I don't understand all of these new cars that I can't work on. Since I can't work on them, I don't want them. I just drove a freinds 1983 300sd with 385K. Still runs and drives great and is much more confortable then then most of the new cars that I have driven.

I had a women come up to me today and ask me how I like my 1992 Volvo 745 turbo wagon. I told her I don't like it, but I love it. She said she had a Subaru that was nine years newer and it was going on it's second head gasket job. Needless to say she said she was going to try to find a nice rear wheel drive Volvo.

This makes me feel good about installing a new winshield in my 1983 633 CSI and new Bilsteins.

My rule is not to own anything new enough to have a check engine light. That keeps things pretty simple.

I agree with only buying cars that you can work on...but if a woman approaches you and is interested in your 1992 Volvo...that's probably not all that she's interested in.

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Current cars:
2000 ML55 AMG, 174k miles
2003 C240 T-Modell, 202k miles
1995 S320, 207k Miles

Hmmm, my friend goes refuses to buy anything with a third brake light....

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-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

So instead of expanding your horizons, you'll just keep driving the old cars. I can't do that, I have to keep learning. I can't see getting stagnant in car knowledge.

Newer cars are not that hard to work on.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

But they are no fun.

I had plenty of fun driving that new CLK550 a couple years back and 911 Cab.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I'd mostly agree - newer cars are generally easier to work on. Less parts bin engineering, more assembly friendly (and therefore disassembly friendly) designs, building to tighter tolerances means less worn/stripped/damaged threads, etc.

But - and this is one of the biggest reasons I'm partial to older cars: for the shade tree mechanic, it can be one hell of a lot harder to DIAGNOSE newer cars.

The closer you get to the bare bones basic internal combustion engine, the easier it is to troubleshoot. Got air? Got fuel? Got spark (assuming non diesel )? Should be able to to at least fire 'er off. Tweak the combo of those three goodies, and off you go.

The further you get down the path of multiple electronic brains controlling everything, the harder it gets to track down the root cause without electronic tools that can poll those electronic brains.

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1961 220b: first project car - sold.
2000 CLK 430: first modern Benz - sold.
2001 CLK 55: OMG the torque!!! - sold
1972 280SE 4.5: Baby Gustav
1991 300TE 4Matic: Gretel the Snow Bunny - sold
1978 300SD: Katz the Free Man - given away
1980 Redhead: Darling Wife

Air cooled 911s are a blast on the track, my mom could probably get a decent lap time in a new one.

Old cars are fun, but I'm tired of projects. Newer cars don't require me wrenching on them every weekend. I don't remember the last time I worked on my truck. Changing the oil twice a year and turn the key, sounds good to me at this point.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Actually, I'm old and lazy enough that I let the shop do almost everything. I just like driving them more than the new ones.

Well thats the way to do it, when I get to the point in my life when I can afford to pay someone else to work on my vehicals I probably will drive older ones to.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Don't get me wrong, I like simple too. But, I didn't buy the scanners and other things to not use them. I was upset when we had to switch from SAE to metric tools. Well, sort of, it meant I got to buy more tools.

It's still cheaper than driving brand new cars every few years. The least expensive would be driving "middle aged" cars and doing at least some of the work yourself. I have a friend who buys them when they reach about half their original price (newer E and S class gassers) and drives them until they are no longer cost effective. I'm sure his cost per mile is lower than mine.