Hah! I agree with you 100% on digital appliances and the troubles they can cause. Our dryer was a problem, DH fixed it, but I told him that I was never going to use it. The heat coils were fusing to the metal cabinet of the dryer, and it got very hot. The appliance repair place said that was NORMAL for that style of dryer, not a defect. So we bought a new dryer, basic knobs, etc. and, amazingly, almost twice the drying capacity.
When buying it, my DH said exactly what yours did. Turns out he was not interested in replacing the washer so we'd have a matched set in the laundry room. Me, either.