> I have a feeling I will need to settle for finding and restoring a car from before 1990.
You don't have to go back that far. I'm with you, I'm actively repulsed by newer cars because (in part) of the touch screens and other such nonsense, so I expect that I'll never be buying a car that was manufactured too recently.
But my current car is acceptable, and it was made it 2008.
My car has suffered through 20 salty winters, and I'm not sure it's going to be acceptable much longer. Which is unfortunate, because it seems like new cars mostly aren't.
That can't happen now that backup cameras (and a display for it) are mandatory. And they're never going to leave a big screen in the dash unused except for when driving in reverse.
> They could, at the very least, only use the touch screen for things that you don't want to adjust while driving.
My 2019 crosstrek is like this, and I dread the day I need to retire it. Physical controls for everything, supports carplay+android auto, and the only thing the touch screen is used to adjust are sound balance, and auto-headlight sensitivity.
You don't have to go back that far. I'm with you, I'm actively repulsed by newer cars because (in part) of the touch screens and other such nonsense, so I expect that I'll never be buying a car that was manufactured too recently.
But my current car is acceptable, and it was made it 2008.