IN GENERAL cars are actually becoming easier to work on... at least the mechanical aspects of it all. At the same time they are becoming many times harder on the electrical side of things, and yes I agree.. they are also going crazy with the entire "overengineering" aspect.
I remember several years ago working on a Trailblazer with a Check Engine light on. It had set a code for "cooling fan overspeed" and while looking at it I saw a traditional-looking fan clutch attaching the radiator fan to the engine, and yes it was locked up. The fan sounded like a jet engine!
Anyway, I couldn't believe the price of a replacement. I found one aftermarket brand that was making them at the time and while about 40% cheaper than what GM wanted for one I let the customer make up his mind which one to have me install. The prices were (parts and labor) either $1000 or $750. He chose the $750 option.
Keep in mind, this is for a FAN CLUTCH!
The replacement was relatively simple, even though the fan shroud was a bit of a PITA, but I've dealt with much worse over the years. After I got it out while looking at the parts I realized why the price was so high. This was not a normal fan clutch.. this was an electro-viscous design that used an electric charge to change the viscosity of the fluid, thus changing the fan speed. Also one of the fan blades had a small magnet installed, and there was a sensor on the fan shroud itself to determine how fast the fan was spinning. On one hand I was thinking this was pretty smart and ingenious but then it occurred to me... why go through all of this hassle using such an expensive design when they could have just simply installed an electric fan???
And I see this sort of thing all of the time. Power windows for example no longer have simple wiring going from one switch to another and then to the motor... oh no.. there is a computer module in EACH DOOR that controls the window motor. When you press DOWN the switch tells the module you want the window to go down. The driver's module communicates with the passenger module (using protocols not much different than computer networks) so if you want the passenger window down, the drivers switch tells the drivers module you want the passenger window down and the drivers module tells the passenger module and the passenger module lowers the window.
Also cars have front and rear lighting modules, vans have sliding door (and power liftgate) modules, climate control modules... security modules... power seat modules.. restraints modules... the list goes on and on and while some of it I completely agree with, much more of it makes little sense at all. Most of it is there to accommodate "luxury" systems such as keyless entry, automatic headlights, GPS, automatic doors.. etc. and people being the SHEEPLE they are have falling victim to the huge advertising campaigns over the last decade or so and actually feel a need for a lot of this stuff. They've become addicted to it and can't imagine a life without it.
Two quick stories:
1> Older woman (looked to be in her 70's) came into a Ford dealer I used to work at just before closing with two small children in a Toyota Sienna, complaining that the DVD player quit working. As a courtesy I took a quick look and noticed the unit was turning on, but there was no picture and no sound. I explained to her that since it was a Toyota and we were a Ford dealer that there wasn't anything I could do being we didn't have any diagnostic information or wiring diagrams or anything for it. Then she got irate and demanded I start checking fuses and I told her.. no it has power so it isn't a fuse problem, and that the problem is probably in the unit itself and she'll need to visit Toyota. She then get extremely angry and started cussing me out and yelling (in front of the kids) and said "You have no <censored> idea what it is like to travel with two children with a broken <censored> DVD player!" I told her to have a nice day and simple turned around and walked away.
2> A young man (early 20's) came into my shop for an oil change with a late-model Chevy and also asked me to program it to automatically unlock the doors when it is put in PARK. It was set up to automatically lock the doors when driving but there was no way to set it to automatically unlock them once the vehicle was parked. I told him I could disable the auto-lock feature altogether but that's it. He then started getting angry because he could set his Ford up to do that, and then went on throw a huge fit in front of my other customers about how he'll never buy another GM product again because it is ABSURD for people to expect him to have to press the unlock button to get out of the vehicle!!! After that I simply pulled his car out, went inside and in front of my customers told him I didn't want his business and to take the car elsewhere for his oil change.
I have many other similar stories, but these two were the first to come to mind.
The sad truth here is that automakers don't build 'simple' cars anymore because people don't WANT simple cars anymore. They've been conditioned to believe that without Airbags, they'll die.. and that without GPS they'll get lost.. without ABS they'll crash.. and without traction control they'll get stuck in the rain... and without an automatic parallel parking system they won't be able to park on the street! It's pretty sad really and automakers have done a really good job creating a demand for these luxury options.. so much that the average price of cars has increased so much that we think $20k for a new car is now a pretty good deal!
On the up-side... I have seen it become a lot easier to actually work on the mechanical systems of cars. Tune-ups for the most part are easier requiring only the replacement of spark plugs and an occasional coil or two (except some V6 and V8 engines may require you to remove the upper intake to access the rear bank of plugs). Belts and hoses rarely require replacement anymore and suspension/brakes parts are much easier to replace. Exhaust almost never fails these days.. ever since they switched to low grade stainless in the 90's.
As far as engine management goes.. that has improved dramatically over the years. I don't feel that computers are our enemies as far as that is concerned. You can invest in a $200 scanner and diagnose about 90% of driveability issues yourself... it's those 10% that you can't that can get you into trouble!
If you want a simple, cheap car check out the Tata Nano for about $3000 brand new
http://youtu.be/3sZitve3SUw but I doubt it would meet US safety and emissions regulations. If they were smart, someone should come up with something under $8000 here that gets 50+ MPG in a true no-frills car. I was hoping the new Fiesta would fit that bill, but apparently not. It blows my mind that the little "smart car" still only gets 36MPG combined.
In the mean time, I'll be tooling around in my $500 Escort and my $800 Windstar...
