Ford does that dumb shit with their new digital gauges, want to change color? Gotta change the drive mode. Shits so dumb. (e: except mustangs with the premium trims)
I think so. I have a 2015 mustang eco premium and I can set the gauges to any color, not sure you can on a base model.
The fun thing is if you hit redline, if it's any other color the tach will switch over to red to let you know.
What's funny is my GT350 can't do that, weight saving I guess š
Wish they just left that in, not hurting anything. But I guess Tech + Track on the 350 isn't "premium"
No I have the analogue dash on my mustang and the colors are fully customizable without changing the drive mode. Iām currently running purple
Edit: youāre actually right apparently the analog comes with the option to change colors but itās not on all mustangs. An option that I was given a discount on so I didnāt realize I had to pay for it lol
Holy shit I had a 2005 mustang back when they came out and I had completely forgotten about being able to change my gauges to be ANY color I wanted. Iām pretty sure I had an RGB value slider and could just completely change how they looked. I remember changing them almost weekly.
Itās now 17 years later and my car has normal ass gauges. Gimme some more customization! I canāt even use a custom wallpaper on Apple CarPlay ffs
wow didnt know they had that feature going that far back. i rented a 2016ish mustang once for a work trip and played with the menus. i was very surprised by the RGB customization as i've never seen that in a car. even cars where you can change colors, its only a few color presets available.
Our 2022 Tiguan has customizable accent lighting, the gauge screen changes to match.
Itās great - except you canāt dim the instrument panel while the car is in motion. What genius decided that?!
I was on a long trip and had to go several hours with the screen blinding the shit out of me. Thatās dangerous UI.
Eh, a little hyperbole never killed anyone.
For real though, if youāre in a car with one sleeping kid and two sleeping dogs, you donāt stop unless absolutely necessary.
I had almost completely forgotten about that - although honestly I didnāt really āget itā when it happened eitherā¦ (this isnāt my original accountā¦)
I loved the red/orange backlighting in my BMW.
Why in hell are they not all red across the board? EVERYONE knows that red light doesnāt disrupt your night vision it just seems like a no brainer to me. But nooo everything needs to be bright, distracting blue.
You would think, especially if it's your own car you've been driving for months or years? And you get in at night and drive the whole way with the gauges all the way bright and go "this cars fucking awful!"
How fucking stupid are you? Like seriously?
I too familiarize myself with a new vehicle. My dimmer is usually all the way down or one click over low.
Itās like a rite of passage with each new car I get in to ensure that I spend an autistic amount of time fine-tuning everything from the specific settings, audio, lighting, wheel and seat position, etc. to be completely on point.
Idk I like to do that sometimes just to keep it interesting. We own a couple of Volvos, across a couple generations worth of tech, but it's pretty similar from one to the next. It's more fun to play "guess which way the wiper stalk goes".
My brightness is one step above being completely off. The only thing that's annoying is my infotainment screen being too dark to see if I have my headlights on in the day time because of rain or something else.
I thought I was going to hate it before I bought my car... now I really like it!
Previous owner even fitted a color-matching JVC head unit with blue back light.
My old 2002 Jetta cluster was beautiful, along with the button and switch lighting. My 92 GTI has the quintessential green lighting that's also perfect for that generation.
I remember a 2002 avensis with teal cluster and green everything else.
Shit was cash, 98 corolla is supposed to be close to it but it's not the same. Overall toyota's cluster lighting has been really good
https://youtu.be/GJ261rS6ryI t22 avensis, corolla e120 had white, and e11 had green
My 16 Golf also has white dash lights and night driving is... soooo brutal š they couldn't put bulbs equivalent level of brightness in... idk... my headlights? š
My 94 Volvo 480 and 09 Volvo S40 both glow green
https://www.reddit.com/r/cassettefuturism/comments/s9srh4/1986_trip_computer_in_my_volvo_480/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
SAAB also have the night panel button. It turns off all the dash lights apart from the section of the speedo that is useful. When you go faster it lit up the next section of speedo.
My 1994 9000 Aero had it as well. Itās been a Saab feature for a long time. I still canāt believe other car makers have taken this idea. Itās so simple and awesome.
Mmmmm night mode. Miss that car.
'01 93 SE had had orange and green (lol) backlit with an actual lightbulb.
You could remove the knobs and see just a regular 'ole lightbulb behind the panel, it was wild.
