Okay, so I just brought home an 09 Grand Touring sparkling black mica 8. I'm loving it. My wife drives a Prius so our garage is like this perfect balance (alter-ego, yin and yang kind of thing). I had a quick question about the gauge illumination:

As a standard feature, all 8s have "Tri-mode gauge lighting: blue (entry), white-on-black (daytime): red-on black (nighttime).

Am I missing something if I haven't noticed anything like this? What actually changes (and when?) The only thing I've noticed is that the gauges are bright at night. I'm aware of the dimmer **** feature, but nothing really looks red at nighttime.

Anyone want to enlighten me?

Thanks in advance.

 

I'v been wonding this exact thing about my 09's gauge cluster, I've not been able to change anythign but dim it(which kinda sucks) if you find anything out please post it.

 

if its anything like my 04, when your lights are on, it goes to RED (night). If you run your lights during the day, you can turn the White Light on by rolling up DIM to the point it switches back to white.

it sounds like it should be the same, but you'd think by 09 RX8 they'd get auto lights on the 8...then again maybe not :P

 

The 09's have auto lights(at least on the GT) but when its dark and hte lights are on the gauges are still white backed.

 

On the 05 I owned it worked like this:

On entry the illumination was just the blue overglow.

When the car is started and the lights are off the illumination is white

When the car is on and the lights are on the illumination is red with the blue overglow.

Only caveat is when the dimmer switch is on full brightness the illumination is white regardless of whether the headlights are on or not


I'm sure that all of this information is also in your owners manual. I am not familiar with the 09+ models enough to guarantee that this is how it works with them but I can absolutely confirm that the 04-08 models are like this.

 

Sorry, '09s do not have this feature the dash lights always stay the same color. But, we have something better a third oil injector wouldn't trade that for any colored changing disco ball flashing dash lights in the world.

 

Ja butt you can't remove your Mazda emblem off the front bumper and have to look at a silly happy face everyday!

Welcome to the club!

 

^Now you know why the Rx is smiling.

 

Wonder if you could jack a bulb or controller from the older models to get the read gauges. I just saw a pic of the red gauges and I really like it. I might look into it.

 

Just a quick "Thank you" for all your replies.

While I'm mildly disappointed that the 09s don't have this feature, I'm more disappointed that Mazda didn't bother taking the feature out of their 2009 RX8 brochure (4th page from the back under "interior"). They really shouldn't advertise it as a feature if it isn't there...

But really, it's no big deal as I'm very happy with the car. Thanks again!

 

/\ Wow that's dumb.

 

No...it's electroluminescent lighting. The only way to change it is to replace the gauge cluster. The only bulbs are LED's and those are white.

 

hmmm it's listed as a feature, I might stop by the dealership this weekend and see if they can figure out how to do it, if not it'll be fun to see them mess around with the car in the showroom lol. My guess is you are right and Mazda just has a crappy copy editor and didn't confirm any of the options in the brochure were gone.

 

Some of you have implied the standard "tri gauge lighting" is no longer a feature on the 09s (which seems to be the case). Just as an FYI, this was Mazda's official response to my inquiry:

"If you feel the interior lighting on your RX-8 is not correct then I advise you taking your vehicle into your local Mazda dealership and speak with a service advisor about it. We show it is standard on the RX-8 to have the tri-mode gauge lighting, blue entry; white on black daytime; red on black nighttime."

Hmmmm..... I'm thinking me expectations for this feature were just unrealistic and there really are three very faint differences in the lighting(?) Then again, I'm not blind, or an idiot and I'm still not seeing any "red on black nighttime."

 

Donno about the 09's, but all the previous years it's plainly obvious. Anything but faint. If you have a hard time describing to the service department what it should look like, tell them to check out an 08 or under that's probably sitting on the lot.

 

If you run by the dealer please let us know how it goes. Mine does not do this and if it is a problem i'd like to get it resolved. The closest dealer to me is like 30 minutes and I don't want to drive out there for no reason.