I have a 2010 Toyota Corolla. She’s been my trusty steed for the last 14 years and is in good working order. I recognize she won’t last forever, and if, god forbid (mostly for her) I get in an accident, I will need to get a new car. So what dumb cars do you drive, and what would you replace them with?
“Dumb car” is kind of relative. Computer engine controls have been around since the mid 1970’s. And while the first ones were not very good, they have become pretty darned reliable over the intervening years. And as someone who has owned cars and other heavy equipment with mechanical points and down draft and up draft carburetors, you won’t ever see me willingly own a car with any of that anymore.
If you really want to minimize the electronics as much as possible, look at 1990’s to no later than 2010 models.
Though to be fair, much of the problems with cars are caused by the accessories like power windows, door locks, air conditioning, and power seats. Those are far more problematic than the basic car itself.
I think they mean all the newer techno crap that cars have like touch screens and the like not power windows, AC and engine related stuff thats been around for decades. And I agree with that. I want a car that has the basics and yeet the touch screens and other garbage no one asked for but it seems theres not really any choice anymore.
Those touch screens are all a part of the accessories. And I dislike them intensely also. I also find it very disheartening that in some new cars a software up date is needed to make the dock locks work. A friend had to take his mother’s Kia in to rematch the door locks to a new key. They needed to remove the door handles and plug them into a computer to do so.
The last new car I bought, (2015 Jeep Patriot), made me search EVERY car dealer in 2 states before I found one that had manual door locks and manual windows. I often haul dogs around with me and while they are quite good at locking doors and rolling up windows, they really, really suck at rolling them down or unlocking the doors. It took me a couple of months of weekly searching to finally find one for sale.
Kia are bastards when it comes to anti consumer practices, my 2012 Kia had an airbag warning light come on right before it’s MOT and my usual garage said they couldn’t read the fault code, I tried specialised diagnostic readers and even borrowed a garage spec one from a neighbour and still couldn’t get anything from it.
In the end I had to take it to Kia themselves and get them to read the fault code for £130, turns out the fault was exactly what everyone thought it was but couldn’t confirm and now they want £750 to replace a single airbag module that needs to be coded to the car once it’s installed. My car has been in their garage since the start of January and there’s still no sign of the part arriving yet but I can’t install one myself because of the fact that only Kia can recode it to match the car.
I think this thread just goes to show that ‘modern technology crap’ is relative. For some, adaptive cruise control is modern technology crap, for others, electronic fuel injection is modern technology crap. I recall when power windows were thought to be crap, because when the switch breaks, you can’t open the window any more. It’s the same with any new tech.
When people refer to “smart” vs “dumb” cars, I don’t think they’re referring to the ECU. They’re referring to internet connected vs non-internet connected cars, in which internet connectivity is still a fairly recent development.
I daily drive a vehicle with a factory tape deck and CD changer, where all the electronics work flawlessly, from the sunroof to the back window rolling down. My wife wants me to ditch it, but they’re going to have to pry the keys out of my cold, dead hands.
Can you clarify exactly what you mean by a “dumb car”? Do you just mean that it doesn’t have a screen in the cockpit? Or something else?
Not OP, but my most recent car is a 2016 Hyundai Accent, and I think it’s perfect. The doors and ignition operate with physical keys, the displays are all physical indicators directly behind the wheel, all the controls have tactile, physical buttons instead of a touchscreen, no infotainment system, and no subscription options.
I don’t think I’d ever want a car more “smart” than that, but I’m not sure such a thing even exists anymore.
My 2016 Audi A3 is also very analog/dumb and it’s perfect. Physical controls for everything, seemingly no privacy concerns, and I easily added a module for Android Auto/Apple Car play to it.
Internet connected (smart) or non-internet connected (dumb). At least that’s what this phrase means with all other context.
Understood, but OP mentioned that he wanted something without a backup camera, so that’s why I was asking for clarification.
