You can get a PhD in gulag tech cars, or you can get a pre-gulag tech (i.e. old) car.
Discussion
Which won't be allowed into any EU city within a decade or so. And between maintaining a Battlestar Galactica style old timer and reverse engineering a future modern car, I'll probably enjoy the latter more.
Though maybe there'll be some pre-gulag electric cars where you can retrofit whatever solid state fancy batteries they'll have in 2050.
I agree that this is one area, where going low tech is a good choice. You aren't loosing any important functionality.
The only non-nonsensical counterpoint I’ve come across is later models may be rated as safer than older models.