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10 Best Affordable Cars With Surprisingly Higher-End Interiors
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Mar 29, 2025
Car owners spend more time inside their car than looking at it from the outside. So, a car’s interior should be a nice place to be. Of course, luxury vehicles excel at making sure their drivers have a comfortable and pleasing place to spend time, but luckily for the rest of us, there are plenty of affordable cars with surprisingly higher-end interiors. Crossing the spectrum from sedans, to crossover, SUVs, and electric vehicles, anything can be a nice place to spend some time. Here are some vehicles with inviting premium-looking interiors despite their modest pricing.
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hey everyone it is Mike from AutoGuide and today let's talk interiors so you
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know the old cliche you get what you pay for well that's actually pretty true in
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the automotive industry more or less I mean some cars aren't really worth their
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price tag but we're gonna look at the other end of the more affordable cars
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just because you get a budget-friendly vehicle doesn't necessarily mean you have
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to have a terrible, boring, low quality interior. What I have here are 10 vehicles with surprisingly good interiors that are also affordable
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Starting our list off is the inspiration for this list and that is the Honda Civic
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Ever since the latest generation Civic came out, we have been highly impressed with its interior
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Not only did it get bigger, but the materials design and just look felt so much more premium
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compared to the old model. Fancy interiors don't need to be full of various textures and colors, there's sort
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of a conservative restraint in the Civic that just makes it feel premium
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Most obvious is that mesh centerline that goes across pretty much the entire dash and
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the air vents within them have a nice satisfying click when you open and close them
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That click also felt with the climate control dials. And like a lot of cars on this list, everything is digital and customizable
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The driver information center in the top trim, digital. And the infotainment system is 9 inches, which may be on the smaller side
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but it fits in really nicely with the Civic's overall interior. Driving this car makes you feel like you're in a baby, premium, maybe even luxury car than just a Civic
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Alright next on our list is one of the newest vehicles here and that is the just released
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Volkswagen Tiguan. Now the 2024 model probably could have made this list anyway but they've actually stepped
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it up another level. In fact when we first saw this at the LA Auto Show we think this may be the new standard
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for the segment. Highlights include the caramel leather seats that spread across much of the dashboard and
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door panels and there's actual American walnut that runs inside the dash
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And ambient lighting is all the rage these days so of course designers had to put it in the Tiguan
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and they've found cool little elements and patterns to really give it a vibe at night
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But maybe most importantly is in the center There a new massive optional 15 inch infotainment system and it can be controlled by a rotary dial between the seats It not just the all touch system in a lot of Volkswagens
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currently. Stepping back to the compact car category we have the Kia K4. So the K4 is actually
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their Fortes replacement and previous Fortes were called K4s in other markets but we're not going to
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into that now. The new K4 has such a dramatic improvement in the cabin compared to the Forte
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it replaces in North America. Besides a lot more standard tech, the dashboard design is blocky and
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there's tasteful little highlights here and there that add a little brightness and ambience to the
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vehicle. Kia's also managed to give us physical buttons, yay, that don't look out of date. It
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actually looks quite high-end and classy. Now, the materials may not be the absolute best in the
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class but they're right up there with the leaders and a cool steering wheel that's not quite a circle
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just adds a little touch. Sticking with Korean manufacturers next we have the Hyundai Santa Fe
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all new last year it got cool new boxy styling on the outside and the interior got a massive
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overhaul as well. The dash is very upright and includes the single panel dual screen setup
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standard. Much like the outside, the interior is full of H-shaped highlights, including the metallic
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trim that sort of anchors those screens. Air vents? They're H's as well, and in the top trim, you can
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have not one, but two wireless phone chargers. Now, much like the K4 we just talked about, the Santa
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Fe has a great mix of touchscreen and physical buttons that makes it look modern, yet it's
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completely useful. Step up to the top-of-line model, and you get Nappa leather seats and a suede
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headliner and the armrest regardless of trim are nice and squishy and comfortable
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there are more mazdas on this list than any other manufacturer and it makes sense the brand has
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always focused on styling over everything else the exteriors are some of the leaders in their
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various segments and the interiors are the same starting with the mazda cx-50 the compacty mid-size
