Best cars without too much digitalization?

They don't sell them in the US anymore, but I drive a 2019 Honda Fit and it's great. Very versatile (holds four adults, 8ft lumber, 36" doors, etc). The base trim is very tech-lite: bluetooth radio but nothing fancier than that, physically controlled hvac and chair controls, traditional key, basic LTMS (no dedicated chips in the tires, just a calculation based on different angular velocity across the wheels), etc. It's about as tech-lite as a modern car can be.

If you want a new car, instead of a used one, I'd try that same pattern: low end, low trim. Honda almost certainly sells a Civic without too many digital gimmicks, other automakers probably have the same.

It's a dying breed though, complicated "driver assist" systems are becoming standard or even mandated :(.

What you want is a "driver's car". They typically have fewer bells and whistles and provide a more connected driving experience. You're expected to expend effort to pilot the car.

There are actually quite a few these days, but I'm partial to Japanese cars, myself.

1) Mazda MX-5 Miata I own one. It's awesome to drive. Has few features and a simple dash. It's quite economical to operate (inexpensive to insure, gets over 35 mpg, very popular so lots of parts availability and lots of aftermarket parts, Mazda reliability and maintenance costs).

2) Subaru BRZ / Toyota 86 Also awesome to drive. This car is a bit more practical than the Miata because of its roof and trunk space. Less economical to operate: it's less fuel efficient and people speed in them so insurance is more expensive. The boxer engine gives it inherently better handling than most vehicles.

3) Honda Civic Type R This is my dream car.

4) Subaru WRX If you need all-wheel drive, this is pretty much it.

5) Nissan 370Z Nissans aren't my cup of tea but they go fast.

As for trucks, the only truck that interests me is the Toyota Tacoma, since it still comes with a manual transmission. I wish I could purchase a Toyota Hilux in the US. I also wish I could purchase a Suzuki Jimny here, alas. I'm not at all interested in SUVs, so I can't help you there.

I would recommend Mazda vehicles.

Their entire lineup offers a small set of effective and minimally intrusive digital/smart features. But, outside of that, they keep it simple.

The no-touchscreen is a much safer way to interact with the vehicle, and afaik they have stuck to the traditional 'car' formula. Most of their cars can be purchased in manual and have pretty good driving mechanics for a honda/toyota competitor.

The Mazda 3 Hatch, is IMO the best deal in cars right now.

Annoyingly, I want an electric car without "digitilization". No distracting central touch screen, no "autopilot" nonsense, proper gauges and indicators, tactile feel. A focus on the driving and safety and ergonomics, not on "we don't need an instrument cluster because iPads are cool, people like their phones and buttons are expensive and break"...

A Saab 900 with an electric motor. Please make it.

> For those of us who are "old-school" and prefer their cars without fancy digital gimmicks, which cars would you recommend?

Old cars. The problem is the lack of modern safety features which really makes me do a double take before considering them. I wish cannibalizing a new car and ripping out all of the useless electronics was common enough for there to be tutorials for some brands

What kind of digital gimmicks are you looking to avoid? Touch screens and fancy UI (e.g. vs physical buttons and dials), lane-keeping and dynamic cruise control, automatic emergency braking, drive-by-wire, backup cameras, tire pressure monitors, parking proximity sensors, voice-activated AAA roadside assistance with automatic last-30-second built-in-dashcam upload, etc? Or is it critical that it has a completely physical carburetor and physical connection between wheels and steering or something?

Personally I like physical UI controls (touch screens are hard to hit precisely, and don't give feedback when you're not looking) and definitely not baked-in AAA junk, but the rest I'm fine with. Lane-keeping often sucks so I disable it, but... it's disable-able, so meh. I almost never use the main UI for anything (my phone is infinitely more capable), so I don't particularly care how many features it has as long as I don't have to use it at all for most trips. My phone auto-connects, I hit play on Spotify and maybe start a navigation app, and I'm good. I'd probably deeply hate something that required button taps to start the car or shift out of park or something.

