Modern car interiors must do more than look futuristic—they must remain functional, intuitive, and reliable through years of daily use and environmental exposure. Some automakers excel in this area by blending thoughtful digital features with tactile controls and robust hardware.
These dashboards maintain their performance under stress, high mileage, and exposure to heat or vibration. The five vehicles below exemplify best-in-class dashboard design, offering clarity, stability, and lasting usability.
These systems reflect engineering foresight and user-focused thinking, earning high marks from owners and reviewers alike for enduring appeal, especially under long-term sun exposure and wear.
5 Cars With Strong Dashboards
1. Toyota Prius (2016–2022): Simplicity That Lasts
The fourth-generation Toyota Prius embraces a straightforward digital dashboard that emphasizes clarity and function. A centrally located high-resolution display shows crucial data like speed, fuel economy, and hybrid status without overwhelming the driver.
Toyota smartly includes physical buttons for key features, avoiding the pitfalls of all-touch controls. The system’s hardware is built for endurance, with minimal issues reported even in high-mileage models.
Software updates are minimal yet effective, prioritizing stability. With no flashy animations or risky innovations, the Prius’s interior remains consistently reliable, resisting heat-induced lag or wear. It’s an ideal blend of practical tech and proven design longevity.
2. Mazda CX-5 (2017–Present): Driver-Centric and Durable
Mazda’s CX-5 sets itself apart with a rotary controller-based interface that emphasizes safety and simplicity. By eliminating the need for touchscreen gestures, drivers can keep their attention on the road while using tactile inputs to interact with system functions.
The layout avoids clutter, and the infotainment system is remarkably stable, with quick boot times and virtually no system crashes. Mazda retains analog gauges alongside digital features for added clarity.
The design has proven remarkably resilient, with components selected for longevity and heat tolerance. Over time, the dashboard continues to operate smoothly, resisting the cracking or screen issues common in lesser interiors exposed to sunlight.
3. Audi Virtual Cockpit (2016–Present): High-Tech That Holds Up
Audi’s Virtual Cockpit blends stunning visuals with surprising reliability. The 12.3-inch digital display offers multiple view modes—including full-navigation maps—powered by a high-performance NVIDIA processor. Despite its graphic intensity, it delivers a buttery-smooth 60 fps refresh rate, even years after release.
Audi’s careful update cycle enhances the experience without destabilizing it. The interior retains physical controls for key functions, making the tech complement rather than replace user interaction.
What’s impressive is the cockpit’s endurance, rarely showing glitches, even in older vehicles. Designed to resist screen dimming and processor lag, it’s a high-tech solution that thrives under both time and sunlight.
4. Volvo XC60 (2018–Present): Scandinavian Design with Staying Power
The Volvo XC60’s vertical 9-inch touchscreen, part of the Sensus interface, reflects the brand’s minimalist design language. Its layout mimics smartphone logic, offering intuitive scrolling and well-organized tiles.
Crucially, it’s built on a stable platform that rarely crashes and boots up reliably. Volvo chooses industrial-grade screen components to ensure brightness and touch sensitivity remain intact after years of use, even under intense sun exposure or temperature changes.
Frequent but carefully tested updates help preserve the user experience. The overall result is an elegant, long-lasting system that offers a premium feel without sacrificing functional reliability or becoming outdated too quickly.
5. Honda Accord (2018–2022): A Balanced and Timeless Setup
The 10th-generation Honda Accord presents a balanced dashboard experience that mixes digital and analog elements. A 7-inch digital screen blends into a classic gauge cluster, while an 8-inch infotainment display includes essential tactile controls. Honda avoided flashy trends in favor of legibility, stability, and user ease.
Volume knobs and hard buttons return after being removed in previous versions, making the interface both responsive and easy to navigate. Hardware has proven resilient to wear, while software receives occasional but measured updates.
The dashboard withstands prolonged sun exposure without noticeable fading or malfunction, making it one of the most durable mainstream options available.
5 That Crack in Sunlight
Not all digital dashboards are created equal. While some cars feature long-lasting and intuitive interiors, others fall victim to poor ergonomics, unreliable technology, or simply bizarre aesthetics.
