[MrFastFox666]

I've driven a few cars with HUDs. One was a Cadillac, which projected directly on the windshield, if I recall correctly. The other was my grandmother's Mazda 2 (she lives in Colombia), which has a little plastic or glass piece on top of the gauge cluster, where the display projects.

Although its pretty useless, I think its really cool and I've been thinking of adding something like this to the CR-Z. I just wanted to ask if anyone has added one to their 'Z, as well as if anyone has any experience with any HUD on any car.

I've seen those cheapo ones that are just a display and you reflect it off your windshield, but I definitely don't want one of those, I'd rather have one of the ones like my grandma's Mazda, where it has its own little glass piece.
All I care about is speed, really. There is one that supports Android Auto, but I think it would be quite small for that, plus I have a nice 10" radio with AA as well.

 

[Spdbump]

I had the GM Eye Cue (AKA HUD) on My 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP coupe. It displayed speed, turn signals, radio frequency and a few other things. There was also an interference with it and my Scan Gauge II where the radio frequency display did not work when the Scan Gauge was plugged into the ODB II standard CAN cable. The company that makes it sent me a special non CAN cable and that solved the issue. For The Speed Bump, I went back to the standard ODB II cable for the Scan Gauge. There was a known issue with them that required a few minutes with a soldering iron to re attach a sensor for light sensitivity for day night brightness. I miss it, it allowed me to use a few different seating positions and still see the speedometer and radio information.

There are a few after market HUDs that use your cell phone, Bluetooth, an APP, to display information on the windshield. I believe there are others that use the ODB II port and device. I do not remember the details now, it was a while ago I looked into it. Those all get attached to the top of the dash. The GM one was integrated into the top of the cluster. I don't know anything about the Mazda one but presume to add to a car not made for it, the only options I have seen are the aftermarket units that get attached to the top of the dash.

The GM one had a special coating on the whole windshield (you had to order a Special windshield if you needed a new windshield). Nissan Z cars had a special coating applied to the glass where the HUD displayed (Polarized Decal?). The GM one you could move it up or down to get it in the right place, but if you wore polarized sunglasses it was invisible. When I had it, I had to clean the windshield and the lens over the HUD in the dash more often and very carefully.

Why do you want it projected on a second piece of glass, IMO there are more issues with reflections and glare that way.

 

[da-coder]

You can get a pretty decent effect without any reflector sticker at night with just a smartphone. The glass has a film (plastic?) on both sides meant to catch any shards of glass if the windshield breaks. You can get a pretty decent reflection with an AMOLED screen just taped to your dash but you will see two images overlayed on each other (as both films reflect the light).

Might be worth using an old phone to test drive with at night and see if you want to spend the extra money on something more purpose-built. I used this for my 1994 Accord when my speedometer went out at night during a long road trip across Texas. Worked pretty good. Biggest issue with that solution is heat and the lithium batteries in phones.

The special OE windshields have one film designed with the same IOR so it doesn't reflect the light back to your face and you only see the one image.

 

[MrFastFox666]

...add to a car not made for it, the only options I have seen are the aftermarket units that get attached to the top of the dash.

Yeah, that's what I'd be looking at. The one in the Mazda does something similar to what the CR-Z does with the speedo. From what I can see, the display is in front of the driver. It shines onto an angled mirror which directs the light upwards where it then shines on the transparent piece and gets reflected onto the driver. Just like the speed o on the 'Z, it looks like the display is floating behind the glass piece, I think that's pretty neat. I think the Cadillac just had the display facing up but quite far from the windshield to give the same effect.

Why do you want it projected on a second piece of glass, IMO there are more issues with reflections and glare that way.

Because of this:

You can get a pretty decent reflection with an AMOLED screen just taped to your dash but you will see two images overlayed on each other (as both films reflect the light).

Since windshields are laminated, there's two pieces of glass so you see a double reflection, in fact even a single pane of glass has two reflections, one from the outer surface and one from the inner one. You'd need a special coating to prevent this, which is probably why the Mazda uses the separate glass, it's cheaper that way sine there's no need for a special windshield.

The cheap HUDs have a plastic film you put on your windshield. While it does work, it also makes the reflected image a bit wavy. It also makes the reflection from the dash quite visible under direct sunlight, which is 90% of the weather in Florida.

Most of the other HUDs with their own glass I've seen have it at a very vertical orientation, so I doubt reflections would be an issue unless the sun is shining onto my face through the windshield.

In my case, I want something that connects through OBDII. My phone is already used for AA on my radio, so I just want speed, maybe RPM and coolant temp would be nice too.

Might be worth using an old phone to test drive with at night and see if you want to spend the extra money on something more purpose-built

I did a few times, and while it was super neat, the double reflection looks awful and makes it hard to read.

So far I'm leaning towards this one from AliExpress.

36.55US $ 57% OFF|Obdhud C3 Plus Auto Projector Hud Navigation Gps Obd2 Eobd Speedometer Head Up Display Electronics Car Accessories For All Car - Head-up Display - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

It seems to have the biggest display of all the units I've seen. The shape of the dash in the CR-Z concerns me a bit, but since I'm not in the country I can't get in my car and see where I'd place it and how it would look. But I think I'd need to place it just behind the gauge cluster pod where the dash is relatively flat.