Presumably because all those things you mentioned are difficult to find in new cars? I don’t think anyone is really of the opinion that newer cars have been degrading in mechanical quality; rather they’ve become much more unpleasant to use and own. Where you could trivially open up the car, theres specialized parts with manufacturer-specific tooling required (Even my car’s tire rim has a fucking key). Where the dashboard was mostly simple and operatable without looking, now you cant use any of it while in motion. And of course it’ll be slow, unreliable and somehow decide you need voice assistance and want to make a call.
And my own pet peeve: the incessant fucking beeping. Everything fucking beeps at you. I drove a prius recently: it beeps if you’re parked near the curb, beeps because you’re in reverse, beeps because of your seatbelt, beeps with the gps; stop by the gas station for a cacaphony: beeping and tvs and music just quiet enough that you can’t really make it out but youre aware its there. Expect the 2020 prius to beep while accelerating
Oh, and of course, now you can enjoy ads too, which’ll probably beep for your attention as well.
Obviously you can rip these things out, and obviously you can find cars without these things (especially if you’re paying the premium to customize), but these UX “improvements” are the norm, and you can reliably run from all of this horrible hell by turning back to 1996.
And if that car runs well, it’s probably much more pleasant to use than the same model in 2018. Mechanically worse, but far fewer “features” that enter the human areas.
That is because some people think it's okay to take the wheels of the car when you park it.
Because they're having exactly the same driving experience as you while being tens of thousands of dollars better off?
Don't forget about how nice it is to give zero fucks about your car.
"oh, gotta load a dirty lawnmower into the trunk, idgaf"
"oh, the bushes on this dirt road are overgrown and will scratch my paint, idgaf"
"gotta haul trash lumber to the dump, looks like a case of idgaf"
Honestly, I've owned my share of old cars. Everything has a cost, sometimes it's money, sometimes it's hassle, etc. The marginal extra cost of a new vehicle is a rounding error financially at this point, so the biggest value is not having to worry about anything.
Serious question: Why? I've never found it particularly helpful myself, but what's the big deal about a sound that reminds you to put on a critical safety device that you should already be using anyway? Do you really find yourself hearing those dings for long enough that it becomes a serious annoyance? If so, don't you think the ding isn't the actual problem there?
Also, the promise of market economy is that, under competitive pressure, in time product's price drops to near the actual costs of making it. Some products are simply done, and there should be a point at which the profit from sales is enough to just keep making it indefinitely, and the company could be free to pursue other products in other areas while still making the old one.
What wasn't the advertised part of the bargain is the ratchet effect - a company will add user-hostile feature, briefly get a better deal, then all other competitors will follow suit and suddenly the user-friendly product is no longer being made. We need to develop a way to prevent this.
Other than that, I don't see why people are in here bragging about their awesome 15-20 year old cars. My brand new car has a manual transmission, a knob for the volume control, no built-in navigation, etc. The only real difference between this car and the one I owned in 2004 is that this is better in all ways. All.