As someone who has repaired both old and new cars, I would agree. I've rebuilt a VW Beetle from the ground up - tore the whole engine apart, new bores, the works. I could do this in a couple of afternoons on the Beetle, but I don't think I could do it in a month on a modern car. However, I won't need to do it to a modern car. A Beetle with 100k miles is ready for a total rebuild. A modern car with 100k miles is ready for a fluids change.

The biggest problem I have with newer cars is all the add-on stuff, and pickup trucks are the best example. My first truck, a 1985 F150 (straight-6 300, what a beautiful engine) didn't have power windows, locks, air conditioning, or even a radio. Why can't we buy a bare-bones vehicle anymore? You don't need that stuff on a farm or work vehicle. Why do we have to have touch screens and telemetry? Why do we have to have a full stack of software that is totally inaccessible to the end user? And what total idiots think that over-the-air interfaces (LTE) that let you program things like acceleration and braking were a good idea?

I admit I do like backup cameras, though...

I agree, in 15 years, we won't miss ICE for daily driving. EVs will be that good. I say this as someone who gets all nostalgic when I smell the motocross magic of VP and castor oil burning. We'll have solar panels on our roofs to help charge our vehicles, and I won't miss cleaning up 2-stroke trimmers and leaf blowers when they get all gummed up and won't start.