Hi!
Why focus on the clutch specifically? The clutch in my '87 VW Golf needed replacing lately, after 340,000 kilometres of service. The Golf isn't one of those cars with easy to replace clutches (the transmission must come out to do it), but still it cost less than US$ 500 to have it done, which translates to a little over 0.2 US cents per mile of "clutch cost."
That said, it's a good idea to aim for a vehicle with a high level of do-it-yourself-ability :-), but you should not focus on any one specific part and forget about all the others. What's it going to help you if you can R&R the clutch in half an hour when the sills rust out and the engine must come out to replace the timing belt, for instance? IMHO, a car that's meant to be cost-effective needs to be fuel-efficient, and made such that frequently needed work is easy to do, and supported and-or common enough that frequently needed parts are cheap to buy.
The aforementioned 2nd generation Golf is, by the way, such a vehicle. It's also almost legendarily rust-proof. But depending on where you live, parts may or may not be hard to find and-or expensive. They're commonplace and dirt cheap in its home country, but that may or may not help you.
Yours, Erik. -- Skier: One who pays an arm and a leg for the opportunity to break them. -- From rec.humor.funny
