Any new but low tech cars?

[ARCOgraphite]

Bought a '25 Kicks for the teens. It has knobs for the volume and HVAC controls. Excellent!

Must of got the old carry over "Play" model - the new 2025 Kicks is as high techy as it gets in this segment!

The engine is way WAY underpowered for this weight and you have the atrocious Nissan CVT pregaming hurting things further

 

[Wireman1987]

nissan versa... mitsu mirage come to mind. those would probably be my two choices.

My pick would be a mirage and a sweet set of alloy rims

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Yes, it’s the Ram 1500 Classic Tradesman with the basic stereo… though that does have Bluetooth. The only way to make it better is ditch the push button t case and go back to old school lever action.

Even comes with a functional (at least for a 9 year old) bench seat!

Darn Thing won't let you shut the car off in N and open the door. Try to perform an alignment service where yoou have to do rolling compensation on the ramp. Got to pull a lower dash panel off and pull a "secret" cord to put it in repo tow mode! Or employ two men.
It was Lawsuit madness on the motorized rotary shifter that leads to more madness in compensation!

Also, the front suspension on 2wd is garbage. Like Tacos, the morons put camber/caster cams on the lower control arms instead of the uppers where they belong. Then they load into a wimpy bolt-on crossbrace. Add to the disgrace that the rear 4 link suspension geometry is garbage. Happy head tossing all day.

This ain't no Chebby squarebody or near it.


Sorry for the venting , I have been under one of these things the past two months trying to get it right.

Old Arco - beaten down by Y2K modernity!

 

[Skippy722]

Darn Thing won't let you shut the car off in N and open the door. Try to perform an alignment service where yoou have to do rolling compensation on the ramp. Got to pull a lower dash panel off and pull a "secret" cord to put it in repo tow mode! Or employ two men.
It was Lawsuit madness on the motorized rotary shifter that leads to more madness in compensation!

Also, the front suspension on 2wd is garbage. Like Tacos, the morons put camber/caster cams on the lower control arms instead of the uppers where they belong. Then they load into a wimpy bolt-on crossbrace. Add to the disgrace that the rear 4 link suspension geometry is garbage. Happy head tossing all day.

This ain't no Chebby squarebody or near it.


Sorry for the venting , I have been under one of these things the past two months trying to get it right.

Old Arco - beaten down by Y2K modernity!

Mine has gone 50k+ with an evap code

 

[Jetronic]

Also these touch screen radios absolutely suck for reception - which is a pet peeve of mine.

wouldn't that be the shark fin antennae that are responsible for that?

 

[Rmay635703]

I’m in the market for a new car first time in 25 years however I don’t want a car that requires an engineering degree just to turn on the radio or air conditioning. Are there any newer cars that are low tech?

Over half of Wisconsin areas are accessible via side by side or NEV.

If you don’t drive fast or far and it’s legal you can avoid high insurance and registration by driving those, many in upper Wisconsin don’t own a car and just drive one of the aforementioned.
All I’ve encountered are very primitive

A Nissan Altima is about as low tech as is possible today. With conventional speedo and HVAC controls, although it does have a touchscreen. Heck, even the VW Jetta now has a digital dash.

If you can find a truly base Trax, those too are missing the unreliable electronics in the dash

 

[zzyzzx]

Bought a '25 Kicks for the teens. It has knobs for the volume and HVAC controls. Excellent!

This vehicle has a CVT....

 

[zzyzzx]

If you can find a truly base Trax, those too are missing the unreliable electronics in the dash

It's actually pretty difficult to find the LS trim on the lots, and when you do, a good portion of the time it has added packages that make it effectively a higher trim model with extra electronics to annoy you.

 

[duck__dodgers]

Trax has the "high tech" wet belt.

OCI accordingly

 

[DweezilAZ]

Over half of Wisconsin areas are accessible via side by side or NEV.

If you don’t drive fast or far and it’s legal you can avoid high insurance and registration by driving those, many in upper Wisconsin don’t own a car and just drive one of the aforementioned.
All I’ve encountered are very primitive


If you can find a truly base Trax, those too are missing the unreliable electronics in the dash

But they have the ignorant wet timing belt built to fail engineering in their SAIC/GM 3 cyl engine. Not good. Ask Ford. Peugeot etc. Ticking time bomb. One time use timing belt cover.

 

[DweezilAZ]

It's actually pretty difficult to find the LS trim on the lots, and when you do, a good portion of the time it has added packages that make it effectively a higher trim model with extra electronics to annoy you.

After my first new car was totaled I looked at the then new Cobalt: Three colors, half a dozen for sale, all of them loaded to the gills. And dozens of SUVs and trucks. Forget it. Their contempt for the entry level buyer has been around a long time... See: Falcon, Corvair, Valiant, Pinto, Vega......hmmm.... last Gen Focus and Fiesta as well. Power shift THIS, Ford.

