That is really the key point for all of us that work on our own vehicles, you’re right.
As an example, in another lifetime I was an auto mechanic....this was in the mid nineties. I HATED to see a Cadillac come in our shop with the Northstar V-8 . Talk about lack of access to simple things such as spark plugs.... but, if I saw a vehicle like a 1971 VW microbes pull in, I’d think to myself “ok, this is easy money. Just like you said, German engineering made everything on these stupid O-4 aircooled engines easy to do. Even the electricals were easy and THAT is saying something. Some might argue it’s because they always broke down and, ok, yeah they had a reputation but; point is don’t create a situation to where the consumers of your products need to be an engineer to troubleshoot and R&R parts. Don’t make it so if you have “hands this big” you can’t get to the starter motor or some module on the block.
you hit the nail on the head: buyers would much prefer a manufacturer that creates a vehicle they can do at least the basics on..... they’d be more apt to keep buying said manufacturers vehicles if they knew, hey, I can change the battery without having to remove the floor in the trunk...
either way, I’ll also agree that older Fords are easy, I’d argue that every domestic vehicle pre heavy EPA regs are extremely simple to troubleshoot, diagnose and do the work on.
I blame government!!!! 😆