Some designs age rapidly, not just visually but also functionally, exhibiting issues like fading screens, poor responsiveness, or impractical layouts.
Whether it’s due to an over-reliance on touch controls, poor positioning, or cheap materials, these dashboards crack under real-world conditions, especially under prolonged sun exposure or daily use. The five vehicles below showcase examples of interiors where innovation either went too far or was nowhere useful at all.
1. Fiat Multipla: Function Fails Under Ugly Form
The Fiat Multipla’s exterior often draws ridicule, but its dashboard might be even worse. The design feels more like a parody than a production model, with oddly shaped vents and an impractically high gear lever.
Angled components make controls hard to reach, and materials feel cheap. In warmer climates, the plastic tends to fade and warp, further degrading its already questionable appeal.
The lack of a clear layout or intuitive interaction makes driving more complicated than necessary. It’s a confusing, fragile design that doesn’t age well, and one that clearly didn’t account for how dashboards must endure heat and daily use.
2. Toyota Ractis: Confused Ergonomics and Poor Placement
The Toyota Ractis dashboard suffers from awkward control placement that undermines both safety and usability. A dash-mounted gear shift forces the driver to reach up unnaturally, which can be a safety concern. The steering wheel sits too low on the right side, affecting comfort and posture.
To make matters worse, a touchscreen sits over the shifter, making visibility and reach a struggle. This convoluted layout hasn’t aged well, especially under sunlight, where screen glare becomes a significant issue. The design feels like a failed experiment in space-saving, with a layout that sacrifices ergonomic and thermal performance for novelty.
3. 1982 Lancia Orca: Too Futuristic for Its Own Good
Lancia’s 1982 Orca concept tried to leap into the future with its dashboard, but ended up in a usability nightmare. Multiple digital readouts and buttons clutter the steering wheel, making quick adjustments confusing and unsafe. Screens and touch zones, advanced for their time, now look like outdated children’s toys.
Under sunlight, the poorly shielded displays become nearly unreadable, and the novelty of their design turns into frustration. With no ergonomic flow or intuitive logic, the Orca’s interior quickly became obsolete. Its dashboard is a lesson in how not to future-proof—a mix of gimmick over guidance, and flash over function.
4. Tesla Cybertruck: Minimalism Gone Too Far
The Tesla Cybertruck strips its dashboard down to a single central screen, eliminating all physical buttons. While it appears futuristic, the lack of tactile controls creates usability concerns, especially when driving.
Every action requires interacting with a flat panel, which can be difficult in bright light or when quick adjustments are needed. Under sunlight, glare can affect screen visibility, and with no redundant controls, the dashboard becomes a bottleneck rather than a help.
Its IKEA-like minimalist design sacrifices user comfort for aesthetic uniformity. While technologically impressive, the Cybertruck’s dashboard isn’t built for heavy-duty use or prolonged exposure to harsh conditions.
5. Aston Martin Lagonda: Luxury Without Logic
The Aston Martin Lagonda aimed to be a luxurious innovation, but instead delivered an impractical, awkward interior. The dashboard sits far from the driver, while the wheel connects oddly to a broad, flat panel, resembling a table more than a control center.
The strange touch panel lacks feedback, and button placement feels arbitrary. The entire setup makes maneuvering difficult, especially during tight turns. Materials fade and warp when exposed to sunlight, and the unusual layout creates ergonomic strain.
While it tried to push boundaries, the Lagonda’s dashboard ultimately became infamous for failing both functionally and aesthetically over time.
When it comes to digital dashboards, the true test is time and exposure. Vehicles like the Toyota Prius, Mazda CX-5, and Audi Virtual Cockpit show that thoughtful design, tactile controls, and proven hardware result in dashboards that thrive under sun, stress, and daily use.
On the other hand, models like the Fiat Multipla and Tesla Cybertruck reveal what happens when aesthetics or novelty overshadow practicality. A successful dashboard combines clarity, durability, and ease of use, regardless of trends. In the race toward innovation, the cars that win are those that build systems to endure, not just to impress.
Also Read: 5 Cars With Best Fuel-Economy Displays And 5 Misleading Gauges
