Dashboard Not Lit When Side Lights On ??

[Gee40]

I've got a 6c GTI and noticed that the speedo and rev counter are only lit when the headlights are on and not when the side lights are on.

Is this a fault with my car, a setting within the menus that I cant find, or an example of Germanic sense of humour ?

Thanks

[SRGTD]

Not a fault. My 6c GTI is the same. I’m not aware of any setting within the menus to change it.

I never drive with just sidelights on; I always use the headlights if lighting conditions or visibility require more than just DRLs to be on.

Personally, I think sidelights are pretty pointless, and I only ever use them as parking lights. When being used as parking lights (whether offside only, nearside only or both sides), the instrumentation isn’t illuminated; IMO it wouldn’t need to be.

[cheba]

I've got a 6c GTI and noticed that the speedo and rev counter are only lit when the headlights are on and not when the side lights are on.

Is this a fault with my car, a setting within the menus that I cant find, or an example of Germanic sense of humour ?

We discussed this in another thread recently. It is the intended behavior that instrument cluster lighting is off when using DRL or parking lights. The purpose is to remind you to turn on your headlights when it gets dark outside (if it is dark enough that you need the instrument cluster lit up, it is dark enough that you should have headlights on).

I think it is a good feature, because for example when you enter a lit up tunnel it may not appear dark enough that you need headlights to light the road ahead of your car, but still you should have your headlights on in a tunnel so it's good to be reminded. Before I retrofitted the auto headlight switch in my car, it was always the lack of cluster illumination that reminded me to manually turn my headlights on when I entered a tunnel or when I was driving during dusk.

EDIT: Changed "side lights" to "parking lights"

[SRGTD]

We discussed this in another thread recently.

This discussion thread;

https://uk-polos.net/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=71505

[RUM4MO]

I’m guessing that the “side lights” function is just a legacy function and so is still written into “road vehicle lighting specs” just because it was relevant at some time in the past and some of these cars are still on the road.
As said, there is no situation where you can legally drive on only side lights in UK and probable rest of EU, so this switch position is redundant at least for driving by still remains because maybe the rules have not be rewritten.
Just another anomaly!

Edit:- I don’t know, but maybe the owners manual now refers to it as being “parking lights”?

[Mike Austin]

We discussed this in another thread recently.

This discussion thread;
https://uk-polos.net/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=71505

Yes, I started that one. I am contemplating sticking a small LED in front of the light sensor to keep the dial lights on (unless anyone knows a better way?). They switch off far too early in my opinion, prompting me to turn my headlights on without consideration of what other drivers are doing at the time. I prefer to choose intelligently when my lights come on.