OK I'm not a new car owner.
It's a personal decision.

I'm seeing complaints about several hundred to tens of hunerts of dollars for repair work.

It seems to me folks will pay 10's of thousands for a car or truck and then expect to spend hundreds for repairs. lets keep things in perspective. Thousands of dollars have replaced hundreds years if not decades ago.

I laughed well over ten years ago when I saw trucks going for 50 grand. WOW Guess what folks, it's time to pay up or shut up.
Tech.s do the best they can.
They are trying to make a living.
The Auto Corp.s could care less if your unhappy.
We haven't much choice.
Most folks have to have at least one car.
Most here have several.
They make cars hard to maintain on purpose.
They want you to throw it away and get a new one.
That's where the money is.
Look at all the attention the new Camero or Hell Cat gets.
Think they are gonna be cheap to maintain?
You know what happens to cars not maintained.

Give the working man a break. If your going to run stuff you can't fix, get ready to pay for folks that can.

This is why I buy throw away vans at 2 to 4 grand.
Just like 2 to 4 hunret dollar beaters back in the 70's and 80's.
I work on my old junk and still enjoy it best I can. The wifes stuff just gets rotated. We are happy with our lot in life. Sorry if your not. Things aren't gonna get easier unless you make a point to simplify it yourself...

Life is tough.
Boo Hoo!