yeah if you don't want to do a lot of tinkering avoid creality machines and the ender 3 series in particular.

I have a he3d k200 which has been my go to workhorse printer for the last 3 years.
I made some add-ons, but the hardware and electronics are all factory original. As is the firmware.
I did have to replace the hotend recently, but that was my fault for unscrewig the nozzle while cold and snapping the shaft off :-)

Haven't looked at their machines recently.

The anet a8's are usually a good place to start as they tend to stick to the prusa i3 design: dual z motors, direct drive extruder and print bed support side rails.
Those are the things creality threw out the window with the ender 3 series, and most of their other priunters to one extent or another.

The best looking budget machine I've seen recently is this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/From-UK-Gee...Cclp%3A2334524
Basically a prusa i3.
If you can find the same one with a plywood frame - that's better for adding mods.
This one is like the one I bought last year - but they've done most of the upgrades I did and improved a bunch of other things as well.

As far as other 'i3' style machines - look for the three points I mentioned above - those are what you really want in an i3.
As far as I can see the tevo is practically an ender 3.