I bought just one new car in my life-the rest were used. It was a bright red 1980 Dodge Colt hatchback. I believe it cost a flat $5,000 right off the showroom floor (okay, at that price it was probably out on the lot, but it was in the new car section). Here's what I did not get for that price: Automatic transmission, air- conditioning, power steering, power brakes, automatic windows or door locks.

The insiders' term for a car like that is "heat and keys," meaning those are the only features you get beyond the ones needed to make the wheels go around. (Full disclosure: I believe my Colt did have an AM/FM radio.)

Whatever happened to the "heat and keys" model? The basic answer is that it's still around. Like everything else these days, it's gotten a little more complex. Village Chevrolet, for example, has a brand-new 2008 Aveo that the dealership's website calls the "Special Value Model." It comes in at just over $10,000. At the dealership, it's known as "heat and keys." Like my Colt, the "heat and keys" Aveo comes with manual transmission, crank windows and no air-conditioning.

If you click on the virtual window sticker, however, you'll see that the car has features that in 1980 were either called out as luxury items or not available at all: Driver and front passenger front and side airbags; rear child seat latch; daytime running lights; tire pressure monitor; rear window wiper and defogger; tilt steering wheel. There's more, but you get the idea. (www.villagechev.com)

Why isn't an even more basic model available? A sales manager at Village Chevrolet has a one-word answer: Safety. All of the standard features on the Special Value Model are designed to help us see better and drive more safely, or to minimize injury in case of an accident.

So, are car dealers just a soft-hearted bunch? Well, not exactly - though, to give them a break, they are concerned about safety. But, imagine the review that Consumer Reports would give to a true "heat and keys" model with those safety features stripped away. The ill-will from the media would cost the auto industry far more than the buyers would save. (On the bright side, it might distract Ralph Nader from his perpetual presidential candidacy.)

More to the point, if a true "heat and keys" model were offered, who would buy it? Young drivers might be attracted by the price point - but they would likely be turned off by the absence of the technology that permeates every other aspect of their lives. The Honda Fit, designed for a younger demographic, comes with a standard stereo/CD/MP3 player, and the website provides wattage specifications (automobiles.honda.com/fit). The rival Toyota Yaris comes with standard instrumentation that includes "frosted- illumination speedometer and tachometer with LCD odometer, twin tripmeters and fuel level gauge" (www.toyota.com/Yaris). Both vehicles come with lots of safety features, which may be important to the person paying for the car if not to the person driving it.

Meanwhile, the more seasoned of us have become accustomed to comfort and convenience. When you think about it, "heat and keys" might describe not only the cars of our youth, but our childhood homes, as well. Houses, like cars, didn't have air-conditioning. Our telephones were connected to the wall with a cord. Our televisions didn't come with remote control, so we had to switch manually through all four channels. We had to boil water in a kettle and plan ahead to defrost the pot roast because we didn't have microwave ovens.

Those simpler times, like those simpler cars, may evoke fond memories, but, really, would we want to go back?