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Old 03-15-2012, 07:38 AM
 
Location: Birmingham
11,787 posts, read 17,634,822 times
Reputation: 10119

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Quote:
Originally Posted by css9450 View Post
Cost cutting, mostly.

Many cars came with "fake" gauges anyway. During normal conditions, it stayed pointed right at the center, all the time. Volts, oil pressure, and temp, all right in the middle all the time. The reason they did it that way, was because when the gauges were more "realistic", they tended to fluctuate more than some drivers would have realized. Turn on the headlights, and the Volts gauge goes down. Get stuck waiting for a freight train, and the temp gauge goes up. People thought something was wrong so they headed to the dealer looking for warranty repairs. So the gauges were dumbed down. Now, many cars don't even have gauges anymore.

I have a car from 1988 and it has all the gauges, and they're real gauges. The volts gauge flutters with the turn signals. The oil pressure gauge goes up when I accelerate and it goes down when I'm idling. The temp gauge goes up and down depending on whether I'm on the highway or stuck in traffic. Its nice!

Exactly. Not only that, but people who don't understand what's going on give bad CSI surveys. Not understanding how a gauge works ranks the same as any other flaw. This way the manufacturers can protect themselves from bad ratings from the mostly ignorant masses.
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Old 03-15-2012, 11:24 AM
 
2,265 posts, read 3,675,590 times
Reputation: 1815
My '12 Grand Cherokee has speed, RPMS, temp and gas on the dash. Everything else is in the EVIC. Oil temp, pressure, trans temp and the exact water temp, plus battery. No big, and they're all accurate.
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Old 03-15-2012, 11:39 AM
 
Location: Ohio
3,437 posts, read 6,052,362 times
Reputation: 2700
I always wanted a Temp gauge instead of those idiot lights because with a gauge you can see the temp going up and do something before it is too late, with the idiot lights by the time it comes on it is already too late and you may have a serious problem, "Hey the car is running a bit hot, lets stop up here and have dinner while it cools down and I can check things".

I understand it would increase the cost of vehicles but I think ALL gauges should be numbers(they can be digital or analog) instead of idiot lights or relative level.

Oil Pressure
Fuel
Charging system voltage
Coolant temperature
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Old 03-15-2012, 01:04 PM
 
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan
2,259 posts, read 4,719,621 times
Reputation: 2345
I had a 92 Lincoln Mark VII that came with a digital speedo, gas gauge, and odometer.
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Old 03-15-2012, 01:09 PM
 
24,488 posts, read 40,980,792 times
Reputation: 12919
Quote:
Originally Posted by topher5150 View Post
I had a 92 Lincoln Mark VII that came with a digital speedo, gas gauge, and odometer.
So did my 1989 Chevy Cavalier Z24, lol.
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Old 03-15-2012, 03:44 PM
 
35,309 posts, read 51,976,495 times
Reputation: 30997
Quote:
Originally Posted by jobaba View Post
I was shopping new cars and noticed some of the 2012 models have eliminated the engine/water temperature gauge.

Namely the 2012 Civic, Fit, and Mazda3.

Why they would do this is beyond me. All they have is the dummy warning lights now.

How are you going to tell if your car is overheating before it's too late?

Opinions?
Buy a Scangauge.. about $150.

ScanGauge II Options Demonstration - YouTube
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Old 03-15-2012, 03:57 PM
 
Location: Utah
5,118 posts, read 16,541,675 times
Reputation: 5341
My coolant temp on my '08 Chevy Cobalt is a digitally displayed on my dash. It's one of the bits of information in the Driver Information Center (DIC).
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Old 03-15-2012, 04:36 PM
 
Location: Vancouver, B.C., Canada
11,153 posts, read 29,139,769 times
Reputation: 5479
Quote:
Originally Posted by jobaba View Post
I was shopping new cars and noticed some of the 2012 models have eliminated the engine/water temperature gauge.

Namely the 2012 Civic, Fit, and Mazda3.

Why they would do this is beyond me. All they have is the dummy warning lights now.

How are you going to tell if your car is overheating before it's too late?

Opinions?
I guess you could get a nice set of Aftermarket Auto-Meter Gauges to solve that problem
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Old 03-15-2012, 04:55 PM
 
14,780 posts, read 43,465,675 times
Reputation: 14621
Quote:
Originally Posted by jobaba View Post
I was shopping new cars and noticed some of the 2012 models have eliminated the engine/water temperature gauge.

Namely the 2012 Civic, Fit, and Mazda3.

Why they would do this is beyond me. All they have is the dummy warning lights now.

How are you going to tell if your car is overheating before it's too late?

Opinions?
Mainly because most of the gauges were just idiot lights anyway or tuned to be incredibly non-linear to hide fluctuations. Basically, for decades now, the temp gauge as well as others have either been:

Idiot = Always showing good until it's not.

Non-linear = The needle only moves in broad jumps, cold to "good" to "trouble" with very little space in between. Basically you could be sitting there and the gauge go from "good" to "overheating" within the blink of an eye.

Since the gauges were just "idiot lights" anyway, save the money and just have the lights. You also now have a lot of cars coming up with customizable digital displays, so the driver can pick and choose what they want to see, this means less gauges and more LCD space.
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Old 03-15-2012, 10:11 PM
 
12,098 posts, read 16,975,682 times
Reputation: 15736
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperSparkle928 View Post
--------------------------------------------------------------------

I think it is related to the cost of the car.... The manufacturer is not going to put in the more expensive gauges over idiot lights on an entry-level car.
Though both are critical and important, I think the oil pressure gauge trumps the temperature gauge.

I had a Volvo in the '80's that had oil temperature, oil pressure, water temperature, outside temperature, battery voltage, tachometer and I few more I can't remember. The only idiot lights were ABS/brakes and air bags.

On a pro-street car I had all of the above, plus transmission temperature and fuel pressure and blower manifold pressure. (granted I did those three myself).

I think ya gets what ya pays for.
That's it. A dealer tried to convince me that going away from temperature gauges was the wave of the future.

Except the Honda Fit has never had a gauge and they JUST decided to take it off the Civic for 2012 and every mid size car or more expensive happens to have a gauge. Some wave of the future.

What sales guys will do to make a sale.
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