Don't like touchscreens and digital displays? These are the last cars left with analogue dials and physical buttons including the Suzuki Vitara, Subaru Outback and more

Big screens and displays in cars can make interiors look modern and minimalist but what happens if they fail?

You might lose your functions for climate control which could be frustrating, but what if the screen displaying your speed stopped working? The car would likely be illegal to drive.

So which cars currently on sale in Australia still have 'old school' analogue dials and buttons left?

Here's our list of the hold outs, but note this only includes passenger cars and SUVs. There are a number of utes still on sale without any digital screens but we've kept them off this particular list.

Screens are a big part of our lives from TVs and computers to tablets and phones and in the last 10 years displays have entered our vehicles in a new way.

What started as a solution to minimise the clutter of buttons in a cabin ended up removing a lot of the easy-to-reach controls for functions that were once fulfilled by a simple dial you could operate with your hand.

The idea was to organise functionality for buyers, while minimising costs for manufacturers, but it resulted in a less practical outcome as accessing volume and climate controls can mean digging through multiple screen menus.

This too has potential safety implications with crash test organisations such as ANCAP now encouraging carmakers to use physical dials for some controls to minimise driver distraction.

So, in no particular order here is our collection of most of the last brands and cars to offer analogue instruments and physical control buttons instead of screens.

Suzuki Jimny, Swift, Vitara and S-Cross

Suzuki is a simple and practical unicorn in the car world in that its entire Australian model range has real analogue dials for speedometers and tachometers, rather than large digital and virtual displays. They do also have a handy small digital speedo. 

While the Suzuki Swift, Vitara and S-Cross all have media displays (although fairly small ones) the entry grade Jimny Lite off-roader has nothing in the way of touchscreens, just a CD player and a radio, 1990s style.

The climate control function is through physical dials on all models, too.

The only downfall is the volume control on most Suzukis is through the touchscreen. Almost perfectly practical Suzuki, but not quite.

Jeep: Wrangler and Gladiator

Jeep's iconic Wrangler and the Gladiator are extremely rugged off-road vehicles and their cabins match that practical toughness as well with analog instruments for the driver's cluster.

Both the Wrangler and the Gladiator cabins resemble an aeroplane cockpit with their multitude of buttons and switches, and so the analogue nature suits the personalities of these adventurous beats well.

Porsche 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman 

The Porsche Boxster and Cayman hardtop twin are superb sportscars. Porsche has previously announced that the next-generation versions will be fully electric. So if you manage to get your hands on one of the current-gen models, you'll be treated to the last of Porsche's analog instrument clusters.

The Boxster and Cayman are also very low on modern cabin tech with a small media display and plenty of physical dials and buttons.

Subaru Forester, Outback and Crosstrek

Subaru is one of the only other brands to have many of its models sporting analog instrument clusters. Yep, Subaru rocks the old school gauges in the current Forester, Outback and Crosstrek SUVs.

There is a small digital readout but not a fully digital display. And the new-gen Forester will hit dealerships imminently and it will almost certainly move to an all-digital driver's display.

Despite the analogue instrument clusters, Subaru has gone down the path of giant media displays in recent models. Although they mostly retain their physical volume dials and climate control switches.

Mazda MX-5, CX-3 and Mazda2

Mazda's new-generation SUVs might have big screens and digital instrument clusters but the MX-5, CX-3 and Mazda2 still retain analogue instrument setups. All three models are ageing now, but the old school speedo and tacho suits the MX-5 perfectly thanks to its image as a pure, simple and brilliant sportscar.  

If there's one brand that hasn't lost its way in minimisation and screens it's Mazda. Despite many of the newer models having larger screens, most Mazda models have plenty of physical dials for all the essential functions and controls of the car from volume to climate control.