 

[zzyzzx]

Trax has the "high tech" wet belt.

OCI accordingly

At least it doesn't have a CVT. If I had to pick between a CVT and a welt belt, I'm picking the wet belt.

 

[DweezilAZ]

Define low tech?

Many cars will have manual controls for things like AC. I can't think of any new car that is not going to have a touch screen for the radio / infotainment but I could be wrong. Also these touch screen radios absolutely suck for reception - which is a pet peeve of mine.

SC, I have a list of things that I do not want on a car that continues to grow: no turbo, no push button start, no remote start, no electronic parking brake, no digital gauges, no nanny safety "packages", no oversized stupid console eating up space, no touch screen, no GDI, no variable compression, no wet belt, no tiny 3 cylinder trying to pull 3600 lbs of vehicle, no 4wd or electronic gimmicks.

The factory stereo system on my brother's 2013 Ford Taurus just bricked. $400 to fix it. The owner's manual is the size of a shop manual.

FFS make it stop. I'll go pre 2010 if my 2005 dies.

They're only building for the lease market these days. People who keep a car for 10-15 years are royally screwed.

So yes, the only honest cars left are the Mirage and the Versa, but the snobs in the automotive press despise them because they don't pretend to be "premium" vehicles.

 

[dogememe]

Must of got the old carry over "Play" model - the new 2025 Kicks is as high techy as it gets in this segment!

The engine is way WAY underpowered for this weight and you have the atrocious Nissan CVT pregaming hurting things further

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Agree on the Kicks being an underpowered turd. Supposedly the new version has a new engine with more power but 0-60 time looks to be similar and I think the new one is also heavier so it kinda negates the power increase.

My ex had the first gen one and we have one at work too. I will say the base model one at work has a horrible interior while my ex's was a top trim one and MUCH nicer place to be inside. It's almost like it's not the same car! Regardless of how nice the interior was, fuel economy in relation to the lackluster performance was actually pretty bad! If it got good fuel economy I'd be OK with slow but the combination was just disappointing.

 

[PandaBear]

Backup camera is mandated now, and so are ABS, traction control, TPMS, etc. Most likely you can still get non DI engine and manual hand crank window but that's likely not going to be a big deal in durability (you can repair them pretty easily by pulling the panel and just swap in parts).

Maybe a Mitsubishi Mirage is as low as you can get, but also remember that low tech doesn't mean durable. The manufacturer matters a lot more. A higher tech Toyota is likely going to be more durable than a lower tech Nissan and Hyundai / Kia.

 

[trd1zz]

'25 IS350 and '25 IS500 still come with a CD player AFAIK. And of course each comes with a beautiful naturally aspirated V6 or V8 engine, no turbo and/or hybrid nonsense

 

[IndyIan]

Backup camera is mandated now, and so are ABS, traction control, TPMS, etc. Most likely you can still get non DI engine and manual hand crank window but that's likely not going to be a big deal in durability (you can repair them pretty easily by pulling the panel and just swap in parts).

Maybe a Mitsubishi Mirage is as low as you can get, but also remember that low tech doesn't mean durable. The manufacturer matters a lot more. A higher tech Toyota is likely going to be more durable than a lower tech Nissan and Hyundai / Kia.

I think the Mirage has proven itself to be decent, but I agree that if you are buying new, and want to think about your car the least, a lower trim toyota, few years into its model life cycle, is usually a good bet.

 

[duck__dodgers]

be patient and look for pre-direct injection Lexus. Some of their engines went direct injection as early as 2006, so do your homework.

Can't remember without looking----maybe the 2006-era GS300 is port? They definitely have cassette players!

 

[SOUNDMAN5000]

Lets face it, TECH sells cars!
IF you ask MOST young 1st car buyers what he / she wants in a car, Car phone tech will be the #1 request then gas mileage #2. Why would a car company now make a car that would not sell and only appeal to us old folks? Buick did that for years buy Buick figured out quick some low cost China tech can attract young buyers and make the car company money!
Not many like me who would be happy with a simple radio and roll up windows?

Thats why I have purchased 6 or 7 retired used Police cars as I prefer rubber flooring ( over carpet ) and no or limited tech!
You can always buy a used Police car or a NEW commercial grade trucks and vans...

 

[meep]

Ford f150 work spec XL with the 3.6(?) v6, same with the pentastar Ram.

I think the point is to find “as simple as possible for reliable living?” Toyota Corolla or Corolla cross are probably pretty dialed in without too many frills? Agree on the Nissan line - Altima seems to be a well-lived vehicle thats a little slow on tech and rack up the miles. Our Honda civic experience has always been excellent, including the little 1.5T. The square body Chrysler minivans … I was fond of those but they are well used by now.

What about the little 4 cylinder utility vehicles such as the ford transit? Less frills, not a big fancy engine? Just designed to go.