Or like Honda Jazz/Fit 2000-2006. They achieved perfection for a A to B car there.

Look into the Dacia Sandero, then. When they launched they were about six grand in the highest trim spec, which included a space to fit a stereo. Not the stereo, just the space to fit it.

Manual door locks, manual windey windows, manual seats, buttons and dials, mechanical gauges. All based on "proven technology" first-gen Renault Megane components, so it's easy to fix.

I'd get something like that if I needed a car tbh, but luckily I can do everything with my bicycle. The new sandero starts at 10k, which is still quite a budget for a lot of people

I picked up a 1994 Toyota Pickup for this exact reason. It's so insanely simple, they didn't even give it a proper name. One of the last true work horses, if it wasn't for that damn rusty frame.

1997 Range Rover P38 owner here. Entirely gizmo-free and less rot-prone than old Toyotas.

God did I ever love my '92 Rover.

Maybe I should get another one.

'92 would be an RRC. Get a P38, they're a lot more "liveable" as a daily and they don't rot anything like as badly. Also an RRC is insanely expensive, and P38s have only just started the upward curve.

Are they now? That's a shame; I sold my last one to a scrapyard after someone stole both cats out of it, a week before I was going to move - I just didn't have time to deal with it.

I was always skeptical of the P38s because of the airbags. How do you deal with that over the long term?

Change the bags every ten years or so. You can get aftermarket ones by Arnotts, but Dunlop still do them too. Apparently they're used in ambulances, too.

I won't say I've never had EAS problems but it's never left me stuck, unlike coil springs.