Speedometer feature

:
2019 CX-5 Signature
I’ve had my CX-5 for a year and never realized this.

the speedometer lights up in “zones”! If you’re at a stop, 0-20 mph is lit up bright, 20-40 a bit dimmer and 60-160 is like “grayed out”. As you start driving, the relative “zone” gets brighter.

Kinda neat! Can’t believe I never notice this.
 
Are there any practical benefits to this? Or just a gee wiz kinda thing?
 
It's a neat useless feature. Guess since the spedo portion of the dash is actually a digital screen the engineers figured they would play around.
 
I say it is to reduce information overload. Our primitive brains can only process so much visual stimuli. By only highlighting the current speed zone, this allows your concentration to be more focused on other things.. like obstacles or hazards.
 
I wish I could change the range to stop at 120 with 60 straight up. The whole scale is squished, making it harder to read, just so we can fantasize that the car could go way faster than it ever will.
 
I wish I could change the range to stop at 120 with 60 straight up. The whole scale is squished, making it harder to read, just so we can fantasize that the car could go way faster than it ever will.
That’s awkward when you’re at 135, though :)
 
I remember a car one of my uncles used to have. I think it was Oldsmobile.
The color of the speedo would change as the speed increased. It was red at highway speeds.
 
I’ve had my CX-5 for a year and never realized this.

the speedometer lights up in “zones”! If you’re at a stop, 0-20 mph is lit up bright, 20-40 a bit dimmer and 60-160 is like “grayed out”. As you start driving, the relative “zone” gets brighter.

Kinda neat! Can’t believe I never notice this.

I don't see this on my 2019 GT-R. I just checked again today on my way to work. I wonder if it's only on one of the cluster display options and not the one I'm using.
 
I don't see this on my 2019 GT-R. I just checked again today on my way to work. I wonder if it's only on one of the cluster display options and not the one I'm using.
It's always there, it's kinda passive so you have to really look at the dash speedometer to notice it.
Only certain portions of the speedometer will light up.
When you first take off from a stop look at the section of the speedometer from 0 - 30, it will be lit but pass that point it will be dim. As you increase speed the previous section will dim and a new section will brighten.
I don't even notice it much anymore.
 
It's always there, it's kinda passive so you have to really look at the dash speedometer to notice it.
Only certain portions of the speedometer will light up.
When you first take off from a stop look at the section of the speedometer from 0 - 30, it will be lit but pass that point it will be dim. As you increase speed the previous section will dim and a new section will brighten.
I don't even notice it much anymore.

I kept looking today from my neighborhood drive at 15-20 mph to the highway portion at 45-50 and during the downtown portion at 30mph. The speedo was always evenly and plainly lit at all times. Not sure why mine is different.
 
My 2019 GT-R doesn't do it, The luminance of the speedometer display is consistent all around the dial at all speeds.
 
I just noticed this feature on my 2021 GT-R a couple of days ago. I think the best way of describing the look is the lower speed zones are bold and the higher speeds are not. I think of the illumination as being about the same, it's just the font is a bit brighter and not immediately noticeable. Especially now that I'm used to the heads-up display, I don't look at the dash for much.
 
My 2019 GT-R doesn't do it, The luminance of the speedometer display is consistent all around the dial at all speeds.
My 2019 GTR does. The effect is very subtle but if you follow the speedo circumference away from where the needle is pointing it does fade.
 
My 2019 GT-R doesn't do it, The luminance of the speedometer display is consistent all around the dial at all speeds.
It does it on all the speedometer modes except the one where only the speedo shows by itself. Try it in one of the info modes; you should see the differential there. It’s kind of subtle though. Depends on the cluster illumination.
 
This must be so subtle as to be useless. I just tried to see the effect again this morning driving at dawn and thru sunrise. Headlights on, headlights off, daytime lights on, off. Nothing. The brightness and boldness of all of the speedo numbers were absolutely the same thru multiple speed zones whether dimmed when headlights were on or full brightness in daytime use.

I don't really care that I have this feature, it's just driving me nuts that I cannot see it. I really do not think it happens on my speedometer. Multiple suppliers of instrument cluster displays for the CX-5?
 
This must be so subtle as to be useless. I just tried to see the effect again this morning driving at dawn and thru sunrise. Headlights on, headlights off, daytime lights on, off. Nothing. The brightness and boldness of all of the speedo numbers were absolutely the same thru multiple speed zones whether dimmed when headlights were on or full brightness in daytime use.

I don't really care that I have this feature, it's just driving me nuts that I cannot see it. I really do not think it happens on my speedometer. Multiple suppliers of instrument cluster displays for the CX-5?
It bothers me that they left out the 10-30-50-70 mph numbers. My other car has them.
 
This must be so subtle as to be useless. I just tried to see the effect again this morning driving at dawn and thru sunrise. Headlights on, headlights off, daytime lights on, off. Nothing. The brightness and boldness of all of the speedo numbers were absolutely the same thru multiple speed zones whether dimmed when headlights were on or full brightness in daytime use.

I don't really care that I have this feature, it's just driving me nuts that I cannot see it. I really do not think it happens on my speedometer. Multiple suppliers of instrument cluster displays for the CX-5?
The numbers don't illuminate and the numbers don't get bold. It's just the background lighting.
Maybe the programmers left early they day your dash was built and forgot to load the patch that lights up the speedo or maybe yours was an early build.
 
OK, I see what you are looking at now. If you hit the INFO button on the steering wheel and select any of the display options other than OFF, the speedometer will change the brightness of segments of the dial showing MPH.

As I typically drive with INFO set to off, and not showing the A or B trip odometer, mileage average, ACTIVSENSE display or Maintenance Minder information, my speedometer display is consistent in brightness all the way around.
 
Back