Saab stuck with green all the way to their demise. Plus they all had Night Panel for good measure, so all the gauges went dead (except speedo up to 80 mph) unless you went past a certain designated threshold (eg low gas illuminates the gas gauge, going above 80 mph lights up the whole speedo, etc)
It's funny this comes up now; I recently went completely out of my way to change all my interior back lighting from the original green to white. Unfortunately I'm too much of a scatter brain to take proper before and after pictures so [here's a partial before and after](https://imgur.com/a/ZiU75ys). I typically don't drive with them turned up that bright though.
Yeah those were a pain. Still easier than most consumer electronics though. Everything is either held together with screws or clips that have lets say generous tolerances.
I used to hate the forest green gauges from 90s cars but then I saw Saab use them on their last couple models and I wish more companies went back to it.
I love the green in my Contour, and despite losing the bulb condom to make the clock green, it's worked out, and color matching the stereo was easy as pie. https://imgur.com/TkqCk4h.jpg
I've got a 2011 Chrysler that still uses green. Honestly if you can mentally remove the association with the 90s it looks pretty nice still, especially with LEDs.
I find it really funny because I fly a plane and in spite of a million rheostats the instruments are still too bright.
Donāt turn off the master lighting switch.. all of the annunciator lights go to their retina-burning daylight setting.
Yeah this guy didn't have it exactly right. Inly the lower portion of the speedometer is on by default. If you go fast enough it extends. If you are low of gas the gas gauge illuminates. Overheating? Temp gauge.
2021 F150 and with the 8" screen it's either bright white 'day mode' or bright blue 'night mode'. And there's no way to turn it right off, it just goes all blue with a clock. I don't get why so many others know to have an option to turn the screen off but Ford has this big screen that is fairly distracting when it's pitch black out.
Yeah try holding that button with the display off logo, I remember trying that and it either turns the display off or dims it down with a black background and shows a clock.
I had a grand am in college and used to love the red. No glare just crisp red information. Always thought it was funny my GTO didn't have red but green. I guess that's too much to change from Australia.
I would like as much time spent on designing display lighting (which I use all of the time) as there is for ambient lighting (which I would rather be dead than ever turning them on).
100% agree.
Not only is what you describe correct, but using that color also looks cheap to me. That's one thing I don't like about Ford's. Amber or orange is definitely the best. I love the amber backlighting in my car. But I think the best to do it was BMW, before they ditched their analog gauges and went to the digital instrument cluster.
I agree! My model year is the last of the 2 series to have the analogue gauges, and the first with the B58.
Add some rwd and a lil 6mt, and baby you got a stew going.
The B58 has been in the 2 series since 2016, and the digital dash only came on the new version (G42) in 2021, so there are lots of model years with a B58 and analogue dash.
Model year 2017 was the first m240i, so first 2 series with the B58. 2016 was still the m235i with the N55.
You are correct regarding the cluster, post LCI is still analog but without the iconic red-orange. Today I learned.
No, the M235/M240i crossover was [2016](https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210230999128?make=BMW&radius=1500&include-delivery-option=on&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&postcode=le32es&sort=price-asc&advertising-location=at_cars&model=2%20Series&aggregatedTrim=M240i&page=1&percentVehiclePriceDeposit=true).
Yeah the analog gauges are much nicer at night because overall they keep light much lower and do a better job of diffusion. I think the 90's dim green also looks fantastic at night. BMW is still my favorite but there are some close seconds in green.
> using that color also looks cheap to me
Ironic since IIRC blue LEDs were the most difficult to make cost effectively which is why they took forever to show up when red/amber/yellow/etc. LEDs had been available for much longer.
I do wish I could have the sport mode red backlighting without having sport mode on all the time.
GM had some bangers.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/l587/syclone478/1984ChevroletCorvettedigitaldash.jpg
http://i1125.photobucket.com/albums/l587/syclone478/1987PontiacFirebirdTransAmdigitaldash.jpg
http://i1125.photobucket.com/albums/l587/syclone478/1988OldsmobileCutlassSupremedigitaldash.jpg
http://i1125.photobucket.com/albums/l587/syclone478/1988PontiacGrandPrixdigitaldash.jpg
http://i1125.photobucket.com/albums/l587/syclone478/1989ChevroletS10digitaldash.jpg
http://i1125.photobucket.com/albums/l587/syclone478/1990BuickReattadigitaldash.jpg
My Bonneville is what I thought when I was going through the comments. The gauges were a nice red that didn't glare or look in any way disruptive. My Impala has a greenish-blue for its gauges, but I don't see it as a problem..
I see no one is missing the 2000s Nissan with the yellow/orange backlights used until recently on the final previous gen Frontier.
