How hot is your car?

[nissangirl74]

Thanks to some new-fangled technology, temperature gauges are being eliminated from some vehicles. How do you feel about this? When driving our older cars, we watch the temp gauge more than we watch the speedometer. I can't imagine this being a good idea, even for the reasons stated in the article (primarily, cold starts).

What do you think?

http://www.thecarconnection.com/marty-b ... temp-gauge

[Ace2cool]

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!

[downedzephyr]

i'm not a fan of the idea of removing it completely, nor am i a fan of having a stupid blue light instead of a temp gauge. i do like that the article says temp gauges will be staying in performance cars and those that are frequently modified though.

[Ace2cool]

"Those that are frequently modified"?

The 240SX was originally designed for middle-aged secretaries. The Civic was an econo-family car. There are two of the MOST modified cars in the world. I don't agree with it at all.

[nissangirl74]

We have four cars with less than 100 horsepower. I'll be DAMNED if I'd drive any of them without a temp gauge. Same premise applies to the Vette and the Z.

BTW, this can happen when you ignore your temp gauge

[asoomal]

Kinda like the newer Accents we drive at work, never know when they're fully warm or when they're about to overheat.

Might as well take the gas gauge away.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

About as much outrage as I felt when I learned they removed dynamic oil pressure gauges from Miatas in 95'...it's just an on-off switch since then. Why even have a gauge then?!

[AZhitman]

...yet we have automatics with tachometers.

WTF.

[kouki munster]

About as much outrage as I felt when I learned they removed dynamic oil pressure gauges from Miatas in 95'...it's just an on-off switch since then. Why even have a gauge then?!

Analogue idiot lights, my 04 f250 has one of those, but ford has used those for years so that didn't really surprise me.

[themadscientist]

Seriously, are you surprised. In 10 years you won't be allowed to drive your car, it will drive you. Modern cars are increasingly engineered to prevent the owner from being able to maintain it, why give you a gauge?

[Bubba1]

Thanks to some new-fangled technology, temperature gauges are being eliminated from some vehicles. How do you feel about this? When driving our older cars, we watch the temp gauge more than we watch the speedometer. I can't imagine this being a good idea, even for the reasons stated in the article (primarily, cold starts).

What do you think?

http://www.thecarconnection.com/marty-b ... temp-gauge

Fortunately it's just one manufacturer and his reasoning for suggesting it is highly flawed. He is suggesting a blue idiot light to shine when the car is cold as a warning not to push the motor hard until it gets warmed, thus reducing wear. He feels that is necessary because the majority of Americans completely ignore the temp gauge and drive too hard when the motor is cold. In other words, he thinks we're all dumb.

What he fails to grasp is that the same dopey drivers are gonna ignore the blue idiot light as well, and his idea insulting to all that use the gauge. The logical solution is to simply add a blue idiot light to the existing gauge. the same way a red idiot light shines when you overheat or run too low on gas.

If the car is worthy for me to want to buy, and it doesn't have a temp gauge, that's not going to be a deal breaker for me. Aftermarket temp guages are not expensive. I view it the same was as I would lights. For example, the headlights of my Altima were not as good ishort range as some of my other vehicles, so I added fog lights.

[frapjap]

...yet we have automatics with tachometers.

WTF.

Even further, some older cars (80's toyota and honda products) with manual transmissions didn't even have tachs.


Overall, no temp gauge is a terrible idea. I bet when/if you added one yourself that it'd void the warranty on that new car too.

[Encryptshun]

I recently had to suffer through a week in a Nissan Cube while my Xterra was in the shop. No temp gauge there. Just a blue light when it's cold that goes off when it's warm.

Hated it.

And Greg, automatics with tachs are so the speedbois can use "manual shift" mode. You get better launches that way, dontchaknow. Oh, and I should point out my automatic Xterra has a tach.

And I get better launches because of it.

[snwbrdr435]

In my passat wagon you need to use the "manual mode" because the transmission is soooo f*** if you don't every time it shifts it feels like you get hit in the a** with a aluminum baseball bat.

