DAB has made my radio listening at work much more pleasurable, the roof aerial keeps the signal going in all but the most rural of locations.

I have 4 indy stations programmed in and swap between the 4 as and when propagands broadcasts and adverts are aired because at least 1 will still be playing music apart from probably the 8am news, and i'm usually otherwise engaged at that time, win win

Avoid the state broadcaster completely, my two traffic warning systems mean i don't need 'traffic' on the radio so the SB doesn't even raise its horned head there, bliss.

EPB won't ever be fitted to a car i own, and unless someone (hopefully not me) writes my present lorry off by the time it comes up for replacement i'll be retired.

Some 13 years ago i bought a used VW Polo with the bog standard fitted FM/CD arrangement. As i had spent much less of my budget on the car, i decided to have a Pioneer head unit fitted with a breakout DAB receiver. I already owned a Pure DAB personal radio and although back then the signal was patchy i took the risk for the car.

After about 4 years, the old Pioneer with external DAB receiver wasn't performing well and i kept losing signal. I upgraded to another Pioneer single DIN head unit with built in DAB. The reception was so good i wasn't even losing signal in tunnels and could stay tuned to radio stations way out of London.

Sometime later, i bought a used MK 5 Golf, again with the standard radio equipment. I swapped this out for another Pioneer, this time a 7" touch screen with built in DVD player and lots of other features including Spotify capability. This was the best head unit i've ever had and DAB signal was flawless.

Last year, i bought a MK 7 Golf with it's own DAB unit built in. DAB reception is awful and the car has a recall to rectify this known issue. Sadly, the only aftermarket unit that is compatible with this car and all it's built in features is an Alpine unit that costs an eye watering £1800 to buy...plus fitting costs! But if money was no object, i'd have already had it fitted.

I'm not an audiophile but i love playing music in the car and as an early adopter i have to say, DAB is definitely a positive for me.

My MK 7 also comes with a CD player in the glove box....i can honestly say it will never get used. I have a USB stick permanently connected for my own music.

The car also comes with an EPB with hill hold assist. I was a little sceptical at first but decided to make full use of them and have grown to love its convenience. I'm not as sold on the ACC which i've tried a few times and it works well but i can't bring myself to let the cars' tech to have that much control.

Towards the end of last year I went from FM and multi change CD player to DAB and single CD player. DAB is fine with a much larger choice of stations. I ripped my records and CDs to disk years ago and now have the entire collection on a USB stick left permanently in the car. Have not touched the CD player since an initial test when I got the car.

I also acquired for the first time ever an electric parking brake and automatic brake hold (which is separate). I always assumed EPBs were a menace but it turns out they are really useful and no problem using mine. Works very well in conjunction with the auto hold although not everyone uses them that way. For the record, after driving for more than 50 years I have never had any problem doing hill starts or anything else with a conventional manual handbrake.

A flat battery does mean that the EPB is locked on but a modern car is totally unusable anyway with a flat battery. On mine the first problem is working out where to find the emergency key and keyhole to even unlock the car - which also locks itself! On balance I like all the modern gadgets in spite of issues like that and have no wish to emulate the OP and turn back the clock.

I think DAB reception depends on where in the country you are, and the terrain. Our Jazz does have DAB, but reception is pitiful, so i'm just sticking to FM for the time being. I also like a CD player, but admit that in a smaller car, storage space can be at a premium, so not too practical!.

As for things you used to get in cars which i miss, opening quarter lights. I have only had one car with this (a 1985 Lada) and it was great!.

Reporting from another cave - I still have an aftermarket head unit, but in my defence it has DAB. The aerial sits on the dash. Sound quality is inferior compared to FM but my preferred station 6music is only available on DAB.

Better sound quality with CD's but the mp3 format is just so compact and convenient. I don't miss a bulky changer in the boot.

Some things are better about modern life. The subwoofer craze sems to have waned recently. Really intrusive due to the wavelength making the sound carry for a long way.

As this thread has gone the way of DAB vs DAB+ a few accurate facts may be timely.

The UK was an early adopter of DAB so had an extensive system by the time the DAB+ standard was introduced. I and millions of others would have been very annoyed if our radios had been made useless overnight by a government regulated DAB+ switchover. Nevertheless, the UK now has a fair number of DAB+ stations and most receivers apart from those at the cheap end have both DAB and DAB+ reception.

DAB+ does not give "much higher quality output" than DAB per se, it allows higher quality within the same bandwidth or the same with less bandwidth. The main reason most stations broadcast well below the maximum achievable quality on DAB or DAB+ is to save money - more bandwidth costs them more. That is important to both commercial radio which finds it hard to make a profit and the BBC which faces constant budget problems. It is possible because, apart from a few fanatics who constantly complain on audio forums, the vast majority of listeners are content with the current quality, even in mono. Proof of that comes from the fad for expensive but small smart speakers most of which are mono and do little to help sound quality.