One of my pet peeves in regard to instrument clusters is the tachometer. First of all, why would anyone with an Automatic need the RPM's prominently displayed? There are so many other good things that could go there, or just expand the view of the speedometer! My mother's Automatic 2002 Camry wastes 50% of the cluster space with that silly tach.

Secondly, even those of us with a Manual, don't need a big tachometer taking up space. We drive by feel, not by looking at those RPM's. ~At least I don't. My Saturn also has a little Upshift light that comes on if I'm running at too high a speed in a gear. That little light doesn't bother me; it's just the big tachometer that I don't like.

I think use of tacho or speedo depends on how you drive. I prefer seeing the tacho. After a short while I will know how fast I am going and be able to keep within the speed limits ;-), ok know how much I am exceeding the limits.
This dashboard of all the cars I have owned had the best layout. The speedo was frequently covered by my right hand steering the car, my left hand would be flicking through the gears or changing the radio station etc.

On my Accord, with the radio at normal volume, the tach is the best way of telling when the auto transmission shifts. For the techno geeks, it also shows when the torque converter lockup kicks in and out. Like Vic said, that is all about gas mileage, if you know what the information means.

As a professional techno geek, I would like to see more instrumentation, like electrical, oil pressure, fuel pressure, etc. From time spent testing digital controls in other vehicles, I would love to be able to monitor bus traffic and see what the computers are doing at any time. However, 99% of the driving public today wouldn't get any real information from that sort of stuff. Those are the people the car companies design their product for.

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Tachometers are ok, when with a new car (manual transmission). After a few
miles, one gets the "feel" of it. For example, I don't like to go over
2500 rpm (3000, max) except when necessary, briefly. Otherwise, it's useful,
only in noisy road conditions when engine noise -- useful, sometimes, for
shifting -- can't be heard.

The usual highway rpm is anywhere from 1500-2000.

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One of my pet peeves in regard to instrument clusters is the tachometer. First of all, why would anyone with an Automatic need the RPM's prominently displayed? There are so many other good things that could go there, or just expand the view of the speedometer! My mother's Automatic 2002 Camry wastes 50% of the cluster space with that silly tach.

Secondly, even those of us with a Manual, don't need a big tachometer taking up space. We drive by feel, not by looking at those RPM's. ~At least I don't. My Saturn also has a little Upshift light that comes on if I'm running at too high a speed in a gear. That little light doesn't bother me; it's just the big tachometer that I don't like.

Oooh. I luv my gauges, including the tach! I actually transplanted a gauge cluster from a '90 Cierra with a 6 cylinder into my 4 banger, so I have the full gauge package now as opposed to the butt ugly stocker with a big sweep speedometer and nothing but idiot lights. I got uber lucky on ebay and found one from a car that had been wrecked with only 8,000 miles original on it.

I had to get a $100.00 adapter from Dakota Digital to massage the tach signal from the 4 banger to read correctly on the 6 cylinder tach. And change out the oil pressure sending unit which was just a switch for the idiot light and replace it with the one that has the transducer in it for the oil pressure gauge. Interestingly enough, the wiring harness included all of the wires to work with either version of engine. And the pinouts of the cluster connectors matched....I had to verify all of that with the factory manual before I dove into the conversion.

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

The vehicle I learned on had the dimmer switch on the floor, the window washer pump on the floor (a rubber squeeze pump with a check valve). The parking brake was a pedal on the left. So, the left foot was a bit busier than usual with the parking brake, the clutch, the dimmer, and the windshield washer...

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BOINC WIKI

I always drive my car via the rev counter (tachometer) it is more accurate for speed than the speedometer. I know that in 5th gear it is 22mph/1000 rpm so I just know that 2000 is 44, 3000 is 66, and 4000 is 88. Also if I want to get my foot down it is useful to know whether the engine is in its max torque or power curve, or whether I need to drop a cog. Many times I see people pull out to overtake, try to accelerate and hardly anything happens, by the time they've taken a lower gear to pull away, there is a car up their backside in the outside lane!

I also miss the oil pressure gauge, all you get now is a light on the dashboard. And far too many people think that it is a low oil level warning light, and drive on until they see it before topping up. Then they wonder why they knacker their engine! The oil level has to drop pretty low for the pressure to disappear and trigger the light. I also miss the ammeter as well, that was a useful indication as to whether your dynamo/alternator/generator was giving it's full output. Most useful in the days when you could skim the Commutator and replace brushes very cheaply. And if you REALLY knew what you were doing you could flash Lucas units over from Pos to Neg earth!