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SUV has a very restrained yet sophisticated look inside. Almost everywhere inside has soft touch
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materials and it's not just a very thin layer it's actually pretty thick and really feels premium in
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quality There even soft touch materials on the top of the rear doors and that a place a lot of manufacturers cheap out And look at that dash it wouldn feel out of place against pretty much any premium competitor out there and even some
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luxury offerings. Next on the list we go back to Volkswagen this time with the Taos. So much like
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the Tiguan that I talked about earlier the Taos has a very stylish interior in a segment that's
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filled with, let's say, more useful and less inspiring designs inside. Both the Digital Driver Information Center and the infotainment system are seamlessly
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integrated into the dashboard, which itself looks of high quality. Everything that can be seen or touched is either soft touch or premium materials, and
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a lot of the competitors, as I mentioned, don't go as far as the Taos in designing a
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stylish interior like this that wouldn't be out of place against more expensive competition
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but the Taos doesn't sacrifice functionality for this look either so it's a win-win situation
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As you might notice by now there are a lot of SUV crossovers on this list because well
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that's what's all the rage right now. So next is one that has been on the market for a couple years
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but got a refresh this year and the already attractive interior is even better. That is the
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Kia Sportage or Sportage for our Canadian viewers. Although it may not be as stylish or have quite the same quality of materials
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compared to some of the vehicles I already talked about on this list, what the Sportage has is technology
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It is stuffed full of it in almost any trim. Stepping up the ladder, you get things like the dual digital screens
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one for the driver information center, one for the infotainment screen, and then there's of course the dual mode strip of controls below
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that's in a lot of Kia products that can go between climate and then other functions like your audio system
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And when you take everything together, technology, looks, materials, there isn't much at this price point that competes and it feels like you're at least one segment up
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So the next Mazda on our list is the sibling to the CX-50 and that is the smaller CX-30
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But just because it's smaller doesn't mean its interior is any worse. In fact, it's very similar to that found in Mazda's bigger vehicles
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Some staff members here would even go as far as saying you won't find a better interior for under $40,000 period
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So like I said everything I highlighted in the CX the CX has and that rich looking soft touch materials almost everywhere And all the accents are premium and very stylish Technology is there as well especially when you go up the trim ladder
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and there's actual color available for the interior as well and the leather used on the
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seats is really good. We've been in some luxury vehicles costing at least twice as much that
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didn't have the same quality in their leather that the CX-30 does. next up is the nissan rogue and this is actually a pretty big deal because
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not that long ago nissan didn't really have the best interiors remember the first generation rogue
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but they've been doing a lot to increase the quality and style and content in their vehicles
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and the rogue was sort of the first introduction to this on the higher trim levels you once again
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have a fully digital interface like a lot of the vehicles here there's a nice clear head-up display
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and everyone gets zero gravity seats oh and to really emphasize that this is a high-end
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mainstream vehicle the fully loaded platinum even has quilted leather in its seating
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and rounding out our list is another surprise surprise mazda but this time it is not an suv
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it is the brand small car in fact if you don't count the mx5 it's kind of their only passenger
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car left for sales everything else is suvs but anyway the three has been out for over five years
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now and you could expect that it's fallen behind the class and its interior isn't as impressive as
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it once was but no you get inside and it still feels like one of the most premium interiors in
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this segment in fact it battles the civic probably for number one the restraintment of the dash and
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And the way that some soft touch materials kind of protrude. And the way the infotainment system is integrated
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And the controls. It really feels like some luxury vehicles that we won't name
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But it's not just a copy. It's sort of a variation on the theme with a Mazda twist
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When looking at the outside of a Mazda 3. It feels more premium and high end than a lot of its competitors
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And stepping inside that only continues. So there it is. There's our 10 vehicles
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Now this list will probably change by next year. And we'll have to make a new one. but for the time being, these are the 10 vehicles we recommend for someone who's looking for a high-end premium cabin without spending too much money
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