Audio By Carbonatix

There are two kinds of car owners out there. Those who like to work on their cars, and those who don’t. Either way, your car requires maintenance. There’s no way around that. But if you’re looking for the easiest cars to work on and maintain, these mechanics have answers for you. 

These mechanics say the easiest cars to maintain are no surprise, with one odd exception

They started with a simple, albeit tricky question: “What’s the easiest car you’ve worked on?” Now, if you’ve spent any notable amount of time working on cars, you likely have an answer. But unlike us enthusiasts, mechanics work on all kinds of cars, trucks, SUVs, and vans. Not just their favorites. And these wrench-turning pros have answers. 

Better yet, there’s a popular common name in the answers. But it’s not Toyota like some of you might think. “Probably Honda,” one of the mechanics responded with a smile and a laugh. Another tech echoed the first guy’s answer. “Uh, probably a Honda Civic to be honest.”

But the second professional had a caveat. “From the early nineties,” he said of the Civic. “They’re pretty simple.” And when it comes to working on cars, simple is good. Simple is your friend. The interviewer received yet another Honda answer from another mechanic at the shop after that. Sensing a trend here?

But not all of the mechanics said the big H was their synonymous-with-easy-maintenance go-to. One of the employees answered matter-of-factly: “Toyota RAV4.” Not “eh, maybe a RAV4.” Just RAV4. Says it all, doesn’t it? Well, the word is clearly out. The Toyota RAV4 was the best-selling individual model in America last year. That’s displacing the seemingly unstoppable Ford F-150 after over 40 years of holding the top spot.

Finally, one of the techs didn’t seem to care for the question. When asked, “What’s the easiest car you’ve worked on?” he responded, “Easiest? Well, it depends on what you’re talking about!”

The cameraperson then amended his question. “Quickest repair time,” he added.

That registered with the older mechanic. “Well, once I did a clutch in an F10 Nissan. That’s like a 1969 [model], and it took me like 20 minutes.” Perhaps it was a brag. Or the Nissan really was that compliant in the clutch job. After all, the average clutch job takes well over two hours. Of course, that’s not the case for everyone.