What were they thinking?

The philosophy on cars is different in Europe, as is their philosophy on WHO should own a car. There is less general thinking that everyone should be able to own a car, like Henry Ford promoted here. So if it is hard to repair, that is not a problem, since only the rich should have the ritzy brand cars. I can remember talking to to owners there (or from there) in the 70's and they expected to rebuild and engine after 60k miles.

Try doing a clutch on a Porsche 944. It is a 3-4 day job.
Sounds like me Celica AllTrac..... took me 20 hours.... same as the book number.