Designers have fallen in love with ambient lighting. It’s not just a way to customize your car’s interior, but it also can provide useful backlighting for key buttons and functions, can highlight a car’s interior design elements and can give dimension and warmth, or a cool vibe, to contrast the outdoor elements.
We tend to agree (also, we seem to like purple). Over the years, as we’ve reviewed cars, we’ve tried to capture the cool interior lighting elements and show you what these cars look like at night, which can be a drastic contrast to its daytime look. Here are our favorites, and a way to get your own ambient light in a car that isn’t designed with it, or for buyers who decide to skip the manufacturer’s option and install their own.
Related: See the interior lighting options in the Jeep Wagoneer S!
The Kia EV9 Looks Even More Modern At Night
From the multi-function steering wheel to dashboard light strips to a dark version of the multimedia screen and footwell lighting, the Kia EV9 lights up dynamically at night. Best? You can customize dual color palettes. We chose blue for upper lights and green for lower lights. But maybe we should have gone pink and green.
Related: There’s more about the Kia EV9 on our video
Ceilings Don’t Have to Be Boring
BMW took the opportunity to create a roof effect where there is typically a sunroof, even though there is not a sunroof in the BMW XM. Here, the company added lighting inserts around the perimeter of the ceiling headliner and lighted it to show off the textures and materials used. The effect is to add an element of cabin light that is soft and non-glaring and makes everyone look cool.
Ambient Light in Storage Spaces Is So Welcome
The ambient lighting choices in the Lincoln Aviator allow you to pick your color, but they are also a great way to ensure you never leave anything behind. Not only is the under-console cubby lighted so you can see what’s there, but cup holders are, too; if you leave your key or garage door remote there, you can easily see it, even in the dark.
Mini’s Character Comes Alive at Night With Ambient Light
Mini’s models are chock full of character. They are cute, fun to drive and the interiors are unlike any other. In the dark this is even more true. On our Mini Countryman test drive we were able to play with the lighting, and loved how the light not only floods the footwells, but frames the door thresholds and surrounds the media screen. It’s all just so Mini.
Mercedes-Benz’s Hyperscreen Anchors the Ultimate Ambient Light Experience
If the large, expansive hyperscreen in the Mercedes-Benz EQS isn’t enough for you, it’s surrounded with ambient lighting top and bottom, and the lighting continues, into the footwells, door panels, cup holders and more. It can be a lot, but with the right color and settings, it’s perfectly futuristic and sublime. And it makes you feel completely privileged. You’ll get used to it quickly.
Frame the View, And Charge it with Color in BMW’s Lighted Sunroof
Look closely and you’ll see dots on the panoramic sunroof in the BMW X7. You can actually see they extend to the edges of the sunroof to form a frame of the roof, too. And, which we chose purple (maybe blue?) for our color, we could choose any color to flood the cabin and dot the sky: Magenta, chartreuse, or perhaps, white.
Light Adds to the Mood Curator in the Genesis GV80
Ambient lighting is a little more subtle in the Genesis GV80, but it’s key to the “Mood Curator” feature on the new 2025 model. Tap the mood curator option on the touchscreen and click start and the light glows, music flows and a fragrance fills the cabin to curate your mood.
Turn Your Mom Car into a Cool Club at Night
That’s what we did in the Acura MDX. Yes, we shuffle the kiddos all day in this 3-row SUV, but at night when it’s just us and our partners, it becomes a much cooler place to be. Lighting strips along the dash and door panels highlight the car’s elegant details and completely make you forget there are car seats and teething rings in the back seat.
Set Your Ambient Light Color Preferences in the Mustang
Just because a cabin is smaller doesn’t mean it has to have fewer features. That’s the idea behind the customizable system in the Ford Mustang. On this model we were able to see our choices right in the driver display—so cool.
Update Your Older Ride with New Ambient Lighting
Just because your car didn’t come with ambient lighting doesn’t mean you can’t have it. And, you can even control it with your phone. Amazon has many well-reviewed systems that you can install yourself.
And then, find a reason to go out at night. The air is cooler, the beaches are less crowded, the roads are fun to drive. Take a spin to clear your head. Turn up the music, change the lighting to suit your mood and enjoy being in your car doing the things you like, versus the things you must during the day.
