@GoWolfpack and I have talked about the differences between the newer vehicles and the ones "from the Good Old Days" before. We talked a lot about the expenses involved, how easy/hard the work was between then and now, how frequent maintenance/repairs were, etc.
Having been born in the early 60s, I clearly remember doing far more routine maintenance/repairs on cars back then than today. Yeah, in many ways it was easier back then, if only because there was generally far more room to work. Some things today are easier...some are harder.
Like tune-ups. Seems to me tune-ups used to be about every 30,000 miles or so. Points, plugs, condenser, distributer, wires, and the good old timing light. Not difficult, mind you, but a bit more to it than today. Today? Every 100,000 miles and all it involves is plugs and wires. And the last two cars I had didn't get their first tune-ups until around 200,000 miles and the plugs looked fantastic, relatively speaking.
Horsepower and mileage today is far better on average today than yesteryear. The power to weight ratio is better, for one, and smaller engines get more power than they used to, by far.
The cars of yesteryear were quite often hard pressed to make it past 100,000 miles without significant issues. I remember Dad (born in the early 1920s) once telling me in the 70s that there's no reason why they can't build a car that would last 200,000 miles or more...they just don't. These days I wouldn't hesitate to buy a used car with 150,000 or more miles, and not sweat about it either. Last two cars I owned got over 300,000 miles, no problem.
Oil changes? Old: every 3,000 miles, shifting between 30 and 40 weight oils summer/winter. Today? I run every vehicle we own (except my wife's because she's "special") 10,000 miles on synthetic, period. Many vehicle owners manuals say 7,500 to 10,000 miles, depending on the vehicle.
Lifters? Never had to adjust a one on modern vehicles.
Heck, just starting today's vehicles, with computer controlled, fuel injected, high energy ignition systems is a cinch compared to what you had to go through sometimes with the old vehicles. No choke required, no worries about flooding the engine out, no vapor lock, no carburetor problems requiring you to clean/rebuild them, etc. Just turn the key, or push the button, and it starts.
The safety record of modern vehicles is off the scale compared to the Good Old Days, too.
So yeah...some things are more of a pain to work on with today's vehicles. Some proportionately more expensive, too. But the tradeoff is you get a FAR more reliable vehicle on average that just doesn't need nearly the maintenance and repairs of the vehicles I grew up with.
