I swear that my instrument cluster had red backlighting the first few days I had it. Now it's always white (or bluish-white?, idk) Anyway, I'm not crazy, I remember it red, but can not for the life of me figure out how to change it.

Page 125 of the manual states "Ambient lighting" is an option, but the note at the end says "The number of extra features varies, depending on the specification of the vehicle." There is no "Ambient Lighting" on my touchscreen under extra features, but again, it was red at one point.

Do I need to upgrade the "H017 Incontrol Touch Phase 3.2 SDARS Update"? I had a dealer print a "Direct Dealer Warranty - Vehicle Details" sheet, and this shows as an Open Field Service Action.

I bought my 17 XE 25t 2 weeks ago and LOVE IT! It's very bare bones and that suits me just fine because it was very affordable.

 

Sounds like you had the car in Dynamic and/or Sport mode, which turns the instrument cluster red.

 

*facepalm* you have no idea how long I've been trying to figure that out. Thank you very much!! Seriously!

Yeah, I thought it was in dynamic mode all the time, since I last switched to it many days ago. I see now in the manual it changes it back to normal after 6 hours.

So now my start up ritual is, Auto On/Off switched off, Dynamic Mode On, Select Trac DSC, Touchscreen > Screen Off (& Off again). So many things to do when starting the car! :-)