Agreed. My original radio worked but the cassette player didn't and the sound quality from it was terrible. So I took it out and sold it and have put in a very discreet-looking modern radio/cd (not all flashing bells and whistles).
But like you I still prefer to listen to the car itself when I drive. Having heard JakeRAH's car I would be surprised if he could hear the radio over it anyway!!!!
Believe there was a thread on here recently from Smileyinside who was trying to replace the innards of the original unit with modern technology. Don't know how that is going.