We were discussing this on the drive today. I'd argue the best car I ever owned was a Mercedes 240D. This is back when Mercedes was not a luxury car, rather, was just a well-engineered, well-built car. Mercedes built most parts for it in-house. Even the screws and bolts had Mercedes logos on them, even the ones you'd never see. Certainly not flawless, but delivered the most smiles per mile, along with a bulletproof engine & manual transmission. I've never driven a more sure-footed vehicle in my life, particularly in wet weather.
BUT... would it sell today? Manual everything. Crank windows, manually adjustable driver's side mirror. NO passenger-side mirror, not even an option from the factory for one. Even the idle was adjusted by a dial on the dashboard. It did have central (vacuum) locking, but that was it. Not even cruise control. The radio was a simple AM/FM affair, no cassette. Two speakers in the front dash which weren't particularly good. 0-60 in 25 seconds.
I think I could live with it but would at least want cruise control, a decent stereo, and a 0-60 time under 11 seconds.
I would agree that today's cars are unnecessarily complicated, with that complication not providing and real benefit. On the Mazda we're driving this week, they really need to hire some aerospace engineers who design aircraft cockpits. So many missed opportunities here which could be easily resolved. On any modern (<40 years or less) aircraft, without looking, any pilot can figure out how to drop the wheels and flaps, most pilots could do it without looking even if it's their first time in that aircraft type. The wheels lever is shaped like...a wheel. The flap lever is shaped like...a flap. Simple and intuitive.
