Do what I’ve done, 4 cars and the newest is 2009. The others are 1993, 1974 and 1955. No electric handbrakes there.
I did have a work van with an electric handbrake and I can’t say I was a fan, thankfully the engine blew up so now I’ve got one with a proper handbrake 
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The brake lights are lit when the auto hold feature is in use.
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When timetable plans were announced for the all singing and dancing electric car future or at least phasing out of new ICE, I decided I’d to take the Cuban route with my ‘02 NBFL Madge. What ever it takes to keep her on the road in the best possible condition she gets. With luck I’ll kick the bucket before I run out of funds, if not I probably won’t be long for this world anyway.
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We are lucky to have a good local garage and these guys keep us going……we do spend quite a lot of money on routine servicing and, whatever the cars need to keep them driving properly…… but even this would pale into insignificance compared to leasing a new vehicle at say £300-£500 a month?? One can do a lot of maintenance/replacement for that sort of money.
And, have a proper hand-brake,a manual gearbox and avoid the lane -assist nonsense.
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You miss out on ‘intelligent’ speed assist though, as well as driver drowsiness detection. I mean, who woudn’t crave them.
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The vast majority of vehicles with a EPB illuminate the brake lights when applied with the engine running.
Personally, I love mine in the Volvo and it comes off straight away when pulling away(vast majority do) and you can just control the car with the clutch/accelerator,(manual box of course).
Love the hill start assist feature too.
We all different.
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It’s important in this modern age to take a moment and go through a “pre-flight” checklist before driving these modern cars.
In an MG HS for example.
The procedure is:
Select settings, volume control, key beep- OFF.
Next, select MG Pilot and systematically go down the list selecting -OFF/CONFIRM for every item.
With the checklist complete the drive can commence without interruption or unnecessary assistance.
Sadly, this is the future of driving for many of us.
Sigh
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as said by others - when “auto hold” is used on most of the electric handbrakes - it puts the brakes lights on.
Most stupid idea they have ever come up with.
It is not always the drivers error.
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Looks like I’ll be buried in my NC…….cant see me buying anything much younger
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I too detest the Electronic Parking Brake (EPB), along with Lane Departure System (LDS), and the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) which created a potentially dangerous situation a few months after purchase (VW T-Roc).
- EPB: as already mentioned, creates dazzle to queueing drivers behind if used in the Auto mode. I hate the dazzle from drivers ahead whose brake lights are constantly on while stationary when queueing,whatever the reason, so I don’t do it to others and use the parking brake switch manually as a result. Because it’s an on/off switch, no ‘feathering’ of it is possible when creeping/manoeuvring in awkward situations. An uncomfortable jolt of the whole car ensues if the switch is operated with even the slightest of wheel movement. Hate it!
- LDS: Orange lights, green lights and display messages to ‘take control of the steering’ are consistently flashing on and off totally unnecessarily in a distracting manner during normal driving, unless one uses a left or right indicator when daring to put a wheel on or over a white line. Three button presses are necessary to deactivate it at the start of every drive because it comes on by default.
- ACC: Nearly caused a pile-up, so never used it since… Driving on a dual carriageway about 60mph and followed by another car, a faster driver overtook both of us about 70mph, then about 100 yards ahead braked in the right hand lane to make a right turn at a gap in the central reservation. I continued at 60 in the left lane, but as I was about to maintain progress ahead in the left lane, the ACC decided to brake as in an emergency, to prevent me making what it thought was an illegal overtake on the left of another vehicle. The driver following me unexpectedly had to brake harshly, no doubt calling me all names under the sun, when there was no need for any braking action in the first place.
Various other ‘Driver Assist’ messages constantly popping up, which only serve to distract.
Like the OP, it’s near impossible to find a new car to ‘drive’ rather than being forced to buy a computer with wheels.
While our Mazda ND has a few assistance features, it does still feel as though I’m making most of the driving decisions, rather than the car taking over and constantly doing what IT thinks is best.
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“ACC decided to brake as in an emergency, to prevent me making what it thought was an illegal overtake on the left of another vehicle. The driver following me unexpectedly had to brake harshly, no doubt calling me all names under the sun, when there was no need for any braking action in the first place.”
There’s a long way to go before fully autonomous cars are a thing.
