These 5 Vehicles Have the Most Dated Interiors in 2026AutoblogAmos KwonThu, September 10, 2026 at 9:45 PM UTCAdd us on GoogleAutoblog and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article.Cabin FeverYou spend far more time using your car's interior than you do staring at its exterior. Some cars, even affordable ones, are like rolling lounges because of their airy layouts and modern tech. Then, there are the models that seem to hang on to dated interiors, seemingly in perpetuity. In 2026, a handful of vehicles remain on sale with interiors that feel a generation—or occasionally two—behind the rest of the pack.ToyotaA dated interior doesn't make a car unworthy, just unattractive. In some cases, their familiar controls, straightforward layouts, and familiar packaging may appeal to buyers who dislike the latest tech, haptic feedback controls, and newfangled environmental materials. But shoppers who prioritize a contemporary design may find these five cabins painfully lagging behind the curve.2026 Hyundai VenueHyundaiThe 2026 Hyundai Venue is the cheapest car in America right now, and its cabin is pretty low rent as penance for the $20,550 base price. It's got more than a whiff of rental car throughout, and the cost-cutting is palpable. Everything works fine, but there's no hiding the cheap plastic on the doors, dash, and center console The upright dashboard is functional, but its small central display looks glued in place.HyundaiThe Venue attemps to make the cabin look fresh via the graphics on the seats, but that only goes so far when slabs of drab black plastica re everywhere. The Venue's interior straightforward, which is a plus. The physical climate controls and conventional buttons make the car easy to use, versus controls relegated to touchscreen infotainment systems. Still, the overall presentation feels more like an early-2020s budget vehicle than a fresh 2026 offering.2027 Dodge DurangoDodgeAdvertisementAdvertisementThe long-in-the-tooth Durango is still the only three-row muscle SUV in the game. When we say old, we're not kidding. The third-generation SUV has been around since 2011 with facelifts in 2014 and 2021. It's aggressive-looking exterior, available V8 power, and useful towing credentials still draw buyers, but its dashboard architecture has roots in another era. The Dodge Durango's interior is one of the clearest examples of a vehicle whose mechanical appeal has outlasted its cabin design. Step inside, and it's a lot of chunky black plastics throughout. Even the shift knob, as good as it is to use, looks like a leftover from the early 2000s.DodgeIts infotainment screen may be relatively large, 10.1″ running the latest Uconnect 5 system, yet the surrounding dash design, instrument cluster, chunky controls, and broad expanses of dark plastic are anything but modern. Newer competitors like the Ford Explorer and Kia Telluride have moved toward layered and linear dashboards, larger digital instrument panels, richer materials, and more open cabins. The Durango instead feels stubbornly old-school. Aside from having good physical controls, the interior is just dated.2026 Mitsubishi Outlander SportMitsubishi Motors North AmericaThe Mitsubishi Outlander Sport is as old as dirt, and the interior is clear evidence of that. While the exterior has received three facelifts since 2011, the interior has only received one facelift consisting of updated technology. The minor change was not enough to bring the Outlander Sport's interior to modern standards. The overly thick dashboard, gobs of dark plastic, and dated gauges contribute to the look that's decidedly two decades old. Granted, the low price of $23,995 can justify some cheap materials, the design of the interior lags far behind competitors. Nobody's going to get excited about spending time inside this thing.MitsubishiThe Outlander Sport remains a fundamentally simple vehicle for buyers who want uncomplicated transportation. The exterior is more chiseled after the last refresh, but get inside and you're immediately transported to yesteryear. Most competitors. offer configurable digital displays, larger screens, wireless smartphone integration, better sound insulation, and cabins that look almost premium. The upcoming 2027 Kia Seltos make this look like the car from the Flintstones.Chrysler PacificaChase BierenkovenAdvertisementAdvertisementAfter the 2027 refresh, the Chrysler Pacifica looks better on the outside. Is it just an oversight, then, that the cabin looks so very much the same? Of course, the Pacifica is one of the most successful minivans on the market, and it's especially good for families that value flexible seating, clever storage, and the availability of a plug-in-hybrid powertrain. But its interior design is beginning to show its age.ChryslerThe Pacifica's dashboard is clean and usable, and there are solid physical controls for climate and audio, but something's missing. The dash is too thick, the infotainment screen is embedded in the dash (versus in a panoramic frame), and those blue analog gauges are weird. There's also way too much piano black plastic, an oversized steering wheel, and a center console that looks forgotten by time. Newer minivans like the restyled Toyota Sienna and Kia Carnival do it better and more contemporarily. This is another example of a refresh where something got missed.2027 Toyota CorollaThe Corolla is about to get a new generation, thank goodness. As reliable and no-nonsense as the current car is, there's no mistaking its interior for fresh and attractive. The Toyota Corolla is dependable, efficient, and easy to recommend as affordable and practical transportation, but the cabin is aging worse than its exterior. Even as Toyota has improved its infotainment and driver-assistance technology, the Corolla's basic cabin architecture remains restrained, plain, extremely gray. Hard plastics abound, piano black is overused, and the physical controls look like they were pulled from Dollar General.ToyotaThe dashboard design is overly thick and protruding, the center console is woefully devoid of good storage options, and the massive plastic bulkiness of the interior door cards is impossible to ignore. Seat cloth looks like it came from the '90s, and the instrument cluster shroud and frame look old and mismatched. Perhaps the most glaring issue is the lack of openness in the cabin, something that the next-generation Corolla should remedy.Final ThoughtsCarmakers are making interiors better and better with every generation. Even affordable cars like the Nissan Sentra and the Hyundai Tucson are pushing the envelope. But there are obviously ones still living in the past. As competitors introduce sharper displays, higher-quality materials, more advanced connectivity, and more polished cabin design, these models suffer from old designs, old tech, and old materials. Shoppers who place a high value on technology and ambience should compare them carefully with newer alternatives—while those who value familiarity and function may find that their old-school cabins easier to use, if nothing else.AdvertisementAdvertisementThis story was originally published by Autoblog on Sep 10, 2026, where it first appeared in the Features section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.