Cars that are easy to work on

BMWs take some understanding, but when you finally figure out what the engineers were thinking (radiator clips, for example), you can do nothing but praise them. Seriously, once I figured out how to unclip my radiator in my Z3, it took 2 minutes to have that radiator out and the new one in and secure. (Of course, it took me 3 hours of research to figure out how to undo the clip without breaking it!)

Any Mustang. Even with the V8 shoehorned into it (4.6 included) there's enough room to do anything. Plug changes are a breeze (except cylinder 8, but that just requires patience).

Right. I can disassemble my Miata with a set of ratcheting open-end wrenches and a screw driver. But we all know this is possible.

I love working on Subarus. I've helped with an engine swap and it was a cake walk.

Ok I know you people commenting on the Escorts are not talking about the last U.S. iteration right? I've got a '99 and its awful! I can't stand even changing the oil on that turd. I'm coming up on a timing belt change interval and I WILL get rid of the car before I am required to follow through with that! The manual says you have to remove the fender just to get started. I tried to remove the fender for another reason a while back and I couldn't get the cursed thing off! Man oh man do I miss my Datsun Z-cars. I know they're too old to count, but I don't really see anything being any easier! Only car I ENJOYED working on! Oh the fox-body Mustang was not bad too. I don't have any good things to say about ANYTHING 10 yrs or newer, but I haven't tried any BMW's or Subaru's yet..

Believe it or not the CTS-V is a breeze to work on.

Unless you need to replace a front wheel stud. Mini rant: GM designed the spindle with a notch in it so you can hammer out the old stud...and then promptly covered the notch with a metal gasket for the ABS sensor.

Otherwise it's a pleasure to work on.

If it has been said wonderful, if not then Miata.

I constantly am thrilled to work on it. Its easy. I took the whole thing apart and put it back together and my biggest problems were self induced.

Buy one just to have a good time wrenching on it

I just bought a '95 Escort and I have to say it's been super easy to work on. I hated the '98 'scort that I had a few years ago.

Triumph Spitfire.

OK, way outside the age thing, but the easiest car to work on I have ever had was a 240Z WITH A CHEVY V-8 IN IT!!! Change the plugs in 15 minutes after a 6 pack of beer. That engine compartment was so huge, you could reach anything.

CarKid1989 wrote: If it has been said wonderful, if not then Miata. I constantly am thrilled to work on it. Its easy. I took the whole thing apart and put it back together and my biggest problems were self induced. Buy one just to have a good time wrenching on it

+1

this probably goes without saying, but old slant 6's are a breeze because they're in engine bay's meant to hold V8's and there a very few other parts in the bay

My MGB is pretty easy.

With people doing massive restorations on them, you can count the hard to do stuff on one hand- Windshield, heater valve (cut down 3/8ths makes it breezy) and crossmember to tranny bolts. everything else is chasing the tin worm.

The Japanese were still angry about Hiroshima when they built my MR2.

fornetti14 wrote: I just bought a '95 Escort and I have to say it's been super easy to work on. I hated the '98 'scort that I had a few years ago.

My 93 is cake as well. The only caveat: God help you if you don't have a clutch alignment tool and you're trying to get that damn transmission back on. I can do it in a Honda or my Celica without the tool, but i spent 4 hours with the transmission on the shaft, but it just wouldn't go that last inch. I hated the car for a couple days.

To add to this, my new MX6 seems cake to work on. Tons of room, nothing overengineered for the sake of looking pretty. The only thing that i have to get re-used to is the fact that Turbo cars get REALLY hot under the hood.

pinchvalve wrote: The Japanese were still angry about Hiroshima when they built my MR2.

Magazine quote please!!!

Spitfires are pretty easy... tedious at times if you are used to working on new cars (23 parts accomplishing the same task as 3 in a newer car), but everything is generally easy to access.

VW TDI's are pretty good as modern cars go. Helps the engine bay of the A3 and A4 was sized for the VR6... so the little I-4 is swimming in there... Plus, TDI's by nature are popular for DIY wrenching since paying someone else can be so risky, so tool availability and documentation is good.

New MINI's are surprisingly easy to work on once you get used to them. When you first pop the bonnet, you're like "are you kidding?", but after a few wrenching sessions on them it's not bad.