Vis a vis some of the daft car accessories over the years, the silliest was the early UK 1950 Ford Anglias with windscreen wipers that worked on vacuum from the engine intake manifold. As the car laboured uphill the wipers would slow to a standstill due to the intake manifold vacuum dropping to near nil, only to start working again as the top was reached and the intake vacuum increased. They also had a tendency to slow down or stop above 40 mph for the same reason.

Some cars now have an oil level light in addition to an oil pressure light. The oil level light goes on when a quart down (in the US anyway). I found this out by reading my owner's manual. The only warning light I have seen on my car is the low fuel (which comes on with 70 miles or so left in the tank.)

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BOINC WIKI

I do look at the tachometer from time to time but one place where it is very useful is when you are using engine braking on a long down hill grade. Often high gear will not provide sufficient braking so you keep downshifting till you find a gear that will hold. On the motor home this was a real problem because it had an automatic transmission and anything over 2500RPMs could end the life of the engine. The weight resulted in a fine balancing act where you didn't take all day to get down the hill but you didn't damage the drivetrain or overheat the brakes.

There was a movie with Lucy and Desi where they were in a motorhome, and for some odd reason, that's what popped in my mind when I read this. ;~}

Some cars now have an oil level light in addition to an oil pressure light. The oil level light goes on when a quart down (in the US anyway). I found this out by reading my owner's manual. The only warning light I have seen on my car is the low fuel (which comes on with 70 miles or so left in the tank.)

I've done the silly thing of “testing” my fuel low light. Don't try that. :~}


In regard to monitoring speed with the tach, maybe I could have used that idea when my old Nissan Sentra's speedometer cable was broken. I got a ticket for speeding, but it was waived after I got the cable fixed. The car's odometer was also controlled by that cable, so it went awhile in virtual agelessness.

I always bring my manual transmission car back to neutral when I stop at a stop sign or a red light. Is this what you all do? I keep my foot on the brake, of course.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

If god wanted me to drive an automatic he wouldn't have given me a left foot.

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I started with an austin cambridge many year ago,

The only warning light I have seen on my car is the low fuel (which comes on with 70 miles or so left in the tank.)

In the UK that comes on when the "Reserve" tank takes over. It usually gives you about a gallon and a half of fuel left, which averages 50 miles. No problem in the UK with finding a filling station, but might be in the USA!

Depends on where you are. On my route to and from work, there are about a half dozen gas stations I can stop at easily. The round trip is a bit over 50 miles. In the south west, I have seen a sign that said last chance for gas for 130 miles...

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BOINC WIKI

If god wanted me to drive an automatic he wouldn't have given me a left foot.

I drive my car, left foot for the brake, right for gas. In my rig, left for clutch, right for gas and brake. My rig has a piggyback forklift, left foot forward and reverse, right for gas.

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In my rig, left for clutch, right for gas and brake

That is the "proper" way to drive.

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A brief return to sensors/gages --

When I was ten, my father, one day, asked me if I cared to knock out a dent
in the right, front fender. Of course, I readily agreed. He knew that I
could do it, having watched him change tires, many times in the past -- and,
this would involve jacking up the car ('36 Chevy), removing the tire (w/rim),
and then taking the ball-end of a ball-peen hammer, and pounding out the dents,
from the inside of the fender. Reverse process, for a completed job.

I did all that, and he was quite pleased.

The point, here, is -- With low-pressure sensors in the tires, a person is
obliged to take the car to a repair shop (usually, the dealership, today),
to have even a hub-cap removed.

My point -- not to sound technically-elitist -- is, that, perhaps, cars are
being designed for the least-technically-inclined. And, folks who understand
at least the basics, are being shunted off to the side.

Another example --

Hard-copy road maps? Try Barns & Noble; they're not in gas-stations, any
more. Why paper maps? Put the picture of the map in your head, and you
don't have to take your eyes off the road to look at a GPS device.

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In my rig, left for clutch, right for gas and brake

That is the "proper" way to drive.

That's how I, and every driver I know, drives:)

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

My two oldest kids know how to down-shift. The youngest couldn't care less.
Driverless cars, here we come, I guess.

A follow-up point, Chris, is ... what will freeing up our minds lead to?
People are becoming more and more detached from former knowledge, to be
replaced by an environment which is increasingly-isolated from previous
reality.