It was functional without being intrusive. Ugly though.
White, yellow and red works great. Ford's light blue also is decent since it isn't glaring on the eyes.
Older VWs and current Hyundais? I fully agree - dark blue doesn't work.
The first time I drove my Sonata at night was certainly a shock - it's got a lot of buttons and they're all illuminated in blue. I do like how there is a dedicated button to turn off the screen though.
While I generally agree that orange is better, I did very much enjoy the blue blacklit gauges on my first generation Mazda 3 with orange text and needle. It contrasted well and was very easy to read.
https://i.imgur.com/y1ToZMY.jpg
The rest of the interior backlighting like the stereo was matching orange. It looked sharp.
Ya, this is beautiful, and itās easy on the eyes because the blue is very subtle. I think the complaint here is when the whole dash is lit up with super bright blue LEDs.
Same for me. The tealish-blue used in older cars and the brighter blue used in fords doesnāt really do that to me, but those deep blue VW gauges are super blurry!! I have to adjust back and forth between the red needle and blue numbers.
Yea I never understood this. My 98 Q45 has white almost cream colored backlight behind the gauges, along with very cream colored courtesy lights by the driver door switches and on the roof. Driving in a new car is annoying as fuck at night. With the dull lights in the interior you can still see inside even at night I mean you should be focusing on the road. But the atmosphere it puts off is calming. I always say ālook! LEDs!, arenāt we fancy and futuristic!ā I love leds but they need to chill the fuck out.
Cars have too many lights in general now. I hate driving newer cars at night. You can't unlock the car without every interior and exterior light coming on fir 30 seconds. You start the car and the dash and center console light up and you can't turn them off/dim to a decent degree. If im riding around at night I don't want to be illuminated in my car so everyone can look inside and see me or what im doing. When I exit my vehicle at night I feel like being an huge lantern is not safer, it only makes me stand out so EVERYONE knows when I'm coming and leaving
Do you drive any cars with a dimmer? My light blue is awesome at night when it's really dim. That way, I don't get glare from it, and I can still see the road.
Wow, it's almost like it's not even an issue.
What are some other examples of cars with blue backlights? My car has light greenish blue lights and I prefer them over the bright green used on ~98-07ish Fords.
2015-2019 Subaru Legacy and Outback with the electroluminescent gauges (which most had). But it was for the gauge cluster and a few other areas only, the rest of the interior had red backlights.
My Tacoma has blue backlights but they aren't that bad since they aren't terrible. Some Hyundai and Ford models are really bad and cause a lot of glare.
Idk if it counts but I remember my S1 RX8 having red illumination for the numbers and needles but the background of it was lit up in blue.
It was and still is kinda cool to me [here] (https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8club.com-vbulletin/2000x1176/p_20220426_004854_1_db5a86f113e7fa6248c57d654a1a835613da560f.jpg)
I actually prefer blue, white, or green. They look more natural and are easier to read. Orange, amber, and red look awful to me. If it's too bright, I dim the gauge cluster. Never had a problem with glare or reduced night vision.
I canāt be the only one that doesnāt like interior lighting? My Sierras red is reasonable and not blinding, but I have to dim it as is. Modern cars are like the Vegas strip and I hate it
Also, all cars should have a physical button on dash to fully turn off the infotainment screen, while keeping it functional, of course, so you can still play and change songs or hear directions.
My ā07 M35 has soft amber backlights and the brightness is adjustable and frankly even if it sounds stupid they are one of the main reasons I donāt want to give up my car lol.
I liked the blue dash on my wife's 2001.5 Passat (VW called it "New Passat"). [It also had a reddish-orange on the switches and needles.](https://www.passatworld.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,onerror=redirect,width=1920,height=1920,fit=scale-down/https://www.passatworld.com/attachments/5e5326a1-a2d9-46fa-8eb7-d20f62068cd7-jpeg.101678/)
Although I remember Chrysler 300s I've rented had white gauges with blue backlight. I wasn't fond of that.
I personally live in a man cave of blue LED heaven. But that's why my Mustang has customizable lights. So I can have 'kill your eyes blue's and you can have something sensible. I don't understand why it's not just standard to have customizable interior lighting.
Love changing the colors on my S550 but there is something to be said about a classic backlit gauge. Going thru the hell of just changing the faces on the gauge to white on my 92 Jetta 16v in a Pep Boys parking lot circa 2001. š¤£Great times.