Base model sporty cars I think would be a great fit here if you're looking for new. The manufacturer understands that those looking for performance typically shy away from expensive gadgets. For example my 2018 brand new ford focus st had a 4" display for the backup cam and that was literally it. Manual transmission, full suite of buttons for controls etc etc

Base model mustang ecoboost is similar, you have to pay more to get the larger infotainment option but otherwise everything is manual including the hvac: https://www.ford.com/cars/mustang/models/ecoboost-fastback/ I assume the same would be true for the Camaro and Challenger

I would stay away from anything luxury. Family Haulers and Base model trucks are typically low-tech as well.

I currently drive a 2021 Nissan NV200 Compact Cargovan. It's about as basic of a vehicle you can get. I'm slowly turning it into a miniRV because I like to go camping at times. Works great as a place to sleep when I visit friends and when conventions get back into full swing and I don't want to spend $300+ on a weekend hotel room. Bonus points for the van being actually smaller than my previous 2015 VW Passat when it comes to finding parking spaces. I do miss getting 46mpg, but the van has been averaging 31-33mpg on long interstate trips.

There are some downsides. Like the creepiness factor of owning a panel van as a large bearded guy, but most people warm up to it once I explain things. Also the commercial 7% interest on my financing plan. I'm used to financing around 1-3% interest on any car I've bought new, but at least in my state commercial vehicles carry a locked in interest rate.

Commercial trucks/vans also have shit for sound insulation so be prepared to do that yourself or pay a local stereo shop to quiet things down.

Other than that its hard to even find consumer cars with a manual transmission in my area, let alone a lack of electronic non-sense.

Buy a Toyota from 2000-2010. They run practically forever, they're low maintenance, and they achieve everything you're asking for here regarding modern electronics. My daily driver is a 2000 4Runner, and I love everything about it.

Lada Niva 4x4. Old school soviet, but modernized car. With airconditioning and some modern gimmicks. Very easy to fix and maintain. Good fuel economy, some versions even pass Euro 5 emission limits.

I liked WW2 jeeps and their simplicity, this seems like modern equivalent.

Automotive EE here:

Personally I’d recommend 2014 mid tier vehicles. Jeep, RAM, and GM trucks.

2014 is a good start for many body styles. 2018 saw regulatory changes and a lot of new body styles. A 2000-2010 is 11-21 years old now and they just don’t last that long.

I can tell you there was a massive change in quality right around the time 4G/LTE/WIFI access points were added. It meant we could finish software after shipping in many cases. I’m not sure anything but high-end had OTA in 2014-2016.

You aren’t going to get away from CAN busses unless you go back to 2005 or earlier. So get the ones that actually worked pretty well. There was a bell curve of shitty to good to overloaded and shitty again.

I’m provided vehicles by my work. But man, if I had to buy one… I’d be in the same boat man.

EDIT: Another poster had a good point. The commercial vans are really decontented. I only know Promasters and Sprinters, but yes, those actually do have less electronics. Iirc a recent Promaster city only has one or two data busses, instead of the typical 7-9.

They don't make them for the US anymore.

The best you can do is buy a "fleet model" truck or something, but its still going to have a host of electronics and probably a GPS and cellular radio inside. Fleet models are designed to last, as not to anger large-scale fleet customers.

Yeah, you can find cars with more knobs and less touch screens, but in most cases, those analog-appearing knobs are just digital input devices to an (eg for Honda since at least 2018) low-end, cheaply-made Android device.

If you're sincere, your best bet is to buy a year and model with something that still has plenty of spare parts available (eg. 2000 era Honda, Toyota trucks, etc)

Buy any sort of car built before 1996 (the year OBDII became required) that you like, and spend some money fixing it up. You'll spend way less than on a new or recently made used car, and it will have virtually no electronics in it. At best, it will have a controller for fuel injectors.

Between 1996 and ~mid 00s, you had some of that stuff but really not that much. If you're willing to tolerate an ECM and some jankiness with factory radios controlling the security alarm and nonsense like that then you can avoid all the modern garbage.

Unfortunately governments are beginning to mandate some of those gimmicks. Even if a car company wanted to make a car that is just a car, without a rear camera or stop assist it likely wouldn't be able to be imported to anywhere in Europe or anglophone north america.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "digital" features.

I purchased a 2021 vehicle, its a GM vehicle. Its my first GM product, my last was a Toyota but very basic model, no tech. This has everything and while I enjoyed it at first, a few things started to happen in the vehicle that made me realize that I don't want this vehicle anymore. Primarily the OnStar "feature", I get an ad like chime every so often, asking if I would like to sign up or that this vehicle has OnStar and I should activate it.

