I own a Toyota Celica Supra from 1985. I love the car to pieces - not only is it amazing to drive (absolutely no electronic interference between the driver and wheels), it is maintainable. I can access everything in the engine bay, the radio is an aftermarket JVC which Just. Works, I have aftermarket parking sensors fitted, and absolutely no internet connection.

The great thing about early fuel-injection vehicles is that they're phenomenally reliable. I have never heard of an ECU failing. The simple 8-bit microcontroller powering the Supra will just keep going and going and going. The brakes are purely hydraulic (no antilock, which okay, I accept is a bit of a problem when you drive cars that do have ABS). From the cylinder block to the wheels, it's purely mechanical transmission (stick-shift, clutch limited-slip diff). If something goes wrong, it's pretty obvious where the problem is, rather than chasing error codes that turn out to be a busted sensor buried deep in the engine and the thing it's monitoring is working fine. It has a beautiful, fancy electronic dashboard with VFDs for speed, fuel and temp, and LEDs for the rev counter, and it all works.

I wouldn't say the car is necessarily less safe than a modern vehicle, provided you respect its limitations. I am an alert and responsive driver, and I know how hard I can hit the brakes before the wheels lock up. I keep the tyres inflated, the brake fluid fresh and all the electrical components in working order. There's even a reassuring scenario that I hope never to experience - a driver of one of these cars once fell asleep on cruise control and crashed into a concrete barrier at 70MPH. The car was obliterated. The driver walked away, every bone in his hand broken, but considering the nature of the crash, it was incredible to think a 30-year-old car could protect the driver. The long engine bay acts as a huge crumple zone. The space-economy nature of modern cars seems to require a lot of creativity to allow for crumple zones to be squashed around the engine.

The reliability is also very subjective. Japanese engines and transmissions will long outlive the car they're fitted to. 300,000 miles and beyond is not unreachable. Bodywork suffers more, I have had to have lots of rust repaired on this car, and I'm struggling to source a few parts, but other than that, this 33-year-old car is fully working and starts first turn of the key. And on a long highway journey, I can get a good 500 miles out of the 60-litre fuel tank.

My family owned a brand new Land Rover Freelander, which was a pathetic off-roader - as you mention, once water gets into the electronics, it's game over. This happened once in a major flood and the car was never the same again. The car stalled, but eventually restarted, but never developed the same power. We eventually sold it for a Hilux Surf, much older, but the truck was considerably more rugged.

I have a real dislike for cars I'm not in full control of - my winter car is a Subaru Outback, and that has some annoying electronics. I'm constantly arguing with the automatic climate controls, which do what they like, and the electronic auto-box is sluggish and unresponsive in the extreme. It's a tough car, and a capable off-roader as I found out, but constantly second-guessing the driver is something I can't stand. I'm just thankful the car doesn't have OTA updates - I can imagine Subaru pushing new 'profiles' to the A/C and completely breaking it!