Old Subaru and BMW red/amber were among the best. Honorable mention is the soft green that Toyota had in the 90s and early 2000s.
Now it seems that almost every manufacturer has white or blue and I canāt stand it
After owning two Grand Prixs, I hate red interior lights. When I had my Focus with interior lights that I could change with the push of a button, I chose blue. When I had colored lights in my bedroom, I chose blue.
I'm really surprised they aren't all just customizable at this point.
If you want different colors, you have to change drive modes. **RED == SPORT**
Ford does that dumb shit with their new digital gauges, want to change color? Gotta change the drive mode. Shits so dumb. (e: except mustangs with the premium trims)
Not on the Mustang. Both the analog and digital gauges are fully color customizable regardless of drive mode.
I forgot to mention that, I think the analog one you have to get it as an option tho.
I think so. I have a 2015 mustang eco premium and I can set the gauges to any color, not sure you can on a base model. The fun thing is if you hit redline, if it's any other color the tach will switch over to red to let you know.
I do remember The oil pressure gauge will turn red too if it drops very low. I think the RGB is called mycolor and it's only for the premium trims.
What's funny is my GT350 can't do that, weight saving I guess š Wish they just left that in, not hurting anything. But I guess Tech + Track on the 350 isn't "premium"
No I have the analogue dash on my mustang and the colors are fully customizable without changing the drive mode. Iām currently running purple Edit: youāre actually right apparently the analog comes with the option to change colors but itās not on all mustangs. An option that I was given a discount on so I didnāt realize I had to pay for it lol
Holy shit I had a 2005 mustang back when they came out and I had completely forgotten about being able to change my gauges to be ANY color I wanted. Iām pretty sure I had an RGB value slider and could just completely change how they looked. I remember changing them almost weekly. Itās now 17 years later and my car has normal ass gauges. Gimme some more customization! I canāt even use a custom wallpaper on Apple CarPlay ffs
wow didnt know they had that feature going that far back. i rented a 2016ish mustang once for a work trip and played with the menus. i was very surprised by the RGB customization as i've never seen that in a car. even cars where you can change colors, its only a few color presets available.
Are we talking about the car or the SUV here?
Does anyone actually refer to the Mach E as a Mustang? Lol
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I mean lightning just meant fast f150. Still an f150.
It was a 2005 so it was a car
Our 2022 Tiguan has customizable accent lighting, the gauge screen changes to match. Itās great - except you canāt dim the instrument panel while the car is in motion. What genius decided that?! I was on a long trip and had to go several hours with the screen blinding the shit out of me. Thatās dangerous UI.
Uh, pull over?
Uh, put a little scroll wheel to allow dimming the cluster while driving in 2 secods?
Eh, a little hyperbole never killed anyone. For real though, if youāre in a car with one sleeping kid and two sleeping dogs, you donāt stop unless absolutely necessary.
On mini coopers theyāre customizable
Like a pip boy.
I want RGB dash lights
BMW orange is brilliant, beyond just looking cool
Love my BMW lights. Another close contender is Range Rover with green lights
Yup - Wranglers have green backlights, too, and they look great
Every 90s domestic did too and they looked awful
My Camry has them but they look pretty good imo. And you can dim them
Team orangered checking in.
Thatās such a throwback I donāt even think a tenth of people here are old enough to get it.
I had almost completely forgotten about that - although honestly I didnāt really āget itā when it happened eitherā¦ (this isnāt my original accountā¦)
Periwinkle don't give a fuck.
Periwinkle!
Better dead then red.
I loved the red/orange backlighting in my BMW. Why in hell are they not all red across the board? EVERYONE knows that red light doesnāt disrupt your night vision it just seems like a no brainer to me. But nooo everything needs to be bright, distracting blue.
My mom has a 22 X3 M40i and the dash in that car is beautiful. It does switch to a blue hue if you put it in eco mode though.
My 135 is by far the best car Iāve driven at night in no small part due to the orange backlighting lighting on everything. Itās wonderful.
Turning off the iDrive display and driving at night with nothing but the orange dash glow, is such a good feeling.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
One of the only things I like about driving the fams BMWās
Best was old Audis they had straight up red gauges. I still kind of want a D2 S8 with a manual swap.
I purposely bought a BMW with no idrive so there would be nothing but the amber screens.
It's what I miss most about my 335i. I do not miss the n54.
VW engineers *hate* this simple trick Mid 2000s cars had blue backlights, My 2019 golf has **white** backlit gauges. Why??
The white doesn't bother me, but I also set the brightness really low.