I get the world we live in and I get that everything has a subscription service attached to it but when that OnStar kicks in while I am talking to someone in the car it creeps me out. Its like when Siri asks how can I help you when you didn't ask for help yet its feels a bit more awkward. Can't explain why except I will be selling the vehicle very soon, just not sure what I will be getting next. Older, like 2000's, low miles and base model.

Its why I have not purchased an EV, while they don't all have subscriptions its started to feel like they are all going in that direction. I love tech but it has become a bit overwhelming in vehicles. If I paid for the car I really don't want to have ads while driving the vehicle (old school thinking I guess).

Got a 2016 Kia Rio QB hatchback with a 1.6L G4FC engine this spring as my first car. It had a bit more than 30k km on it, very slightly dinged (I already had bonked it twice though).

Reliable as a brick. Drives like one too. But boy is it stupidly simple — no bluetooth even, chucked in a USB receiver and called it a day. No touchscreens, no fancy driver assist, no cameras, no nothing. Just an AC and motorized windows.

Paid around $10k for it. Worth every rouble.

Korean cars are very popular here in Moscow. Basically every taxi is either Kia or Hyundai, Toyotas are less common. Outside of major cities Renault (Dacia) and Ladas are prevalent because they're even cheaper.

Want a dumb car? Come to Russia. We have some.

I'm driving a 2017 Jeep Wrangler (JK) with a manual transmission. I don't drive much (less than 4k miles/yr).

I can't drive automatic transmissions without losing my mind. My guess is if you can find a car with a standard transmission, you can get it without "smart" features. If you can't drive stick, that's fine. I couldn't drive stick when I bought my first manual transmission. If I can learn, you can learn.

My 2019 F150 XLT is still mostly analog. It has a screen, because it has to, due to the back-up camera mandate, but there are still physical dials and buttons for all of the radio and climate controls, and it still has the same setup for the shifter and wipers and blinker that have been standard in Ford pickups for two or three decades now.

Even so, I had to get FORScan to disable the autolocking feature (very frustrating when you are just going around the yard and it automatically locks the tailgate on you) and tweak a couple other things

You basically can't buy a new car in the US like this. They will all have a backup camera and an infotainment screen with controls for the car integrated, and they use the same parts from the rest of the cars in their lineup and collect all the data they can.

You could buy an older car like a crown victoria or similar models that were used as fleet vehicles from the same time period. The police models don't have TPMS, cruise control is disabled by default, no LCD screens, no bluetooth, no cellular connectivity, no voice controls, no ignition interlock, no cameras for lane keeping or early crash warning. HVAC is has dedicated controls. It still has an engine computer that controls the timing and fuel air mixture, cooling, turn signals, throttle by wire(after 04), and ABS. To really avoid anything digital you would need a car from the mid 80s or older for one with a solenoid for the turn signals, carburetor for fuel/air. And going back to the 50s to avoid an electronic fuel pump and ignition coils. An air cooled vw beetle for instance.

For new cars, a mazda 3 can be a good option. It doesn't use a touch screen and has a wheel/knob instead. The controls are more simplified, few to none of those electronic driving aids on the base models. Volvos stand out as having great physical controls as well, but they will come with all of the electronics. An f150, dodge challenger, grand caravan can be pretty light on the electronics for the lowest trim levels compared to the competition. And all of these are used as fleet vehicles by rental car cos and similar, so there are lots of parts out there

Mazda seems to be heading the right direction:

  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20200335

I'm driving my 2011 Nissan Versa until I die. When my kids reach driving age, they'll get the trashy new car and I'll keep the old one.

Good question. A follow-up: What's the best low(er)-digitalization EV (ideally BEV, but alternatively PHEV)? Something with more tactile/analog UI and a minimum of "entertainment" accessories?

i think they'll come. flew on a brand new airliner recently, all electronics were removed from the seatback. now it's just a tray and clip for your own phone or tablet, a usb charging port and a 110v ac plug at each seat (along with a media server accessible by wifi)

a nice future for all heavy equipment (cars included) would be an open standard for interfacing the heavy equipment with your own control technology, so you can replace and choose the tech yourself, and if the manufacturer stops supporting the software, the hardware remains usable for the remainder of its usually much longer life. i suspect though that this would have to be done via legislation, both to make the carmakers do it and to absolve them of liability in the event that a connected device causes an accident. (the future of machines will involve blameless teams and blameful software with trusted attribution of blame, methinks)

I'll break this into two components:

1. Is there a button for the thing I'm trying to do?

2. Does the button in (1) do what I expect it to do?

(2) drives me crazy. And I'm sure it's both a blessing and a curse as cars continue to pack tech under their hoods/into their dashes.

