Help me understand difficulty of ownership

Chevy and Ford will be cheaper but not necessarily easier.

You've got FABO and YouTube university as well. If you spend $25k on a Duster, you should be buying a car that is pretty much ready to go without much hassle other than routine maintenance. Things will break as you go and each piece that breaks will be a new learning experience.

Your biggest investment after the initial vehicle purchase will be tools. You can get by with basic "100pc tool sets" with some jobs but others will require more than that. Tools that make the job easy and comfortable will be an additional cost as well. It's up to you if you want to go down this route.

I'll say it's a nice feeling when you lift the hood up and know exactly what's going on instead of lifting the hood thinking "where do I even begin?".