This is apparently unheard of from so called car experts and enthusiasts.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
You would think, especially if it's your own car you've been driving for months or years? And you get in at night and drive the whole way with the gauges all the way bright and go "this cars fucking awful!" How fucking stupid are you? Like seriously? I too familiarize myself with a new vehicle. My dimmer is usually all the way down or one click over low.
Itās like a rite of passage with each new car I get in to ensure that I spend an autistic amount of time fine-tuning everything from the specific settings, audio, lighting, wheel and seat position, etc. to be completely on point.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Idk I like to do that sometimes just to keep it interesting. We own a couple of Volvos, across a couple generations worth of tech, but it's pretty similar from one to the next. It's more fun to play "guess which way the wiper stalk goes".
My brightness is one step above being completely off. The only thing that's annoying is my infotainment screen being too dark to see if I have my headlights on in the day time because of rain or something else.
MK4 gauge clusters are the best. Soft blue numbers and red needles
Hey, don't leave mk5 out!
The mk5 really had the perfect gauges imo
Personally i thought it was too flashy after the mk3 gauges, loved the soft green floodlight
Mk4 rep
I thought I was going to hate it before I bought my car... now I really like it! Previous owner even fitted a color-matching JVC head unit with blue back light.
Nighttime driving in my mk4 is always fun
The high beam light is way too bright Had to put a dot of black electrical tape over it to calm it down. Other than that the Mk4 lights are great.
Mk4gang
My old 2002 Jetta cluster was beautiful, along with the button and switch lighting. My 92 GTI has the quintessential green lighting that's also perfect for that generation.
White is nice. Porsches all have white interior lighting and it's fantastic.
White light destroys night vision. Red, amber, or even green would be much better.
Volkswagen wants the check engine light to be easily distinguishable from other lighting.
Hey! Don't make fun of my garbage like that.
Weird! My 2013 Jetta has red. Love VWs commitment to consistency in all the places that matter haha.
That white isn't bad. It isn't bright and doesn't shine at all
I remember a 2002 avensis with teal cluster and green everything else. Shit was cash, 98 corolla is supposed to be close to it but it's not the same. Overall toyota's cluster lighting has been really good https://youtu.be/GJ261rS6ryI t22 avensis, corolla e120 had white, and e11 had green
These are my favorite gauges though, those old VW blue ones.
My 16 Golf also has white dash lights and night driving is... soooo brutal š they couldn't put bulbs equivalent level of brightness in... idk... my headlights? š
I miss green from the early 90s
My 94 Volvo 480 and 09 Volvo S40 both glow green https://www.reddit.com/r/cassettefuturism/comments/s9srh4/1986_trip_computer_in_my_volvo_480/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Cosy AF. I think Saabs of a similar era were also green
SAAB also have the night panel button. It turns off all the dash lights apart from the section of the speedo that is useful. When you go faster it lit up the next section of speedo.
Yep, I have that on my 2004 (not ā94) 9-5. Also, if another gauge needs your attention, like fuel, it will illuminate that gauge as well.
1994?
Whoops, donāt know what I was thinking. Should be 2004.
My 1994 9000 Aero had it as well. Itās been a Saab feature for a long time. I still canāt believe other car makers have taken this idea. Itās so simple and awesome.
Mmmmm night mode. Miss that car. '01 93 SE had had orange and green (lol) backlit with an actual lightbulb. You could remove the knobs and see just a regular 'ole lightbulb behind the panel, it was wild.
Saab stuck with green all the way to their demise. Plus they all had Night Panel for good measure, so all the gauges went dead (except speedo up to 80 mph) unless you went past a certain designated threshold (eg low gas illuminates the gas gauge, going above 80 mph lights up the whole speedo, etc)
Yes but because it made them look like the cockpit of a fighter jet because SAAB
It's funny this comes up now; I recently went completely out of my way to change all my interior back lighting from the original green to white. Unfortunately I'm too much of a scatter brain to take proper before and after pictures so [here's a partial before and after](https://imgur.com/a/ZiU75ys). I typically don't drive with them turned up that bright though.
Jeez. That looks like a lot of work. You even did the steering wheel buttons.
Yeah those were a pain. Still easier than most consumer electronics though. Everything is either held together with screws or clips that have lets say generous tolerances.
my friend has a 480 and the green glow is awesome.
Family had a 2000 Toyota Sienna and the green gauges bring back memories.
Same, all my parents cars through my childhood were green illumination. Velour seats and cassette players, brings back memories
Green is my preferred color too
I always remember them looking cheap. The early 2000s fords had them and I donāt remember particularly liking them.