The climate system "Auto" function is my favorite nuisance. It used to be that you had temperate and fan speed and they operated rather intuitively. Now "Auto" does something. I'm not quite sure what. Is it reading my body temperature? Interior temperature? Exterior temperature? How does it determine fan speed? Passengers?

Even in a car with tech, I revert to barbaric adjustments: open windows when it's nice out (NYC metro area), seat heaters when it's cold (Northeast standards), and the Max A/C when the humidity is unbearable.

You know what's awesome? All of those things have, in my cars at least, buttons! I know what they do!

/End Rant

Between privacy risks and road safety, I made my choice very easily. I can understand the nostalgia of old cars with very little electronics, a carburator, a starter with a battery, a mechanical dashboard,... But on a daily basis they are dangerous, smelly, expensive, and not that reliable.

Subaru Crosstrek: If you get it with the (quite nice) 6 speed manual, all the annoying driver aid stuff is deleted. Does come with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so if you like fancy radio, you can have that. But the drivetrain is pleasantly stick-and-rudder.

I recently bought Volkswagen e-up! which meets my criteria for a city car:

- Zero* pollution.

- Big rebate from the government (6k + 3k)

- No fancy digital gimmics like touchscreen or digital distractions. I have to plug in my phone to listen to music and the knobs and physical buttons are much more ergonomic to me.

- Small and compact build for grocey runs and dropping kids to school

- 1/3 cost of charging compared to gasoline.

- Free parkings all over the city with chargers.

- Simple but superior technology. Driving an ICE is a chore for me now with so much vibrations and noise.

- Low maintenance, no engine oils to change and spark plugs/carburetors to tweak.

* I am aware that we offset the pollution to power plants, but I still feel this is better compared to ICE pollution.

P.S. I live in Berlin, Germany and we have top notch public transport here.

Alfa Romeo Giulietta. They stopped making it in 2000 and it was not sold in US for much longer.

But there are lots of them in perfect state in Europe.

To combat some of the anti-curious stances in this thread are there any new cars with too much digitization?

I would love something like a Tesla with a repl that I can program to do donuts; dynamically adjust the ride height from my Apple Watch, or just make the headlights flash in time to my music. Booting Urbit on the infotainment device is a bonus.

Basically a modern car for a hacker that still loves technology. Absolutely loved the Rally Motors concept as a kid. The Grenadier looks promising too. But I’m not aware of anything that’s computers + Hoonigan. The more digitization the better.

I bought a 2018 Acura RDX instead of a new one. Way fewer electronic gadgets and touch screens, and it cost $26K w/33K miles vs $46K new. Even with a 2018, I only made it halfway through the HUGE manual and still don't understand why the doors sometimes lock themselves and other times don't.

I agree: cars have way too many features. I loved my 2003 Honda Accord, but some dumbass totaled it when she rear-ended me at an intersection because she wasn't paying attention - probably on her phone. Most people I talk to don't know how to use their car's features.

Build yourself a Caterham. I did this at one point, you'll learn a few things and the thing is totally analogue.

We have no plans to ever sell the two cars we have. I highly recommend copies if you can find them. My wife has a 2007 4Runner. 150K on the odo and all I've ever needed to change was an alternator and brakes. If you do your own work, nothing on the planet is better for a mechanic than a Toyota. Ours is also the V8 (unicorn-ish) but I don't recommend that unless you need to tow something significant. Mine is a 2014 Subaru BRZ with three pedals. IMHO, it's the best car ever made. Like a shifter kart with airbags.

I think lower-end cars with the base level infotainment option have the least amount of telematics.

Surprised car makers haven't started trying to get ad revenue from displaying ads on cars' touchscreens

Subaru BRZ. https://www.subaru.com/vehicles/brz/index.html

VW Up and its Skoda/Seat equivalents. It literally doesn't have a digital dash at all, instead it provides a place to mount your phone if you wish and a very basic radio.