2018 Subaru Forester
It might be a bit more updated than most, but in general less smart than most cars today.
- Still have to press a button on the key to unlock the doors, or use the convenient key.
- Need to put the key into the ignition to start.
- Doors do not automatically lock out unlock.
- Manual parking break.
- Rear door is 100% manual (if you didn’t count un/lock with key fob).
- Basic Bluetooth functionality.
- Equipped with OnStar, and Sirius.
- Shipped with 3G cellular, which no longer works. They do offer a free upgrade, I never bothered.
By my own assessment, it’s the dumbest modern car you can get.
n assessment, it’s the dumbest modern car you can
Onstar tracks your driving habits and reports the data to insurers, even if you do not have Onstar actrivated.
Get something similar but cheaper. Those things spend decades in the sands and humid cimates and they’re still rolling around. That Toyota will probably outlive you and your kids if you treat it well.
They’re like those Diesel powered Mercedes from the 90s but much cheaper and easier to fix.
And not as good
That’s personal preference tbh. I’d pick a shit box I can fix in an evening if it ever needs it to a finicky machine that requires years of antiquated experience to work on. I never wanna touch a mechanical fuel injector or have to take half the car apart to change a pulley.
Then again I own a modern Honda with a turbo snaked through the engine bay.
For about ten years prior to 2020, I only had a company car. I’ve gone the past four without a car but I’m looking around for something to make it easier to visit family and take short trips.
Not only is the cost of a new car mindmelting, all the crap they put in them now is detrimental to me considering anything made in the past few years. I would sooner opt for a car with roll down windows and an AM radio than have to drive down the street with a giant computer screen shining in my face pinging me with all sorts of distractions. And that’s coming from someone who spent over ten years installing car stereos and remote starts, etc.
I don’t know what to do either. I’m looking at cars made around 2010-2015. I’d probably drive less than 2,000 miles a year but I’d still worry about wasting money on something that isn’t going to last me at least ten years. I also have a thing for cars that feel good to drive, typically German cars, so these cheap little Hyundais and such probably aren’t something I’d consider.
for less than 2000 miles a year its likely better to just rent?
Like Enterprise? I’ve looked into this. First, the demand goes up / supply goes down when everyone without a car wants to rent a car for the holidays. Second, there’s only one facility anywhere near me. Third, they have limited hours when you can pick up and drop off making it unreasonably difficult (only open til 12 on Saturdays, closed Sundays).
I also looked into car sharing. I forget the name of the service but I’ve spoken with people who have rented out their cars for it. It’s a scam. People have had thousands of dollars withdrawn from their bank accounts for minor body damage without warning and without evidence that they were responsible.
There’s some locally run car shares that are better. Here in the Twin Cities we have Evie, maybe your area has something similar?
When you say dumb, do you mean like with minimal computers? I think I remember reading about Mercedes or something working on a vehicle that’s entirely mechanical with zero computer integration. I imagine it would be pretty expensive though
For that, they’d have to develop an entirely new engine, which they then couldn’t sell in Europe, America, Australia or most of Asia due to emissions regulations. So maybe they’re doing it, but it will be a one-off prestige project at the end of the internal combustion engine age, and all of them will be put in museums or private collections.
Maybe there’s just reusing an old OM601/602 from the 80s like diesel swappers are into.
No way. Anyone have a link? Its gotta at least have electronic fuel injection. A 2025 Benz with a carburetor and old school distributor is not believable.
Mechanical injection diesels could work with no digital computer, but getting one through modern emissions tests in any countries with half a standard should be impossible.
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Remotely stop it why? How is that a safety feature?
I would prefer something old enough it wouldn’t even have a backup camera
Why? I wouldn’t go without a backup camera. It only takes one time for a small child running after a ball to slip your eye and you’ve got blood on your hands. When a driver gets behind the wheel, they are barely in control of a multi-ton murder machine. A backup camera is a very easy-to-use tool to keep the murder machine under control.
