WHAT’S THE MOST GADGET-FREE SMALL CAR?

Q

Our Skoda Roomster was written off when a lorry was blown over and crushed it. We have received the insurance settlement of £7,519 and propose to add up to £10,000 to this to buy a new small car, about the size of a Kia Picanto. We want something with as few gadgets as possible, such as a normal handbrake and no touchscreen. Does such a car exist?

– RW

A

You’ve answered your own question. My first suggestion would be a Kia Picanto. It’s a great small car, with a smartly-styled interior; it’s easy to drive, comfortable and even quite fun. It has a surprising amount of room inside, given its compact dimensions, and a conventional, ratchet-operated handbrake.

You can even buy one without a touchscreen. The entry-level 1 model has an old-fashioned radio and few fripperies, with no air-conditioning or electric windows in the back.

That said, I’d consider upgrading to the 2 trim. It isn’t quite as gadget-free – it has air-conditioning and electric windows all round, but there’s no touchscreen. Crucially, though, you also get body-coloured door mirrors, alloy wheels and some smarter interior accents – all little touches that will make the car much more desirable when you sell it. And at £14,150, a Picanto 2 is easily within your budget (the 1 is only £13,400).

Cheaper still is the Picanto’s cousin, the Hyundai i10. The basic SE version is specified much like the Picanto 2 but costs £13,430, making it rather a bargain. The payoff is that you “only” get a five-year warranty, as opposed to the Kia’s seven, but the i10 is still a brilliant little car and well worth a look.

In times gone by, I would have also suggested the Dacia Sandero, which is renowned for being no-frills. But the latest one has an electronic handbrake, and while there’s no touchscreen on the basic Essential version, you have to control the radio through the instrument panel using steering wheel controls, which is fiddly.

Citroën, however, makes a Sandero rival with a manual handbrake: the bargain-basement C3 You! It has a touchscreen, but it’s in black and white with limited functionality, so it’s cheap to replace if it goes wrong. However, we’ve not been that impressed with the C3 – its ride is lumpy, its handling stodgy and its interior quality isn’t much cop. I’d go for the Picanto or the i10 instead.