Not too long ago, cars were easy to fix because they didn’t have high-end technical issues or complex electronics to deal with. Any home mechanic can fix minor car problems (almost every problem was minor back in the day!) with a few basic mechanic tools.

But those days are gone! As technology got more complex, so were cars, too. What used to be a few metal pieces and a basic engine is now an intricate work of modern art combined with computerized parts that the average owner knows almost nothing about.

Thankfully, some car models are still easy to fix. And I’ll show you 10 of those in this article.

First Things First

Picture this:

You are in the middle of nowhere driving back home when your Chevy decides to stutter and come to a grinding halt! You open the hood, and the sight that greets you leaves you more confused than before. Not because there’s a smoke or fire, but because you can’t even tell the ABS from the fuel injector. In fact, you don’t even know if your car comes with a carburetor or an injector!

If owning a car is something you would like to do or you already own one, here’s a small favor you could do for yourself. Get the basic knowledge about cars, at least your type of car. Some car problems are actually minor and can be fixed in no time and with a spanner, clear thinking, and a couple of grunts.

Next, consider how easy (or not) it is to work on a car before buying it. Don’t be carried away by the price tag only. Think gas, maintenance, and repairs when choosing a car. Essentially, the simpler the technology, the less tricky it is to work on the car. That’s another way of saying more recent models require specialized knowledge to fix if they develop problems. Things are a lot easier with older models.

But by older models, I don’t mean ancient carriages or some rickety junker. You can actually find the easiest car to work on from models as recent as 2017 – that’s just three years back. Of course, if you are exceptionally handy, you could find very old rattletraps and convert them into jaw-dropping rat rods. And by the way, if you’re fishing for ideas to build rat rods, check out this post to discover 70 totally awesome ideas to piece together your next cool custom car.