I too have wondered where we are heading.

A 140 or 240 series Volvo could be worked on by an ernest DIYer. They were indestructible in some respects. We still see many on the roads and many people on this forum wish they were still available in a recent model year.

However, it is said that older cars are tremendously worse for the environment than newer cars. First the technology improves and makes the new cars better. Then the older cars get worse with age, owners don't maintain the cars (a tremendous percentage of cars on the road have their check engine light on), wear naturally allows less effecient operation, oil and coolant leaks pollutes the ground water. So there are some efforts to get older cars off the road.

Then we have the newer cars with their expensive sophistication, $1000 ETM's, $1200 Evaporators, $1800 bevel gears and expensive computerized diagnostic equipment and as you mention, no service materials that a individual owner can afford. Then there is the work that only the dealer can do, no matter how dedicated an indie shop is it cannot do the work. Take a failed ETM that leaves you stranded. 1) Have the car towed to you indie mechanic or your own driveway. 2) Order the new ETM and get it installed. 3) Have the car towed again to the dealer because the new ETM will not work until software is downloaded via sattelite at a Volvo dealership.

At some point all cars become more trouble to keep on the road than they are worth. Old Volvos would often go down through the economic classes from the original buyer to the DIYer that can take a $500 240 and get another 10 years out of it. But I believe that the new cars have to be depreciated faster because of the tremendous cost of trying to keep them on the road. The day is coming when these cars will be "throw away" goods like most of what we buy today. A six or seven year old car with 150,000 miles on it will be worth next to nothing because of the expense to maintain it. Then what will happen to these cars. Maybe the best value for these cars will be to recycle, because there will be 3000#'s of some pretty good stuff. It seems like such a waste.

What is the best for the planet, a car that lasts over 20 years, or a "throw away" model that is only good until the warranty runs out?