About ABS, my Impala would have definetely had it and nowadays just about all decent-sized cars seem to have it. antp mentions like the Fiesta and the Ka have it, although I wonder if it comes as standard or not, they are pretty cheap cars. I'd rather have ABS than not have it, it's awful when someone suddenly pulls out in front of you (which has happened to me in my old Renault Clio a couple of times) and the car seems to start skidding as soon as I touch the brake pedal. A skilled driver should be able to avoid locking the brakes, but when you have to brake very suddenly I find my gut reaction is to press hard on the brakes, sometimes you can't help it, it's just how you react, and it feels like the wheels lock immediately. If I can anticipate having to slow down quickly I'm usually fine but whenever some absolute fuckhead pulled out in front of me without any notice, my Clio's tyres just started screeching and the whole car would just slide. You can be taught how to brake and manouver properly without ABS (though they don't really teach you this when you're a learner), but for most people it's much easier to have it. If a car has ABS that works properly (perhaps this isn't the case on all cars, especially older ones) it should be foolproof.