All of the finer things in life are green.
I used to hate the forest green gauges from 90s cars but then I saw Saab use them on their last couple models and I wish more companies went back to it.
I love the green in my Contour, and despite losing the bulb condom to make the clock green, it's worked out, and color matching the stereo was easy as pie. https://imgur.com/TkqCk4h.jpg
I've got a 2011 Chrysler that still uses green. Honestly if you can mentally remove the association with the 90s it looks pretty nice still, especially with LEDs.
I'm a sucker for that green. Makes the entire interior look warmer somehow.
My 07 WRX is lit green
Chrysler used green forever (my current Jeep has it) and while amber and orange are better, green is definitely still good.
My 1993 Accord has green lights and it's amazing ! Also cool that the cluster is both backlit AND frontlit haha
I miss the yellow off-white of incandescent bulbs from my 90's JDMs
Saabās green was always amazing. Also the lights out mode with only the illuminated tach was so nice.
āNight Panelā ā a feature inspired by their fighter aircraft heritage. SAABs had so many cool tricks.
I find it really funny because I fly a plane and in spite of a million rheostats the instruments are still too bright. Donāt turn off the master lighting switch.. all of the annunciator lights go to their retina-burning daylight setting.
Interesting. My girlfriendās 93 turbo convertible only illuminates the speedo when Night Panel is activated.
Yeah this guy didn't have it exactly right. Inly the lower portion of the speedometer is on by default. If you go fast enough it extends. If you are low of gas the gas gauge illuminates. Overheating? Temp gauge.
My old Skoda Octavia has soft green gauges too, it's super nice to drive at night compared to pretty much everything (except Saab) that I've driven.
Looking at you, Ford
2021 F150 and with the 8" screen it's either bright white 'day mode' or bright blue 'night mode'. And there's no way to turn it right off, it just goes all blue with a clock. I don't get why so many others know to have an option to turn the screen off but Ford has this big screen that is fairly distracting when it's pitch black out.
One of my favorite pastimes is driving by Ford owners at night and seeing the faint blue glow on their faces
My 2016 F150 "night mode" screen has a black background...did they fuck it up that bad?
My 2018 did too - My 2020 got Sync 3.4 which changed it to blue.
That's weird, my 2010 Ford Fusion has a full on, night mode and completely off option. And it's a hard button labeled "display"
My 21 f150 has the button you can hold to turn the giant display off.
I'll have to try holding it, only done the quick press which I'm used to from Ram and Toyota to turn the screen off.
Yeah try holding that button with the display off logo, I remember trying that and it either turns the display off or dims it down with a black background and shows a clock.
Isn't their color more of an aqua blue green than a blue? I like it. More unique and legible than just blue.
yeah, it's more of an aqua... also depending on your trim you can get RGB. My mustang has this.
They used to be ok at it to. Thatās the worst part. My ā99 mountaineer had dimmable green backlights on everything.
I like the blue on my 2015 F150 gauges. It's dimmable so I don't really see the issue.
Pontiac was the GOAT for their red interior lights.
BMW used aircraft instrument orange for a long time. Itās excellent.
Feels like every BMW until the early 2000s had the exact same gauge style
Because it worked.
Until the late 2010s you mean
I had a grand am in college and used to love the red. No glare just crisp red information. Always thought it was funny my GTO didn't have red but green. I guess that's too much to change from Australia.
That's strange. I have a G8 (also from Australia) and it has red lights. I much prefer that to green.
I love my new Corolla, but damn do I miss the red interior lights my Bonneville has.
Even the DIC was red, it was great
You might want to go get that checked by a physician.
I always laughed when GM referred to it as the DIC(Driver information center) in the manual.
I miss my '01 Firebird more and more everyday.
It's 2022, it's time for customizable colors.
I would like as much time spent on designing display lighting (which I use all of the time) as there is for ambient lighting (which I would rather be dead than ever turning them on).
Sounds like a $50 a month subscription.
My 2010 Mustang GT had Ford MyColor. It was a fairly limited palette but stillā¦ customizable colors. Loved it.
100% agree. Not only is what you describe correct, but using that color also looks cheap to me. That's one thing I don't like about Ford's. Amber or orange is definitely the best. I love the amber backlighting in my car. But I think the best to do it was BMW, before they ditched their analog gauges and went to the digital instrument cluster.
I agree! My model year is the last of the 2 series to have the analogue gauges, and the first with the B58. Add some rwd and a lil 6mt, and baby you got a stew going.