Nothing new. Buy something a decade and a half old or even two, have it rebuilt to spec and enjoy a computer free and reliable ride that if you pick the right car will likely appreciate in value for a while.

My 'daily driver' (or at least, before I got my e-bike it was my daily driver) is 24, drives like it was made last week and will probably outlast me. It is not the most fuel economic car but it gets me where I need to go and is quite reliable.

I have been looking at the Ineos Grenedier that is coming out early next year. The owner of Ineos wanted a better version of the LandRover Defender before their redesign. No digital features, all buttons. I think they are pricing it around 40-50k.

Check out the interior here. https://youtu.be/3wrPT9buKkc?t=575

I love my 2017 Ford Focus RS! It has a touch screen but besides for that there's no lane assist, automatic breaking, or any other driver assists. I also love that it is a manual, however some people may not like that. Also they only made it from 2016 - 2018 and used ones are expensive. But check it out if you want a modern, fast, manual car with minimal digital none sense.

Porsche's whole lineup before the latest set of refreshes was nicely physical and traditional.

For example the 718 Cayman/Boxster supports Carplay so you get all the good aspects of digital, but climate control, drive modes, and everything else is physical. There are plenty of cars that are/were in this in between state like Mazda's lineup.

I have a 2004 buick park ave and i couldn't be happier with it.

Alternatively, what’s a good modern car that’s easy to lobotomize by removing/disabling the cellular modem?

I bought a 2018 Ford Focus RS (comes with a manual transmission). Love it. I have Apple CarPlay, but no other gimmicks.

I didn’t know how to drive a stick before I purchased this car; but had a strong desire to vote with my wallet stemming from the same emotions. I wanted less “technology” in my car.

In 2014, we bought a brand new Mitsubishi Space Star. EUR 6990. The only thing electrical are both front windows. No A/C, no radio, no remote key or central key unlock. It did not have a single repair in 7 years. It is the best car I ever owned.

I bought a car from the early to mid 2000s and retrofit the the head unit and speakers. You can find everything from simple bluetooth/aux cable units with segmented lcd displays to full modern android auto/apple carplay touchscreens.

I would recommend a Toyota, Honda or Lincoln Town Car from that era. They're reliable, cheap to maintain/repair/modify, lots of parts availability. Crutchfield.com has excellent guides on retrofitting modern audio systems into these vehicles.

The major caveat is safety. While you do get ABS brakes, airbags and seatbelts in this era the crash protection is dismal compared to a modern SUV. You must always drive attentively and defensively- I _never_ text or call using my car audio while driving for this reason.

I have a 2015 Chevy Colorado WT trim. I got it for this reason, pretty much the simplest "modern" car you can get.

No remote locking, stick shift, just a radio / aux input. Has reverse camera though, and hill start assist.

RWD, four cylinder (but enough power with the 4.10 rear end gearing). And good safety ratings.

It's quite weird in that it has good torque at low RPM, but revs to 7k RPM. Unusual for a truck, but fun.

I use it for towing a 4k lb trailer and the once a week run to the store. Nothing broke in five years so far.

I think they recently dropped the stick shift option but there are plenty on the market. Usually around $20k.

I average 20mpg. 25 on highway. 20 towing.

Downsides: I have the extended cab for the longer bed, so rear seats are tiny.

The sweet spot for great cars that can still be worked on is 1998-2005 model years. They had everything that makes modern cars great (ECUs, ABS, airbags, OBD2) without all the insane computerization that is standard today.

I'm surprised by the tone of the responses here so far. As much as we might or might not like the new digital user interfaces in modern cars, the value of the safety features like automatic braking and collision avoidance is pretty much beyond contest at this point[0]. Before you buy a car without these features, consider that you are probably not as good of a driver as you think you are.

[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7037779/

Pre-2015 Tacoma. Doesn't even have climate control. Has the Entune touchscreen stereo, but you can ignore that if you don't listen to music. Everything else is knobs and buttons. But also, keep in mind this is generational. A 2003 Honda Accord has an astonishing amount of digitization relative to a 1980s car. It used to be common for fathers and sons to work on their cars at home for repairs. Not just maintenance, actually fixing things that went wrong.

