In my experience, both EVs and (many/most) smaller volume high efficiency vehicles are not easy for 3rd parties to do service on. An inline-6/V6/V8 is relativel

In my experience, both EVs and (many/most) smaller volume high efficiency vehicles are not easy for 3rd parties to do service on. An inline-6/V6/V8 is relatively straightforward and there are great 3rd party mechanics everywhere. Going to a dealer for these kinds of vehicles is just asking to get ripped off. When you get into EVs, or even complex fuel efficient 4-cylinders, the complexity and proprietary nature of many parts makes independent service difficult, specialized, and expensive. With something like a Prius, you have such wide adoption that everyone knows how to work on them. When you have something like a Tesla, let alone a lesser known EV, independent shops can burn a dozen hours just getting up to speed on the car. And they literally may not be able to get the part, either because of some rights/IP/vendor lock in or because the part just stopped being made. In some ways, the cars made from 1980 to 2010 are the easiest to service. You've got a lot of simple engine designs. Well understood, high parts availability. Not a lot of screens or software that isn't 100% critical for car functionality. I don't think you are going to see too many cars made today that are still running in 10-20 years honestly. Even with the greater increase in overall reliability for electric cars, the failures are often catastrophic or nearly so because everything is so integrated. It's like a MacBook Pro—almost any failure is going to run you at least 1/3rd the value of the machine. I have some bias based on my age, but I feel like the most reliable cars were the well built vehicles in the late 90s, early 2000s. Hondas, Toyotas, the Crown Vic, and various other Ford trucks. The "simple" V6/V8 BMWs and Mercedes from this era were also incredibly well/over engineered. I don't see anyone making EVs today even attempting to do something like that anymore.