That sums it up, Sublime! The Vibe is what it is.

I know there's a limit with the lighting. A Suburban I was in looked like an jet cockpit with all of it.

Distracted and rarely used... I don't buy that one. Because of no lighting, I'll have to memorize what controls are there and then after that, feel around because I'll be too busy driving the car to just glance down and see what's there.

I recently acquired an '05 base Vibe so I'm not sure if it has a lamp out or what. Do the dash lighting controls and remote mirror control switch have backlighting?. If that section doesn't have a lamp, it should have been designed with one because it's a dark corner there at night.