I wish I had taken the trouble to investigate the brightness of the instrument display of a 2010 GS Freelander 2 before buying it.

I just assumed it would be as brilliant as my previous car, a Honda CRV. In fact the Freelander 2's display is extremely poor. The side or head lights have to be on to change the brightness but you can't increase it by very much. Moreover the top right of the speedo and the top left of the tacho is blotted out by the dashboard which surrounds them both.

It's as if the display has been designed by a young person with 100% vision not recognising that eye's deteriorate with age where extra brightness of displays is required. The situation is even worse if you are short sighted and you wear bifocals or progressive lenses. These glasses require the eyes to refocus from long distance for driving to short distance when viewing the instruments and then back again. This takes an extra few microseconds both ways to adjust to what you are viewing. It doesn't help either to have the instruments set back so much into the dashboard.

The small rectangular panel which shows the clock, temperature, mpg, etc also leaves a lot to be desired being a dull greenish colour with dull black writing.

And with a bit of sun coming from any direction makes the whole instrument panel virtually unreadable.

I think this is a considerable safety hazard and I am surprised that this has not been picked up by commentators and car designers to make their displays safe and friendly.

Is there anything I can do about it?

I may suggest that you stick to the Honda

I must say I hadn't noticed this problem, and I wear varifocals as my eyesight is also not that good.
but I will check next time I'm driving.

would adjusting the seat height help ?

Iain

I have not noticed myself

Maybe all the illumination bulbs are not working on your? Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Mine is fine, try taking your sun glasses off

When the car first came out there was quite a lot of talk about this on the forum the subject seems to have died down again but I have to agree the clocks are not very bright at all.

Can't say I have noticed a problem and I wear varifocals.
Have you looked at another FL2 in case there is a problem with yours? 09 FL2 HSE auto Lago Grey
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coming from an Audi I found the display on the fl2 very low rent, but soon got used to it, maybe many cars are too posh anyway? its only a car and often a temporary purchase after all? At work
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No such problem with ours, perfectly bright enough. ______________________
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Mine seems fine. We Don't Care About Pot Holes !!

Did somebody take apart their dash and change the colours if the bulbs/LEDs

If so could it not just be done with inserting higher power LEDs  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Took a picture of mine tonight, bright enough for me.

Click image to enlarge

Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

OK so I just went outside in the ing down rain and I have to say mine is definitely a lot brighter than my last one and every bit as bright as your picture so maybe they have altered the brightness

The nasty green display doesn't help to be honest. (Past) Freelander 2 HSE 2010 MY In Rimini Red.
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I have the same model and I also thought that the illumination wasn't bright enough ( still do )....took it back to dealer and discovered that they were all similar.....guess it's just what you get used to !