So staring at a tiny screen on your dashboard makes you less likely to hit a child that already would’ve gone unnoticed if you were actively looking in multiple directions with a wider field of vision?
It’s just another tool. You wouldn’t only look in your passenger side mirror just because you have one. Use it along with all your other tools. Most standard cars have 3 mirrors and a backup camera. Most drivers also have necks they can turn.
Backup cameras have better visibility than you do from the drivers seat usually. That said, I would put in an aftermarket one rather than get a factory one.
You should always be looking behind you, checking mirrors, and checking the backup camera. I am a rookie driver and even I know that much.
Yes I know, my point is that not having a reversing camera forces you to look around. Every time I’ve been a passenger in a car with a reversing cam the driver has never checked their mirrors or looked behind them, they just trust that the reversing camera can see everything.
Oh, huh, I guess being in training just kind of forces me to think about good habits instead of getting lazy. I’m also more used to biking, where I have a mirror and shoulder glances as my primary tools. But either way, I would want to have the tool, since I know I will use it correctly.
Yes. The backup camera shows you the ground level, you still use the mirrors but kids and cats are not always tall enough to see in the mirrors. It’s an additional view, did you think it blacks out the mirrors or something?
They became required because a dad backed over and killed his own son. That father fought for years to make them required so no one would have to go through the same pain he went through. Why would you not want one? You could not look at it if you don’t like it. But it’s one of the best possible safety features imo, and it’s dirt cheap compared to the cost of a car.
I agree with you from a safety standpoint. It’s not the backup camera itself. It’s the screen and all of the additional things that come with it that I don’t want. To me it’s an inflection point.
You have to buy one prior to 2018 then. I believe that was the year it became standard.
I think its a law that new cars must be sold with them.
Presumably that depends where you live.
Yes for the US backup cameras are required after 2018
I have a 2015 Dacia Logan, that’s just smart enough (can connect to Bluetooth).
If at all possible, consider replacing your car with an E-bike. Way cheaper, both in upfront and maintenance costs. No insurance, no gas, no registration fees, etc, etc. With the right set-up you can haul a week’s worth of groceries in the rain and not even think twice about it.
Found the city dweller
If at all possible.
I used to main a bicycle in the suburbs, which was probably orders of magnitude more pleasant than doing so in any American city, since both lack any serious bike infrastructure.
This is only tangentially related, hopefully someone else here knows, are the newer fleet vehicles coming out still barebones? It might be a consideration if so
My wife has driven both her Hyundai Accent (2012), and her Kia Forte (2011) for 300k miles. Technically I think they’re the exact same car. Transmissions have never given us a problem, but we change the fluid in them religiously at 50k miles; and oil every 10k.
Occasionally we’ll have to change a battery, alternator, or coil-pack, but other than that they’ve been great.
I’m rocking a 1998 Toyota 4runner and when she dies I’ll replace her with another one
If you don’t live in that one country where they get stolen easily, Hyundai I10 and I20 base models are the perfect dumb car
Absolutely nothing to go wrong; the most technological thing on them is a Bluetooth stereo, and the little 1.25L motor only needs an oil change every 20k kilometres to keep it sweet
The motors in us Hyundais are pretty notorious for not lasting long. Pretty much the opposite of a Toyota.
The 4 cylinders are trash, the v6’s are pretty good.
Am I missing something or people are calling engine of a car “motor”? Because there is a big difference between the two.
Unfortunately we don’t get those in the US, and they even stopped selling the i30 (Elantra GT) here in 2020. You can fortunately still get the Elantra sedan, but the hatchback definitely adds a ton of practicality to it.
Whatever vehicle it is … you should get the option for rich Corinthian leather interior
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I switch back and forth between my 96 Tacoma with 250k miles and my 06 Scion xB with 190k miles. Love them both. Bury me in one of them.
