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.

__________________
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