Along those lines, familiarity with anything helps a lot...

I hated working on my Turbo Dodges. IIRC, they're part standard, part metric, and the turbo is a berkeleying nightmare to get to.

I can pretty much perform any work on a 1st gen CRX/3g Civic Si with my eyes closed, though the words "GODDAMNED JAPS AND THEIR TINY berkeleying FINGERS" are uttered occasionally. Carb'd versions are WAY easier to deal with once you ditch all of the emissions crap. A/C related components can be a bit of a pain, and god forbid you have to swap a heater core. Aside from that, I enjoy working on them.

My 2nd gen. Integra has been pretty easy for the most part, though the alternator is a bit of a pain in the ass. Step one is "remove driver's side axle..." which isn't a huge deal, but seems like an unnecessary bit of work.

Festivas seem like they'd be a breeze...at least in their 3 cyl. configuration I was shocked at how much room there was in the engine bay, and how little emissions garbarge there appeared to be.

Speaking of "roomy," I can literally climb in the engine bay of my 4.3 GMC pickup, and I'm not a small dude.

Jensen Healeys are, for the most part, chimp simple to work on. The only two things that are a PITA: the steering shaft on LHD cars goes right through the headers (yes, they came stock with tubing headers). Many a strong man has been reduced to tears by attempted removal of this piece of ironmongery.

Again in the area of the headers, the flange to head nuts are a real bitch to get to on the center two tubes. The stock nuts are 13mm, there are replacements made which are 12mm and that makes it a LOT easier. With the 13's, it's 1/16 turn at a time.

MGB's are easy, as are Spitfires and GT6's with the exception of removal of the rear transverse leaf spring.

E type Jags are pretty simple except for body fittings like windows and door mechanisms. Oh,and clutch replacement.

Never had the pleasure (?) of a Honda heater core removal, I do know first hand what a BITCH Ford products are. Even the German Fords, like my Fiesta, were stupid hard to replace the heater core in. The Fiesta had 3 13mm nuts holding the heater box to the underside of the dash steel 'armature', there was just no quick way to get to those. The worst part: the heater core lacked maybe 1/2" of clearance to remove it with the box in place. I seriously considered cutting the tubes off and using longer hoses, but it was made of that glass reinforced plastic and there was no way to put a 'barb' back on the tubes so the hose wouldn't come off.

Never had the pleasure (?) of a Honda heater core removal

I've never removed one without a sledgehammer and/or splittin' axe. Seriously. Fortunately there was no "replace," only "remove."

any rwd 4 banger toyota before 1990!

Anything made by Revel,

Skill Level A generally is easy...

Subaru - all the way.

I had never worked on or been under a Subie until last summer when I was crewing at Rally West Virginia, and at the end of day one, I swapped out a mangled lower A-arm by myself in about 40 minutes. If the bolt heads hadn't been mangled as well it probably would've taken less than 10 - with hand tools.

Second has got to be the Volvo 240 series - so much room in the engine bay and everything is easy to get to.

The_Jed wrote: Definitely +1 for the Subaru on the ease-of-wrenching front. Another +1 for Subaru on the interchangeability of the parts across model and generational lines.

+1 again on Subie's

Growing up in a die-hard Ford household, I never thought I would be posting something like this.

(psst, thanks, Jed, <3)

I think a lot of the answer has to do with how you think. To that end, I find Honda and Toyota vehicles very easy to work on, usually. I understand the way the engineers thought making the car, so I can reverse it pretty instinctively.

At the opposite end are Chevy, Mopar, and 80's Volvo's. I've never understood the engineering, so I have a much more difficult time working on them.

Jensenman wrote: ...as are Spitfires and GT6's with the exception of removal of the rear transverse leaf spring.

Huh? 6 bolts... and out it goes... Heck, I don't even unbolt the axles from the diff... I've never quite understood some of the contraptions some folks have come up with for disassembling the rear of a Spit... the most annoying part was having the jack of the up-right so the trailing arm lines up properly... I've never had a problem with just unbolting everything...

Heater cores in most modern cars are a PITA to R&R... seems like the started with that part and built the damn car around it... Volvo 240's are notorious for this...

One thought I try to keep in mind that seems to me when working on modern cars: "This car was designed to go together quickly and easily on a production line... service afterwards was a secondary consideration..."