The human eye is strange when it comes to red light. Looking right at a red light source seems bright, but the light really doesn't carry very far for the human eye. Try putting a red filter over a very bright flashlight and you won't be able to see very far with it. The light seems bright in the pics, but at night it really only lights up the footwell and that's about it. It doesn't even carry above the lower seat cushion.
I liked using the marker lights because they are sealed and fairly low profile so nothing can snag them. The ones I bought have 3 LEDs in them. You could probably find some with only 2 LEDs and they would not be as bright. I actually don't have them permanently wired in yet, I plan to have them on a switch so I can turn them on when needed.
The LEDs I have for the cup holder area are from Radio Shack. They are just bare LEDs and I have some resistors to bring the voltage down so they are not over powered. Since the cup holder area is under the console, I'll just use some hot melt glue to hold them in place. I'll splice into the transmission indicator lights to power the cup holders.