like a full-sized Chevy truck however. They are pretty straightforward and relatively easy to get to things because of their size.
I bought a Tesla last year and wow, what a game changer. Talk about zero maintenance. The only thing to maintain is wiper fluid. I could never go back to a gas-powered vehicle at this point.
I drive about 10k miles per year, so I'll probably be dead before those batteries need to be replaced.
Buy an Alpha Romeo, any model really but I had an Alpha GT 3.2 Q2, here is the newer (looks the same) Q3 http://www.alfaamore.com/news/centenary_gt_en. Sooner or later you will find yourself fixing something. It might start with a clutch bleed. Then a slave cylinder.. then you might notice a lot of smoke and need to tackle the MAF.. then it will start to squeak and you will upgrade the suspension and swing arms yourself. You will realise that you have to take the battery out a LOT to get at anything and re-engineer the battery mount. Then you will think, I know I'll take her to a rolling road and have her chipped for more horsepower, then.. discs and upgraded brakes are a must..then.. It is a great car to always need something done and can be bought pretty cheap because of weak willed men who bought one and did not know about the clutch and got sick of it. But the interior is very cool looking, you will always love that.