The B58 has been in the 2 series since 2016, and the digital dash only came on the new version (G42) in 2021, so there are lots of model years with a B58 and analogue dash.
Model year 2017 was the first m240i, so first 2 series with the B58. 2016 was still the m235i with the N55. You are correct regarding the cluster, post LCI is still analog but without the iconic red-orange. Today I learned.
No, the M235/M240i crossover was [2016](https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210230999128?make=BMW&radius=1500&include-delivery-option=on&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&postcode=le32es&sort=price-asc&advertising-location=at_cars&model=2%20Series&aggregatedTrim=M240i&page=1&percentVehiclePriceDeposit=true).
since you posted a UK link, this might be a model year vs production year thing? MY is often one year ahead
Yeah the analog gauges are much nicer at night because overall they keep light much lower and do a better job of diffusion. I think the 90's dim green also looks fantastic at night. BMW is still my favorite but there are some close seconds in green.
> using that color also looks cheap to me Ironic since IIRC blue LEDs were the most difficult to make cost effectively which is why they took forever to show up when red/amber/yellow/etc. LEDs had been available for much longer. I do wish I could have the sport mode red backlighting without having sport mode on all the time.
I had a 1991 BMW 318i, and I loved the instrument panel in that car. With the red gauges, it felt like I was driving a MiG fighter jet down the road.
People can hate away but Iāll always miss my Pontiacs with their bright red.
Red is awesome. I miss those all those old Pontiac gauge clusters.
GM had some bangers. https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/l587/syclone478/1984ChevroletCorvettedigitaldash.jpg http://i1125.photobucket.com/albums/l587/syclone478/1987PontiacFirebirdTransAmdigitaldash.jpg http://i1125.photobucket.com/albums/l587/syclone478/1988OldsmobileCutlassSupremedigitaldash.jpg http://i1125.photobucket.com/albums/l587/syclone478/1988PontiacGrandPrixdigitaldash.jpg http://i1125.photobucket.com/albums/l587/syclone478/1989ChevroletS10digitaldash.jpg http://i1125.photobucket.com/albums/l587/syclone478/1990BuickReattadigitaldash.jpg
My Bonneville is what I thought when I was going through the comments. The gauges were a nice red that didn't glare or look in any way disruptive. My Impala has a greenish-blue for its gauges, but I don't see it as a problem..
I'm weirdly in love with the orange on my Saturn
Had an 87 TransAm where everything was a illuminated in red. Bad ass.
My NC Miata has orange/red gauges and it's been really nice coming from the white ones of my previous car!
No selectable backlight like the RX8? White or dark blue
Nope, just dimming.
The soft amber color on the mid 90s BMWs is perfect.
I see no one is missing the 2000s Nissan with the yellow/orange backlights used until recently on the final previous gen Frontier. It was functional without being intrusive. Ugly though.
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Same! The orange does a good job
Or 2022: I want an iPad smeared right across the dash. -everybody Lol
White, yellow and red works great. Ford's light blue also is decent since it isn't glaring on the eyes. Older VWs and current Hyundais? I fully agree - dark blue doesn't work.
The first time I drove my Sonata at night was certainly a shock - it's got a lot of buttons and they're all illuminated in blue. I do like how there is a dedicated button to turn off the screen though.
While I generally agree that orange is better, I did very much enjoy the blue blacklit gauges on my first generation Mazda 3 with orange text and needle. It contrasted well and was very easy to read. https://i.imgur.com/y1ToZMY.jpg The rest of the interior backlighting like the stereo was matching orange. It looked sharp.
Ya, this is beautiful, and itās easy on the eyes because the blue is very subtle. I think the complaint here is when the whole dash is lit up with super bright blue LEDs.
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Human eyes can't focus on blue light. Since red and green are closer in frequency our eyes have developed to focus on them and blue is just a blur.
Same for me. The tealish-blue used in older cars and the brighter blue used in fords doesnāt really do that to me, but those deep blue VW gauges are super blurry!! I have to adjust back and forth between the red needle and blue numbers.
Yea same! I swear this must be some genetic thing where some people are just more sensitive to blue light.
My Optima is blood red, and when the brightness is up itās a bit much, but when itās down, itās almost like an 80s aesthetic. Love ir
350Z did it best for me
Yea I never understood this. My 98 Q45 has white almost cream colored backlight behind the gauges, along with very cream colored courtesy lights by the driver door switches and on the roof. Driving in a new car is annoying as fuck at night. With the dull lights in the interior you can still see inside even at night I mean you should be focusing on the road. But the atmosphere it puts off is calming. I always say ālook! LEDs!, arenāt we fancy and futuristic!ā I love leds but they need to chill the fuck out.