I’m surprised we’re not hearing more cases of claims against this type of incident. Will we get to a time where the lead driver is held responsible for an incident like that if they are using ACC?
In a related topic, what about the neck snapping and hugely alarming jolt when rear brake assist is inadvertently left on?
Perhaps if enough pressure is brought to bear legislation may be overturned and common sense reinstated?
If manufacturers are forced to fit all of this expensive technology why not allow the driver to select those systems that they prefer?
Start with everything off and allow the human occupant to do the thinking…
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I’m not sure how everyone has coped when sat behind a big Jag/Roller/Bentley the last 50+ years. Anyone driving a old fashioned torque converter auto in heavy traffic, will make use of the foot brake to stop creep. Slipping the car into neutral makes no difference to the torque converter, and for some ZF transmissions, neutral shuts off the oil cooler to the 'box. So for many years, way way before the emergence of “electronic hand brakes”, some might have been shouting at the Jag, Merc, BMW, Lexus etc in front for shining a brake light at them.
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Hmmm, automatically comes off (seamless no jolt) on mine when pulling away as that’s the design and whole point. That happens when parked and pulling away in traffic.
It was the same on my Golf and indeed my current Volvo.
Perhaps some drivers don’t fully understand it or set it up properly.
The alternative im sad to say is a horse and cart which is the exact way I’ll be going should we all be forced to drive electric household appliances
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I’ve had an equivalent experience with the only car I’ve driven with ACC, a hired Golf in NI. I was in lane 2 of a dual carriageway at 60-65 mph. It ‘saw’ another car pulling up to a junction with the dual carriageway (a bit like those T junctions they still have on the A1) and braked. I was overtaking, and the black Audi of fate was up my chuff at the time so it was a bit of a drama.
It makes no sense to me to leave the driving to the car on the basis that one must monitor it regardless. Even if one can maintain concentration, one can only ‘recover’ from an error, not prevent it. If I have to watch over it, I might as well do it and then my attention is (I hope) 100%.
A lot of these now mandated driver aids are just creeping self-drivery - which will be fine when it arrives, I’ll be sight seeing or reading a book for the duration of the journey. But, meanwhile, just interfering with my driving is neither fish nor fowl.
I’m not a technophobe. Just because something is possible is not reason enough always to do it.
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Add to that aid maybe brought in for the mobile phone idiot user, collisional assist or something. A relative had a Leon ('72 plate) and it totally slammed on the anchors on this corner (with another car approaching) which I’ve done say 1000 times in ‘normal’ cars before. Totally out of the blue it emergency stopped, no hint of a collision (another car on the side on an albeit not wide, but fine, bend). Scary to be honest. I though he’d crashed.
Watching various TV Series/Movies you see excellent examples of very mature, well cared for vehicles way way older than the MX-5 Mk 1-4 
This is my plan for 20 year old Bullit [NB 2.5 1.8 Icon] future …regardless of cost because
I’ve always just wanted to drive a car………..not a computer
Besides this, my capacity to learn modern tech aged 67 years is because I have to not because I want to and if I can keep Bullit roadworthy ……I don’t have to in her case
Failing this I’ve got my eyes on a Mobility Scooter ….then I won’t care if it’s electric as it will just be a question of getting to e.g. GP appts
Everything else I can order in or get a taxi
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What’s particularly concerning me with these more recent ‘driver assistance’ additions is where one stands in the event of an insurance claim or driving offence prosecution.
e.g. If a default ‘Driver Aid’ intervenes inappropriately and creates a collision, such as unnecessary emergency braking, presumably the driver is held responsible as they are still deemed the one ‘in charge’ of the vehicle. Conversely, if an incident occurs when the driver has disabled any of the ‘assistants,’ it’s likely the driver’s insurer may reduce or reject any claim as a result.
Who knows, until one finds themself in such a situation? Maybe an insurance expert on here can cast some light.
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Gr yaris? Thats got a conventional hand brake that also dissconects the drive train to enable h/brake turns.
Yes I also have the pre drive check to turn all the assistance off but thats literally seconds.
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Nice, but mega expensive as in 28Kish for a '21 plate with 30,000 miles expensive.
And new ones, when windows open, are stupid, post £45K expensive