I think behind most nostalgia is a longing for youth.

Have at look at Subaru's from like ~2014 or older. IIRC, the safety and reliability are quite good, and I believe they're pretty barebones as far as digitalization goes.

It depends on what you want. Cars in a lot of countries are required to have some digital features, such as a backup camera.

Since you're in the states, you could consider something basic, like a Mazda 2 series or an MX-5. I also imagine that some lower trim Ford, Kia, Hyundai, Toyota, or Chevy models (Chevy Spark?) could be a good option.

It get's easier outside of the US. The VW Up is about as analog as you can get - the digital infotainment system is a smart phone app.

https://bollingermotors.com/ If you have some serious money to burn...

A Volvo 240 DL, model years 2000 to about 2010. Completely reliable daily driver, safe, comfortable sedan that can goo 500,000 miles with reasonable care. I had three of them over the years. Today, my daily driver is a 2017 Toyota 4Runner after I put 250,000k miles on a 2008 Toyota Highlander. These can go 500,000 miles with reasonable maintenance. I also buy used so others take the depreciation hit.

For a reliable pickup truck in the US, Nissan Frontiers have been very trustworthy. Up until this past year, they were known for having a very "old" looking dashboard because the interior had not been updated since the early 2010s. Despite that, it continues to be one of Nissan's most popular vehicles and some would consider it to be the best in their lineup.

Suzuki Jimny or Toyota Tacoma/Hilux Work Trim

My algorithm is like this:

Pick the body style you like/can afford.

Remove the engine and all electronics and sell them.

Install crate engine and aftermarket electronics to taste.

I have a third-generation Mazda 3 and their tech is solid. It's the basics (Music, Radio, Calls, Messages and a modest GPS). It's solid because it's not buggy, responsive and quite simple. I'm yet to have any issues with Bluetooth (which was a hassle on Renault/Fiesta cars). It also has no other privacy invading crap.

Like many industries, the automobile industry is going through production shortages. So it is a terrible time to buy a car and certainly a terrible time to buy a lower end car because, from what I've heard, automobile makers are dealing with the shortage by only making their more expensive models because there is more profit in them.

The only tech in our 2016 base model Jetta is CarPlay, which can be useful for maps. All the other controls are physical. It does have electric assisted steering, which I'm hoping will be more reliable than the traditional hydraulic power steering which usually requires a replacement at some point. It also gets really good mileage.

Toyota Land Cruiser (the older ones.) Look for one that has airbags and ABS and nothing else computer-controlled.

What would you use them for, and how much are you willing to spend? Classic cars and italian sport cars don't have digital gimmicks, as well as american muscle. If you really want something without digital gimmicks get a motorcycle. People who really don't want to be tracked have a motorcycle.

To answer your question, it depends on what you plan to do with the car and how much you want to spend. Toyota, Honda, Jeep, Porsche, Ford, Ferrari, Chevy.

I think you will always need a trip to the dealership and it won't even always be an issue with your infotainment. The exception is if you know how a lot about cars.

Also, people don't need your car technology to track you. I know people who lost 10k of camera equipment in their car because they were targeted using other attack vectors.

I have tesla at the moment and it has a lot of digital gimmicks. I am thinking of going into porsche or c8 in the next few months.

You brought up a really good question about privacy. I'm seeking some wisdom about that too. I know that my location, supercharging, and trips are tracked. Prob even sentry might be watched by a content moderator at tesla.

Now, let's say i switch to a porsche or a c8. Wouldn't i still have privacy risks? The risks are, my cellphone, wifi, bluetooth, credit cards, data brokers, cookies, in-store purchases, transactions, or even more sophisticated attack like using people i know as another vector.

You can even track people on the blockchain. I think the exception would be something like monero.

So, I guess can someone more knowledgable share info about the issues privacy issues with tech gadgets in cars. How big of an issue is it if you are already completely integrated in modern tech society?

Zastava 101 - Stojadin

Probably the best option is any car with a manual transmission. These generally don't have any cruise control beyond the basic speed-keeping, no lane-keep assist, and generally are base models with less infotainment tech.

The fun factor should not be discounted, either.

I have a similar question for ebikes. I'm looking for a 45 km/h ebike for use in the EU. That means type certification required. I also need a comfortable real life 140km range at high speeds.

