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3 MIN READ TIME

MATT SAUNDERS

Testing, testing

Some Mercedes have the vibe of a nightclub, not a car

Now seems like a good time to address a topic that affects almost all of us drivers, and disproportionately through the winter months: cars with dashboards lit up like Christmas trees.

I’ve driven plenty of ambient-lighting horror shows this year. Some would have made your average festive Nordmann fir look half-dressed and decidedly unjolly; others, to be fair, used lighting as decoration quite judiciously. There really are some brands that seem to be beginning to do it well; others are doing it really badly; and others still are just doing it for the sake of doing it. I’m not against the idea of it full stop, but a few dos and don’ts certainly seem to be emerging.

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Autocar
3-Dec-2025
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