Amen. I buy old cars specifically because I can fix them myself. Newer cars are getting so ridiculous. Even if you can fix them, they're arranged in such a way as to be very difficult. It boggles my mind that we're currently driving disposable CARS, of all things.
I have no experience with Mustangs. Honda is pretty good. I've got a Subaru with 235k on it that's still going strong. How many miles have you got on your leaf? I think they're pretty cool but they don't have the same capability a normal car.
Brakes are easy on pretty much any car but I'll do brakes, head gaskets, timing belts, pretty much anything. Most of that stuff is way more complicated on modern cars.
16K miles on the LEAF in 49 months. Literally has only required wiper blades once (a calendar item) and filling the washer reservoir several times.
Totally agree on it not being a full replacement for an ICE car. We have the Honda for that and truly long distance trips are by airplane anyway, so the LEAF is enough if it can do the commuting duties (16mi/day for me) and can go round-trip to the airport.
Rad. I totally love the concept of the Leaf for in-town and shorter drives. In my opinion, 16k miles is not enough to demonstrate reliability. 160k is when things start falling apart on cars. Then again, with the type of mileage you're putting on that Leaf, it may never see 160. Cool little rig anyway.
I would say it is a pinnacle of waste-reduction. We need to put the days of 'disposability' behind us or we are doomed as a species.