Maintaining a vehicle

My wife and I are having the exhaust on our car looked at tomorrow. It hasn't been right since we had most of the components changed a few years back.
We went to visit her uncle shortly after it was done, and he took one look and told us it wasn't right. Various pipes were hanging way to low. We would scrape just going over the curb at the bank. On our way back from a family gathering, the catalytic converter decided to let go on us. The shop that did the repair after that didn't hang anything right either.
I miss the days when cars were built to be reliable, and easily repaired, the exhaust being a prime example. Years ago, a car would have the exhaust hung by at least four u-bolts, and the pipes were clamped together. It was strong, and you didn't have to weld all of the pieces together. In the current configuration, if one part goes, the others might go.
My father used to keep the family vehicles running. He would occasionally have to replace or rebuild the engine. We would go out to the woods and get some poles to put up a tripod. In his prime, he would have the old engine out and the new one in within four hours. Every part was fixable by anyone with a few decent tools and some practical experience. Now, he won't touch the things. Ever since front wheel drive and fuel injection became common.
I tried to replace the spark plugs a while back. The last one broke off on me, and I had to pay my mechanic to remove it. Since then I have refused to do anything myself.
I dream of designing a car that is simple and reliable. I don't care if I can't do work on it myself, but it should at least be inexpensive to have it done, when it is needed. There are a lot of specific things I would have to design into it, to suit my needs. Basically, I think I need to have a talk with General Motors or Ford.