Regarding the digital cluster – I’m not sure if it’s something to do with flickering refresh rates, or too many colours, or fuzzy pixilation (or something else!) but I find colour screens difficult to read and cause me headaches after a bit of time with smartphone and laptop etc. I hadn’t made the connection to cars as well but all 3 of the new cars I tried had digital dashes in hindsight, (Leon 3, Golf 8 & Focus 4) so it’s something I’d rather avoid now. I can’t use a sat nav or reverse camera either due to the motion on screen being out of sync with the physical motion. The clocks themselves also seem to have loads or warnings all around the edge of the cluster on both the Ford and VAG cars….stop start, auto hold, etc… This is also why I don’t want a ‘snazzy’ colour screen at windscreen height.
Having just checked the Dacia Sandero…even that has the windscreen height colour infotainment screen now! So I suspect you’re right that there aren’t any new cars without that. I’ve also read that the ride is poor on the Sandero though. I’d prefer the Kia C’eed over the Dacia tbh.
Realistically, I’ll probably end up going for a Mk8 Golf if there isn’t anything closer (if they re-add them in the next quarter). I bought an older A3 a couple of years ago, expecting it to be the same as a Golf…and was sorely disappointed with the ride quality. So much so that I couldn’t drive it and had to buy the nearest thing in budget…which happened to be a high mileage, cat N, Mk6 Golf… Frustrating that I still can’t find anything more suitable than that even brand new! Also frustrating that my PIP wasn’t awarded soon enough to get a Mk7 before they stopped production…