I don't know if this has been posted yet but I think the gauges are completely black when turned off. My friend test drove the Mazda 6 with the sport trim and the gauges were black till you turned the key alittle. This pic sure looks black to me. this photo was taken with the flash. Does anyone know for sure??

http://home.att.net/~superotter/808-0090_IMG.JPG

Yes they are always like that when the car is off. When the car is turned on they go white, and with the headlights on the entire dash turns red (as red is better on the eyes at night).

So what you are seeing is exactly how it should appear.

i thought its white during the day and red during the night

ok let me see if i got this right.
During the day the gauges will be white. When i flip the lights on they will turn RED. That sounds really really cool

Originally posted by RotorGeek
ok let me see if i got this right.
During the day the gauges will be white. When i flip the lights on they will turn RED. That sounds really really cool You got it.

When the car is OFF however, they will just be dark as they are not illuminated :)

I think that when the key is in the ignition but the car is not started there is a blue glow around the circumference.

I read somewhere that when the lights are on, and the gauges are red, turning the dimmer wheel down will turn the dash and gauges to a "cool blue" type color. Can anyone verify?

...and when you open the doors, there is a green glow coming from the over head. And the light in the trunk is an amber color. The vanity mirrors emit a kind of taupey hue as the stereo head unit is rather purple. [just kidding]

On the Mazda6, the guages with the 'S' package are electroluminescient, so they are only visible when the key is in the ignition. Same principal as the new Accord's LCD guages.

On the RX8, they appear as pictured above until you turn on the headlights, and the become red on black. That's my interpretation of the doc on Mazda's site.

This is from the press kit - page 56

"New ideas were adopted for the meter illumination
logic. Firstly, when a door is opened, the meter
panel is softly lit by indirect blue lighting. During the
daytime, with the lights off, the indirect blue lighting
is activated with a turn of the ignition switch, and
the white panel lighting is intensified in small
increments. The indirect blue lighting goes off
when the luminance of the panel’s transparent
white lighting reaches a predetermined level set
with the illumination control.
With the position lamp on, the indirect blue
illumination is normally on when the ignition is
switched on, and the amber-red transparent panel
illumination’s red component is toned down to
create a pleasant glow."

I hope that will answer your questions.

Originally posted by RX8ER
This is from the press kit - page 56

"New ideas were adopted for the meter illumination
logic. Firstly, when a door is opened, the meter
panel is softly lit by indirect blue lighting. During the
daytime, with the lights off, the indirect blue lighting
is activated with a turn of the ignition switch, and
the white panel lighting is intensified in small
increments. The indirect blue lighting goes off
when the luminance of the panel’s transparent
white lighting reaches a predetermined level set
with the illumination control.
With the position lamp on, the indirect blue
illumination is normally on when the ignition is
switched on, and the amber-red transparent panel
illumination’s red component is toned down to
create a pleasant glow."

I hope that will answer your questions.

Ummm... no, actually that doesn't answer my question. As a matter of fact, that just confused the crap out of me. Maybe I am just slow or something but I can't quite grasp what they are trying to say there....

Dont' feel bad the press release confused me also. That why I started this thread. I think it will be that bluish color during the and red when you flip the light on. Maybe you can controll the colors with the dimmer switch

Here's what they look like at Day and Night respectively:

Thanks Herc :D

Why doesn't the speedometer turn red at night? I can see me doing a lot of night driving just to get that 'Star-Fighter' effect (sad I know).

Does anyone know what the two switches on the right of the wheel are for? That is the 'Res Accel' & 'Set Coast' switches. This system doesn't have cruise control right?

Does anyone know what the two switches on the right of the wheel are for? That is the 'Res Accel' & 'Set Coast' switches. This system doesn't have cruise control right?


Yup, it does :) And that's exactly what those switches are!

Both the auto and manuel will have cruise control. From what I have guessed the gauges will be red when you turn the headlights on.

Well that's good noise because I can use Cruise-Control, however none of the specification sheets (UK or USA) mention it as a feature which is surprising. Nissan specify it as one of the selling points on their cars.

"New ideas were adopted for the meter illumination logic. Firstly, when a door is opened the meter panel is soflty lit by indirect blue lighting. During the daytime, with the lights off, the indirect blue lighting is activated with a turn of the ignition switch, and the white panel lighting is intensified in small increments. The indirect blue lighting goes off when the luminance of the panel's transparent white lighting reaches a predetermined level with the illumination control.

"With the position lamp on, the indirect blue illuminatin is normally on when the ignition is switched on, and the amber-red transparent panel illumination's red component is toned down to create a pleasant glow." [I think this is the indirect way to say the gauges are red with the headlights switched on;)]

So, unless you are peeking in the window with the door closed, the gauges are blue changing to white in the day time and blue to red at night or anytime the headlights are on... more or less.

Does anybody know.....or does it mention it in the press kit anywhere whether the buttons on the steering wheel are illuminated with the headlights on? Not that I won't have them memorized before too long, but I rearely use the cruise on my Millenia and when I do at night I can never remember what button does what.

The other thing I noticed that I like about the steering wheel crusie buttons is that it has the crusie on/off switch on the wheel instead of on the dash like my Millenia. I always thought it was a strange design to have a separate on/of switch on the dash, and then set it with the switches on the wheel. My RX-7 is the same way.

The mazda 6 has the same steering wheel buttons. They light up in red. I can only guess that the RX-8 would be the same.

If you look at the interior picture in this thread:

http://www.rx8forum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3076

you'll notice that the cruise control switches on the wheel are gone. This must be a production vehicle! Also, the controls behind the gearstick are different. Interesting...

This was just one of the test vehicles at the Laguna Seca photo shoot. Still a pre-production unit.

Yeah that is preproduction. The buttons behind the gear shift are the controls for the Navi.