Car Mechanic Simulator

Having played '21, here some things I did like in this game compared to the sequel:
- repairs: there's no mini-game for every part, you either manage to repair part of it or all of it (or even fail) with a press, no constantly timing when to press... for those of us who manage to end up with large amounts to repair, the mini-game in '21 can be, well... absolutely tedious (hint, if you've got lots to repair, use an auto-clicker to avoid excessive clicking here)
- junkyard: in '21, all the scrap piles are pre-set and unchanging, just the contents... with '18, the placement is randomised, not to mention around 2-3 times more plentiful... in addition, there's often more cars to be found and salvaged
- cars: in general, '18 has more workshop cars available, but this is only due to how long both games have been out, however I'd consider '21 more in this aspect *if* the developers allowed '18 workshop cars to be imported to '21 - but that hasn't happened yet, so i'll vote '18 for this part as well due to the much much wider range of cars on offer to find in-game (once you subscribe to all the cars you like or are impressed by)
- auction: here, it's hard to say which is better, but certainly '21 would be easier to consider - there's more cars on offer, and you can view cars without the wait time or going through the entire list of cars on offer before bidding on the one you wanted (sometimes it's at the end, so you have to view up to 9 cars prior...). of course the downside in '21 is that once you're in the auction yard or showcase (depending on which one), you're presented with the chosen car and then a lot of other display cars but you can only properly view the chosen car....
- garage: it's more visually impressive to view a collection of up to 10 cars per garage level, than just viewing one at a time when visiting ('21 only allows viewing 1 at a time)

The car was making a ratting noise, so I disassembled the entire engine for an hour only to find out it was the muffler...

Just spent 30 minutes disassembling an entire engine, only to figure out the problem was the Radiator fan housing. Then spend another 30 minutes re-assembling the engine 10/10 would recommend XD Autism brains will be happy, also OCD ones.

Was surprisingly fun and relaxing, even if you don't know much about cars. The game strikes a nice balance between realism and accessibility. It's definitely simplified to keep things fun so you're not drowning in overly complicated mechanics. It's realistic enough to teach you the basics, but not so much that you need to be a real-life mechanic to enjoy it.
10/10, would lose sleep again to rebuild an engine that purrs like a kitten.

The game was 90% off
I have no idea how cars work or what my objective was, so I just stripped the two cars in the garage, sold the parts and called it a day :)

This was great fun, the jobs get a little repetitive after a while but overall it's worth checking out.

Great casual game with endless mods (though most of them require DLCs)
Made the jump to CMS 2021 after 660 hours on the 2018, definitely recommend.