Old Car vs New Car

My thinking is anybody should be able to change the air filter on their car. It's usually on top of the engine and isn't held in by more than some latches or screws. I bought air filters for my 89 Cavalier and my 02 Windstar today. The Windstar looks easy b/c it has a single latch that you unfasten. Unfortunately you can't move the pieces the latch connects far enough apart to change the filter. I ended up needing to undo some clamps to change the filter. Still it only took about 10 minutes. The Cavalier on the other hand had 3 latches. After I undid those and took of the piece that holds it in place on top, I had to decide which way the filter went. Ultimately, I decided it didn't matter. This whole process took about 2 minutes. The van may be twice as reliable as the Z24 but it is 5 times harder to work on. That seems pretty reasonable.