I'd agree with that in general terms.
Diagnostic devices for the DIY market have been improving continously over the last decade or so and because manufacturers are including more and more electronics and automation in their vehicles, it's something which owners are going to have to get to grips with. Either that or bite the bullet of having to put the vehicle into a garage for everything.
Another thing I think that owners who want to maintain their own vehicles are going to have to get used to is that such electronics will have to be treated as discrete devices and should a fault occur then the whole unit might need to be changed. After all, if a wheel bearing starts to fail, we don't pull it apart to change the individual rollers or ball bearings.
The downside is that owners are probably going to have to learn to read wiring diagrams at a greater depth and realise that there will be some items which can be replaced and other times it's going to be the whole unit.
agreed , when i had my freelander i just had the hawkeye then stepping up to the iid reader i saw straight away how advanced the diagnostic reader had in this instance become
finding that mine only being the base model of some 15 x ecus controllling different parts of the system
think my days from diagnosing boilers etc and following wiring diagrams has indeed helped me considerably with the electronically heavy disco
also learning how a simple blown bulb can throw up all sorts of issues , but with a decent multimeter and diagnostic reader makes it considerably easier to trace system errors
alas , as they advance and with the introduction of more and more electronics know it's the case of having to keep up if i'm to continue doing all the work myself
as u quite rightly say, got to accept and being able to understand and read wiring diagrams is a must with these modern vehicles , also knowing how to use a clamp / multimeter is a cert
more importantly by having a decent diagnostic reader it has saved me at least 1k , with the added convenience for myself to get the dtcs, turn configurations on/off and update ecus within the system
alas , i feel it is what it is regarding electronics that are fitted within the structures of our modern day cars , as within less than 5 x years they will become even more surmountably more complicated and know our average diy skills will have to advance accordingly to allow us to carry on working on them ourselves