Look, as a person involved with manufacturing, I’m not about to claim that some automotive engineer was trying to make my life difficult. There are so many factors in the development of products that occasionally the ease of serviceability falls down the list, and it isn’t their fault.
That isn’t going to stop me from complaining about the car brands as a whole, however. I’ve seen many design decisions that seem to defy any logic, especially when there are other cars that do the same things much better.
One complaint I have about my ancient Lexus is actually a much broader issue with modern cars: those dumb-ass engine covers. As expected, I rarely ever open the hood of my Toyota-made product, but when I do, I really, really need to access stuff. I do not want to remove half a dozen fiddly fasteners to get to the damn battery when the battery finally dies in the school pickup line. These covers are pointless, strictly for looks, and in this case, it’s on a car that absolutely no owner opens the hood of to look at anything anyway.
I hate these things, and the excuse that some say about how they “reduce noise and protect components” is total crap as well. How do I know? Well, if you had bought the same-year, nearly identical Toyota Land Cruiser version of my Lexus LX570, you can see that it has virtually none of the offending covers. Wow, the battery is right there!
I don’t think the “noise level” is any less in the “luxury” Lexus version; it’s just plastic garbage to let it “compete” with other high-end SUVs. You want to cut noise? Put padding on the bottom of the hood as they did for half a century.
A different but equally maddening part of the 2007 E61 BMW 530Xi wagon that I owned (and is now in the custody of Mercedes Streeter) had to do with the head-up display. I bought it used with this rare option, and I was able see it easily, but the primary driver (my 5-foot-2 wife) could not. As I recall, on most GM products with this feature, you simply adjusted the height with a dashboard switch; it took seconds. On the BMW? To adjust it, you need to remove the center screen, loosen a bolt, and then turn a different bolt to set the height.
That’s bad enough, but the bolts were WAY down in the dash, to the point that you needed pretty much every socket extension in my set. I probably lost a socket as well; Mercedes Streeter received at least half a dozen free, hidden 10-millimeter sockets when she got my car.
What about your nightmare design-induced wrenching experiences? Try to keep your swearing to a minimum, but I fully understand how you feel.
Top graphic image: Lexus
I remember reading about how a V6 engine in a Chevy Monza had to be pulled to get back to a couple of plugs, but wow… all these oil change stories; it’s no wonder people go to Jiffy Lube and cross their fingers.
None of my cars were that difficult, but the ramps I used to drive up were one of the things I left behind in my last divorce. I doubt the deadbeat she married afterwords even knows how to change the oil and filter.
I’m currently trying to get a good bleed on the brakes of my Alfa 2000GT (RHD, with floor mounted pedals) and whoever designed this system can get in the damn sea. It’s impossible.
Not an engineer’s fault, but a PITA repair: I gave away a manual, diesel wagon once because the oil pan I cracked could not be replaced without removing the entire driver side suspension. I think something else had critically cracked as well? I know my judgement was critically lacking driving 60mph on a dirt road in east-gish Maine at night. The culvert repair had created a hump that became a jump at that speed. Oh if I had that car now I would have treated it far kinder than my young, impatient self.