What I would love to see is:

- throttle

- battery status indicator leds (or similar low tech battery status feedback)

- pedal sensor

- battery management system

- charger

- reliable motor

What I would not like to see is:

- gps

- led display

- smart lock

- builtin cameras

- ...

Suggestions welcome!

Wish there were analog-esque(input only) electric 2 & 4 wheelers, which would be repair friendly. As opposed to S/N paired components and digital touch points like screens, which act as single points of failure.

This reminds me some years ago looking for a good high resolution TV without these "embedded OS and smart apps". My plan was to use my Apple TV and regular tv cables. I could not find it, it does not exist.

This Porsche 962C isn't new, but it probably doesn't have too many privacy invasive features: https://vimeo.com/50473835

I have an entry level 2019 Skoda Citigo. It is just a car, zero driver assist / digital gimmicks. The only digital features are a Bluetooth stereo and a CarPlay screen — but even they have physical buttons.

Toyota Camry and Honda Civic from 2006 to 2011 are a very nice sweet spot.

How about a 10 year old Acura or Lexus? Cheap-ish by now (although the used market is inflated currently), comfy and fun to drive, reliable and most of all no huge iPad in the dashboard.

Late 90s Camrys, Corollas, Accords and similar. The most advanced electronics are the entertainment system, anti-lock brakes and ignition system. Not a CAN bus in sight.

Mercedes EQS! Just kidding ;)

Nowadays you won't find anything new that isn't full of electronics unless they sell Lada Niva in the US (might be a bit too bare for you though).

> and prefer their cars without fancy digital gimmicks

What's a 'digital gimmick'? Is stability control a gimmick? ABS? What about cruise control? Lane assist? Auto-breaking to avoid collisions?

If you are talking about things like touch screens to control basic functions, then it's understandable. Or maybe you want a car without GPS.

In general though, moving functions away from hardware makes things more reliable, not less. When was the last time you had to adjust your engine timing? Or disassemble a carburator to figure out issues, rather than plugging in a scanner and having the onboard computer tell you what's wrong.

Ask the dealer if Internet connection is an option, if so, can it be added later, can it be turned on remotely? In many cars today, the answer to all three is yes.

I got a 2011 Toyota Camry for just this reason. It was the last year before touch screens were introduced. (edit: still has a ton of air bags)

2019 and below Nissan Frontier. Outstanding trucks. They changed it in 2020 and 2021 I would give it another 15 years to iron out the bugs.

Trucks in a basic work truck trim are pretty sparse.

Kind of wish I kept my 89 Caprice when the transmission seal went bad about 5 years ago.

People seem to always want to buy my 90s Miata for these reasons. Parts are still affordable and it's reliable...

Base to mid model Subarus from the 2010s would seem to fit. They don’t have many gadgets and have great safety ratings.

Toyota 4runner might interest you. They have a old-school SUV philosophy with the standard modern safety features.

Alfa Romeo Cars are usually have minimal electronic onboard. Probably only the Stelvio has some more

You probably need to buy a used car. Or, buy a new car and remove the fuse for the infotainment system.

A very good question. I have been asking myself the same. Was thinking af maybe an older Subaru.

Low end Nissan Frontier. Mine doesn't even have power locks or windows!

Low tech/practicality cars on my personal “want” list:

* Caterham 7 super sprint

* TVR Griffith (or Chimaera)

* Ariel Nomad

A lot of Toyota cars still have physical controls for many things.

The best design I have seen in years is the Polestar 1.

I wish they'd ditch the EV thing, put a 300hp motor in the front and find a price point around 40k.

They'd sell a whole lot of them

Dodge or Nissan would be my vote.

There's going to come a time in the near future where analogish features are going to be seen as luxury components.

I’ve recently decided I want a classic muscle car. 30 years old or older, in good condition, depending on make, model, and miles can be had easily for under $10k

First tell us your beef with the status-quo. How do you determine what is a digital feature and what is a digital gimmick? What are you trying to avoid exactly?

Are remote diagnostics a gimmick? Is the 20 year old CAN bus a gimmick? Automatic headlights? TPMS? ABS? All of this technology contains properties that identify your vehicle from similar vehicles WHILE making the roads safer.