A case, in point: It's becoming more difficult to engage people's interest
in nature and its problems. They don't have a "feel" for it, any more.
Many homes in Lexington, anyway, have lawn-service. The owners of those
homes are too busy in the technical world. They don't realize/care about
the consequences of having easy-to-maintain lawns, plus a few shrubs and trees.
Everyone, over here (it seems, from my perspective, anyway) wants his place
to look like Her Majesty's grounds, and maintained, accordingly. Disaster,
when multiplied many-fold.

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Driverless cars, here we come, I guess.

They are here NOW!

Oh yeah, speeding along with no steering wheel, no brake or accelerator pedals at 25mph max, that's the google self driving car, good for the blind really... @ 25mph it's not much to crow for, as it would take ages to get anywhere, I'll keep My driving skills sharp and drive My own car.

25 is full speed and then some in LA rush hour traffic.

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It's not quite like that Jim! Back in the early 60's when I first passed my test, cars were so simple that a 10 year old could work on one (and they did!). At that time in the UK there were still some pre war push-rod sidevalve engines about although OHV and OHC were becoming the majority. You opened the bonnet and you could get to everything, plugs, points, carburettor, filters etc. In those days we changed the vegetable based engine oil every 3000 miles, used flushing oil as well, and used different grades for winter and summer, But quite soon, 20W/50 multigrade mineral oils were coming in that lasted 5000 miles.

The extended oil changes are the results of tighter engine tolerances and better additive packages in the oil. My mustang 4.6l with 123,000 miles will still run 5000 miles without adding oil and at oil change time, the oil is still clean enough to see through.

But, technology moved on, cars became more sophisticated, Fuel injection came in, electronic ignition, engine management chips, diagnostic machines, instrument panels had a plethora of warning lights. You open a bonnet of a modern car these days and you just shake your head and close it again. Plugs last 60,000 miles, good job, ever tried finding one? You could change the old air filters in seconds, these days they are hidden away somewhere in many feet of ducting. Modern multigrade synthetic engine oils last for 20,000 miles or 2 years, with no sludge in the sump. Good job really as that is where front wheel drive cars effectively have the gearbox!

And also it has to be said that on the human front, drivers became lazier. It isn't seen as a privilege to own a car these days, it is just taken as a simple life convenience like running water at a tap. Ask a modern man to get his hands dirty and you'll get a pained expression. Also there is some truth in the accusation that car manufacturers deliberately design cars to be hard to service or repair by the owner, so that they have to be taken to a garage, or preferably a main dealer, for almost anything these days. Look at these labour charges! Garage hourly rates

I would put the blame for this on the United States. The technology for fuel injection and engine control has been around a long time but it was far to costly to use. Our pollution control regulations where impossible to achieve without far better engine control so when everybody had to use the technology, it's cost was no longer a disadvantage and everybody switched to it.

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I change my oil every six months, but have resisted using the synthetic stuff. Any thoughts on this?

Also, how often do you all change your manual transmission fluid? My 1999 Saturn SC1 has 133,000 miles on it, and I had the fluid changed just a few months ago, and that was my first time. I bought the car in 2008, when it had 108,000 miles on it.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

I change my oil every six months, but have resisted using the synthetic stuff. Any thoughts on this?

Also, how often do you all change your manual transmission fluid? My 1999 Saturn SC1 has 133,000 miles on it, and I had the fluid changed just a few months ago, and that was my first time. I bought the car in 2008, when it had 108,000 miles on it.

Check the owners manual for the oil change period on the manual transmission but 100,000 miles sounds about right for manual transmission or rear ends.
The real determination on oil changes is how long the additive package holds up. Truck driver don' t change oil by miles because it can take over 4 gallons of oil. They pull oil samples and send them to a lab that runs a check on the additive package. When the additive package starts to break down, it's time for an oil change. Synthetic oils do tend to last longer but without a test kit, I would advise you stick with the factory oil change period.
The reason for changing the oil is not because the oil wears out. The reason is because the additive package breaks down or the oil is carrying to much grime.

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The reason for changing the oil is not because the oil wears out. The reason is because the additive package breaks down or the oil is carrying to much grime.

My car's engine oil gets dirty. I drive light miles, but always city stop n' go, never highway.

It's amazing to me that the transmission oil doesn't need to be changed as frequently as the engine's.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place