I find it easier to drive my wife's modern car with all that than my 2005 car which has barely any internal lights (dim light around the speedo, dim light on the radio)

You're not wrong, but it's a minor contribution at most.

Thats probably because it has ridiculously bright headlights to compensate.

Could be because the driver seat is a little higher, but the poing being that ripping out the maps screen isn't going to help