[AZhitman]

I recently had to suffer through a week in a Nissan Cube while my Xterra was in the shop. No temp gauge there. Just a blue light when it's cold that goes off when it's warm.

Cube has a temp gauge.

[Encryptshun]

Is it an option? Cause I swear one of the two I drove didn't. (The other one was a higher trim level, so not sure about that one).

[Jesda]

Cars should have digital temp displays, like my Cadillac. They should have digital displays for everything.

[Kompresshun]

I want a customizable HUD, so I can pick what information I want to see, I could care less what's in the dash

I do prefer having a temp gauge though, I really don't like not having an oil pressure and battery gauge either but I can live without them.

[AZhitman]

Is it an option? Cause I swear one of the two I drove didn't. (The other one was a higher trim level, so not sure about that one).

Nope.

Ours is the base model. It's there, opposite the fuel gauge (digital bar graph, super-tiny.

[AZhitman]

I want a customizable HUD, so I can pick what information I want to see, I could care less what's in the dash

...like my C5.

[Encryptshun]

Is it an option? Cause I swear one of the two I drove didn't. (The other one was a higher trim level, so not sure about that one).

Nope.

Ours is the base model. It's there, opposite the fuel gauge (digital bar graph, super-tiny.

I sit corrected. I guess I never paid any attention after the heater started blowing warm air (I had these during a -5 cold snap).

[Kompresshun]

...like my C5.

I really need to drive a C5, the last Vette I drove was a C4. Does it let you put temp, oil pressure, fuel level, along with radio information and things like that? Regardless, if you can customize it at all that's awesome. I want everything to be available in HUD though, even navigation and a rear view camera

[MinisterofDOOM]

A lot of temp gauges are just binary (or ternary) switches anyway, so it's not THAT much of a loss for all cars.

I do think that taking them away is a bad joke, though. A proper temp gauge is a great diagnostic tool. I replaced the radiator on my old Max last weekend and used the temp gauge to determine whether I'd bled the coolant system properly or not.

I absolutely agree with Jesda, though: Every single car should have a real-time temp readout, whether digital or analog.
I also don't see why automatic transmission equipped cars don't come with trans temp gauges as well.

My LS, like the first-gen Q, has a dot-matrix LED display in the corner of the instrument cluster. There's no excuse for not including coolant temp and the like amongst the display options. DTE is neat, but I'd rather look at something useful.

...yet we have automatics with tachometers.

And plenty of manuals without them.

[skydragoness]

I want a customizable HUD, so I can pick what information I want to see, I could care less what's in the dash

...like my C5.

HUD is so awesome on that car..

[Ace2cool]

...like my C5.

HUD is so awesome on that car..

QFT

[AZ89two4Tsx]

"Those that are frequently modified"?

The 240SX was originally designed for middle-aged secretaries.

And it might as well not even have a temp gauge. My old hatch completely blew the cap off in an explosion of steam and the coolant was boiling. Temp gauge was a little under halfway.

[AZhitman]

I have no need for a tachometer. Ever.

I have no need for a speedometer. Ever.

I have no need for an odometer. Ever.

I DO need a fuel gauge, a temp gauge, an oil pressure gauge, and despite some peoples' objections, I like TPMS.

[Ace2cool]

despite some peoples' objections, I like TPMS.

.....so it bugs you that the Cube's TPMS is tripped 24/7 due to the awesome wheels?

[AppleBonker]

I have no need for a tachometer. Ever.

Agreed. I shift based on feel/sound alone. I never look at the tach.

I have no need for a speedometer. Ever.

Really? I'll keep mine. I like to know how fast I'm going (and not in a keeping-up-with-traffic sort of way). I'm usually spot on, but it doesn't hurt to know for sure.

I have no need for an odometer. Ever.

Again, I use mine to check fuel economy. Comes in handy for that purpose alone (much to the dismay of PMQ).

despite some peoples' objections, I like TPMS.

Oddly, I've decided I do as well. Though that might be because I'm lazy and take advantage of it and not check my tire pressure as often as I should...

[biggie]

All the Versa has is the light I didn't mind it though, it probably is just as useful as the stock S13 gauge. If you've seen that the S13 temp gauge is hot, then its basically too late.