Old school or outdated ? are modern engines with new technology taking the fun out of being a petrolhead ?

What would you really prefer ?
A new modern engine or an old school or as some may call it "outdated" engine ?
Being a petrol head sometimes means not being so modern also..
I'd love engines which are not so "cutting edge"..  by now probably u must be assuming this guy is too old to even blog here..
Some of the modern engines take the fun out of owning and mantaining a car.
E.g the igition systems of the older vehicles which came with a mechanical/vacum advance .. it is probably more fun for the petrohead to tune it and get it with right dwell angle, maybe tweak the distributor with diff aftermarket parts to alter the advance curve etc
It was probably more work, less accurate, lower performance but probably more DIY thingies for the "car nut"
   More modern engines came with the distributor and the  ECU based advance curve control..
Not much to tweak unless we have a laptop or a aftermarket programmable ignition system.. fine  - still fun but not so analog or "get your hands dirty" type of fun.
This stil leaves some room for some teweaks to the base/static ignition  via distributor.. this is still ok.
Fast forward to newer engines with a coil on plug - no distributor, direct ECU trigger for the right spark timing, no mechanical tolerances in the picture - efficient , reliable but fully digital.
Works well but there is no longer the "hands on" feel to this..
Moving on to tappets/valve clearances ..Love the tweaks/mods which and the regular tappets
Self compensating hydraulic tappets ... will definately miss the feeler gauge and the guesswork how much clearance will work best ..of course within the range specified by the manufacturer
Fueling : tweaking the A/F ratio via the carb instead of the fuelling maps via the ECU.. this is very efficient and I love this more than the carb.
Here its ok to be a bit modern, but for the more hardcore older gen tuners probably this is more fun - and I have respect for these guys - its much tougher getting it right with  the carbs.
I like the ease in and accuracy with which we can tune the curves ..probably Im leaning towards modern engines here.
    Coming to garboxes - what the hell is going on ??? is this a joke ?
Hardcore , purpose built cars not having manual gearboxes.. look at the silly 6 speed twin clutch Evox, what u guys upto? New gen GTR comes with only an autobox.
Higher up the food chain the mightt Astons/Ferraris going all paddle shifters ?
Future doesn't look good.