My impression is that cars made today are harder to maintain for extended use than those from a few decades ago.
There are custom parts that are cheaply manufactured, but wear out after a few years and are expensive to replace. There are electronic gadgets that may or may not be particularly useful, but are mandated by law; they eventually stop working, and are expensive to replace. These are not do-it-yourself repairs that can be improvised in a home workshop with common tools. And if you don’t get the items fixed, the car cannot be driven legally.