Motoring Discussion > TFT dashboards? Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Rudedog Replies: 14

 TFT dashboards? - Rudedog
Does anybody here have real world experience of TFT dashboards, in particular how they perform in bright sunlight and possible glare on rev-counters and speedo?

I’m looking at a possible change to a MK7 GTi PP over a facelift 7.5 when things have settled down (although I can see the main dealer price of the one I’m watching has already dropped by £300), one of the big changes was to a TFT dash over a traditional dial setup, I plan to keep the car for as long as possible so resale value is not a long term issue.

I quite like the ‘older’ dial setup so I having the latest dash is not a deal-breaker.

 TFT dashboards? - Zero
yeah, My BMW G31 has one, its been fine under all conditions, it has a polarised filter screen. the advantages of them is they can display far more dynamic info than a mechanical dial set up
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 1 May 20 at 15:40
 TFT dashboards? - sherlock47
Be warned - if it has a polarising filter on it you probably cannot see anything if you put on polarised sunglasses.

My optician was not impressed when I pointed that out to him with my request for a full refund on sunglasses that I had specified for driving!

Not sure that this applies to all versions - I wonder if circular polarisation overcomes it?

In the C3 it is back lit by incident sunlight, which is a neat and cost effective way of achieving variable brightness!
Last edited by: sherlock47 on Fri 1 May 20 at 15:57
 TFT dashboards? - Zero
>> Be warned - if it has a polarising filter on it you probably cannot see
>> anything if you put on polarised sunglasses.

The Beemer one is fine with my polarised glasses
 TFT dashboards? - Dave_
>> The Beemer one is fine with my polarised glasses

Instrument panel yes, HUD no. I asked my optician if it was possible to rotate the polarised blanks 90 degrees before lens manufacture, but for some reason it isn't. First World problems.
 TFT dashboards? - bathtub tom
>> I asked my optician if it was possible to rotate
>> the polarised blanks 90 degrees before lens manufacture, but for some reason it isn't.

Wouldn't that defeat the object of polarising lens. I thought the purpose of them was to reduce reflected light off a horizontal surface.
 TFT dashboards? - PeterS
The Merc’s dash is formed of two 12.3” screens, which work fine in all conditions, even with the roof down. Fortunately the infotainment one isn’t touchscreen; if it was the finger prints would annoy me I’m sure. The main dash is very configurable, though I confess after playing around with it I actually just leave it in ‘classic’, which is just a speedo and rev counter as you’d expect, with the normal array of outside temp, range etc etc. Even then the centre section between the two, as well as the rev counter bit itself, are again user configurable. I leave rev counter as rev counter, though you can have pretty much anything else there, and the centre bit showing media stuff, with the infotainment screen showing navigation or just the map. Looks great now, though in 10 years I’m sure it’ll look dated...if it’s still working as it should ;)
 TFT dashboards? - Runfer D'Hills
Do you wear a straw hat while driving it Peter? I feel, quite strongly, that an E Class convertible in burgundy deserves a straw hat on its driver !
;-)
 TFT dashboards? - PeterS
>> Do you wear a straw hat while driving it Peter? I feel, quite strongly, that
>> an E Class convertible in burgundy deserves a straw hat on its driver !
>> ;-)
>>

Haha no, I don’t. Perhaps if I was driving through the French countryside in late summer I would, but the chances of being able to do that anytime soon are rather slim :(
 TFT dashboards? - R.P.
My 2013 Volvo V40 had one - it was great in all conditions. Don't remember any issues at all.

My current 2020 V60 has one. I forget that it is TFT - it is very good, it's only when the dials separate to make way for the navigation screen that it reminds me how brilliant it actually is. No issues in any weather of ambient light conditions.

My Guzzi has one, it is very "Italian" but very effective in all weather conditions.
Last edited by: R.P. on Fri 1 May 20 at 18:55
 TFT dashboards? - Robin O'Reliant
>> Do you wear a straw hat while driving it Peter? I feel, quite strongly, that
>> an E Class convertible in burgundy deserves a straw hat on its driver !
>> ;-)
>>

A Merc being an old man's car, I'd have thought a flat cap would have been more suitable.
 TFT dashboards? - Dog
A white scarf and Raybans was de rigueur in my BRG MGB Roadster back in the '70's
 TFT dashboards? - Dave_
Last year at work I had a courtesy Range Rover for a few weeks. The TFT instrument display dims and brightens according to ambient light inside the car. This made it tricky when driving through tunnels in Lyon, Switzerland and Northern Italy on sunny days as it took a few seconds to brighten when emerging. Speed limits are lower when towing, and in some areas there were speed cameras immediately after tunnel exits. It meant I effectively had no speedo or speed limit display for ten seconds after each tunnel.
 TFT dashboards? - sherlock47
As I posted above PSA have a neat cost effective way of overcoming that problem.

>>In the C3 it is back lit by incident sunlight, which is a neat and cost effective way of achieving variable brightness!<<
 TFT dashboards? - Bobby
Is that the light that you sometimes see on (I think) C3s if you look into the car at night there seems to be an orangey light facing the windscreen - is this the rear of an instrument cluster?
Latest Forum Posts