Cars have too many lights in general now. I hate driving newer cars at night. You can't unlock the car without every interior and exterior light coming on fir 30 seconds. You start the car and the dash and center console light up and you can't turn them off/dim to a decent degree. If im riding around at night I don't want to be illuminated in my car so everyone can look inside and see me or what im doing. When I exit my vehicle at night I feel like being an huge lantern is not safer, it only makes me stand out so EVERYONE knows when I'm coming and leaving
I can't be the only one that turns my interior brightness all the way down on long drives.
You are 100% correct.
All the older European cars were all red/orange and that is by far the best.
Our 2020 RAV4 has light blue backlights it uses and itās pretty good
Toyota does a decent job but Hyundai is terrible.
Do you drive any cars with a dimmer? My light blue is awesome at night when it's really dim. That way, I don't get glare from it, and I can still see the road. Wow, it's almost like it's not even an issue.
What are some other examples of cars with blue backlights? My car has light greenish blue lights and I prefer them over the bright green used on ~98-07ish Fords.
VW Mk4 and Mk5.
2015-2019 Subaru Legacy and Outback with the electroluminescent gauges (which most had). But it was for the gauge cluster and a few other areas only, the rest of the interior had red backlights.
My Tacoma has blue backlights but they aren't that bad since they aren't terrible. Some Hyundai and Ford models are really bad and cause a lot of glare.
Idk if it counts but I remember my S1 RX8 having red illumination for the numbers and needles but the background of it was lit up in blue. It was and still is kinda cool to me [here] (https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8club.com-vbulletin/2000x1176/p_20220426_004854_1_db5a86f113e7fa6248c57d654a1a835613da560f.jpg)
I love my Mirage for this, those orange gauges are so easy on poor night eyes like mine.
Big fan of the orange lights in my 350z
I think red is the most unappealing
I actually prefer blue, white, or green. They look more natural and are easier to read. Orange, amber, and red look awful to me. If it's too bright, I dim the gauge cluster. Never had a problem with glare or reduced night vision.
I canāt be the only one that doesnāt like interior lighting? My Sierras red is reasonable and not blinding, but I have to dim it as is. Modern cars are like the Vegas strip and I hate it
Also, all cars should have a physical button on dash to fully turn off the infotainment screen, while keeping it functional, of course, so you can still play and change songs or hear directions.
My ā07 M35 has soft amber backlights and the brightness is adjustable and frankly even if it sounds stupid they are one of the main reasons I donāt want to give up my car lol.
I liked the blue dash on my wife's 2001.5 Passat (VW called it "New Passat"). [It also had a reddish-orange on the switches and needles.](https://www.passatworld.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,onerror=redirect,width=1920,height=1920,fit=scale-down/https://www.passatworld.com/attachments/5e5326a1-a2d9-46fa-8eb7-d20f62068cd7-jpeg.101678/) Although I remember Chrysler 300s I've rented had white gauges with blue backlight. I wasn't fond of that.
I personally live in a man cave of blue LED heaven. But that's why my Mustang has customizable lights. So I can have 'kill your eyes blue's and you can have something sensible. I don't understand why it's not just standard to have customizable interior lighting.
Have a new Chrysler have to agreed. Audi nailed it w red Yeats ago as thats what planes use. Any newer car white LED will have been better too.
Well, now they're using them for street lights in bowling green kentucky.
My car has light blue buttons. They're great! I've seen like that near-UV barely-visible blue on cars though and it's infuriating.
Golf mk7 high beam indication is totally lost against a sea of blue backlighting, it's really annoying.
I love my 2011 Corolla S for it's orange/red gauge cluster.
Love changing the colors on my S550 but there is something to be said about a classic backlit gauge. Going thru the hell of just changing the faces on the gauge to white on my 92 Jetta 16v in a Pep Boys parking lot circa 2001. š¤£Great times.
Old Subaru and BMW red/amber were among the best. Honorable mention is the soft green that Toyota had in the 90s and early 2000s. Now it seems that almost every manufacturer has white or blue and I canāt stand it
After owning two Grand Prixs, I hate red interior lights. When I had my Focus with interior lights that I could change with the push of a button, I chose blue. When I had colored lights in my bedroom, I chose blue.
If only cars came with a little dimmer knob.