Hi Mark, firstly bluetooth were in cars as far back as 2001, my son, born 1979, passed his driving test in 1999 (second attempt) and it wasn't long after that he was mentioning bluetooth (yeah, back then mobile phones to me were the Devil's own.
Funny, I've always preferred a 4 door saloon (sedan) over the hatchback, always have done.
Here is a picture of my Rover 75 4 door, the only car I've ever kept a picture of. A magic carpet ride and so so quiet.
However, I do agree that any distraction of the driver has the potential to maim and/or kill. I can never understand that they banned holding a mobile phone whilst driving but can freely talk using bluetooth.
I go back to the 70's driving, the most complicated thing on cars of that era were the points within the distributor cap, everything else a piece of cake.
Did you get the Toyota Avensis over there, a great car.