So much time is spent talking about the exterior design of cars, yet most of the time car ownership doesn’t involve looking at the outside of it. No, the part that’ll be staring in your face for every mile you drive your car is the one that doesn’t get as much recognition as it should.
Subconsciously, the instruments are what connect you to the soul of your ride. Today, essentially every vehicle has a rectangular video screen to communicate your car’s information to you, and this uniformity is something that didn’t exist in years past. Most of my favorite gauge clusters were ones that were not only unique but perfectly fit the personality of the car- here are some examples.
Porsche’s “five circle” cluster has become iconic for good reason: it’s a no-nonsense presentation of information that is befitting of the cold, calculating nature of these precision machines. It also gives you a feeling of prestige even if you’re driving the cheapest Macan to see almost the same instruments as a 911 GTS Turbo Whatever in front of you.
The C4 Corvette’s reputation is finally getting the rehabilitation that it deserves. At the time of its introduction in 1983, it really was “the most advanced vehicle on the planet.”
Mere gauges with needles were not going to cut it in a car that was giving us a true glimpse of what we thought the year 2000 would hold. You could change the readouts to what you wanted as well, proving that this was a driver-focused machine unlike any ‘Vette that had come before.
The first Honda Prelude of 1979 was an interesting mix of sportiness and luxury, and it seemed to balance these qualities well as a “sports car for grownups” as Rocky Balboa’s coach told us.
Even inside, the Prelude had a solution to the whole tach/speedometer priority conundrum that I thought was quite interesting and no other car (other than the Fiat 500, I believe) seems to have latched on to. Both of these critical gauges were concentric, with the tachometer inside of the speedometer, and major warning lights covering the axis. So much packed neatly into a small space.
Citroens of the seventies and eighties hold a special place in my heart for their uncanny weirdness; it’s like aliens from Mars that had never seen a car before came down and designed the instruments. Even one of their tamer creations of the time- the GSA- did not disappoint.
It looks like the bridge of a starship from a sci-fi movie, with a big schematic of the car and all sorts of illuminated bullet points for trouble spots. This dominates the instruments, pushing the tach and speedometer (plus minor gauges) into little bathroom-scale-like windows with numbers on illuminated rotating drums. I don’t want to get into switchgear at this point, but I will say that those cylindrical satellite pods floating off the side of the instrument panel look like they’d make great fidget boxes if you could get some from a junkyard.
Subaru also once had the guts to do “weird” for many of their cars, and the wedge-shaped XT coupe was a perfect example.
Thankfully, the gauge cluster lived up to the promise of the wild exterior. The “car” shape sat on a “road” formed by the graphic bar tachometer on one side and the mirror-image turbo boost gauge on the other. Also, if you raised the XT on its height-adjustable air suspension, that little graphic “car” in the center raised up as well.
The only way it could have gotten better is if you had a button on top of the shifter that fired laser-graphics out of the car shape on the screen. Use the Force, Luke!
The whole interior (and exterior too, if we’re being honest) feels like Subaru looking at Citroen and saying “hold my beer.”
What’s fun about the screens in today’s cars is that they could replicate many of these old clusters. Why can’t more manufacturers have fun with it?
What gauges and dash layouts hold special attraction or fascination for you? Let us know!
The twin Smith’s in a Land Rover Series 3.
I love the one in my 2004 Phaeton.
Easy – the Peterbilt “Corvette” dash.
https://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/get-attachment.asp?action=view&attachmentid=536162&imagerotation=465
1980s to late ’90s BMWs before the advent of iDrive. All of them are perfect. The e8x/e9x as I currently own are good, but a step down with too many shapes and silver bling instead of no-nonsense white on black and simplicity.
Saab gets a close second for the C900 through original 9-5. With extra credit for Night Mode. That is something EVERY car should have. But they still aren’t quite as good as BMW and the later 9-5s and NG9-3s lost the plot a lot.
I end to think the art deco stuf from just before WW2 is the best, but honestly the GM mid 60’s Toronado roller speedo things were pretty unique.
When I attend car shows, I love the old style clusters and end up taking more pictures of them than the rest of the car!
Certainly not anything I’ve seen myself. There’s always something to pick apart or ponder.
For example: if it’s an automatic, does it need a tachometer? My Prius doesn’t have one, but my aftermarket head unit can display one. Yet, at the same time, I think, “if it’s not useful or usable, then don’t throw unnecessary information at the driver!”
Similarly, I hate gauges that secretly function as idiot lights. (I’m talking to you, E-series battery voltage “gauge”.)
I think I’ll say that I prefer digital speedometers for the sole reason that it would stink when (not if, because I am optimistic) the US switches to metric that we’d be left squinting to read the tiny inner kph numbers on the radial speedometers. Instead, just push the button that switches between the two and leave it there.
How important is (for example) an engine oil temperature gauge? Why not a light with 2 separate intensities/colors to represent “kinda out of design spec” and “there’s a problem you need to get sorted now“? This way, rather than a gauge you actively keep an eye on, it becomes a blank space that only has a light when there is a problem.
The idea is to reduce it to only what you need to know (speed, gear you’re in, warning lights, exterior light indicators, cruise control status, presumably blind spot statuses…) and present it in a way that’s simple and straightforward.
The instrument cluster doesn’t exist to be aesthetic; it exists to be useful. Aesthetics are nice but they cannot take away from the functionality whatsoever.
Let’s be realistic: the Americans will never switch to the metric system unless the guns are pointed at them.
The federal government made mistake of “suggesting” instead of “mandating” the switch to the metric system in the 1970s. The Americans didn’t exactly embrace the switch in stride.
When the law was passed to make the metric system mandatory for the highway system in the 1990s, many states cried, “who is gonna pay for the material and labour of replacing countless signage and moving mile markers?!?” The law was “ignored” due to the cost.
“The idea is to reduce it to only what you need to know (speed, gear you’re in, warning lights, exterior light indicators, cruise control status, presumably blind spot statuses…) and present it in a way that’s simple and straightforward.”
Aston Martin came up with the clever switch in its Lagonda (1974–1980, before the instrument cluster was redesigned). One touch, all of the digital readouts except for speedometer and fuel gauge were switched off.
“How important is (for example) an engine oil temperature gauge?”
VERY IMPORTANT! Especially during the colder temperature. Oil gets bit thicker when cold and takes a while to reach its viscocity that can reach every part of the engine where oil is needed. So, it’s wise to drive slowly and casually until the oil temperature reaches the optimal operating temperature. If you watch this YouTube channel, I Do Cars, you can see how important the oil is to the engine operation.
re: oil temperature, a simple light saying “below optimal temp” or something until it warms up feels like an idea?
Again, I don’t want to think about it unless there’s a problem.
That does leave an interesting conundrum though…I usually shift to drive a few seconds after turning the engine over, but I also haven’t had “performance” vehicles.
Hate the thought of being “forced” to idle even if I’m not doing a highway pull 2 seconds after ignition.
It just struck me a couple days ago that one of the things I like about my old rigs is the lack of lights and gauges. No CEL, you just have to listen. No buzzers or chimes, no tire sensors. On the other hand I also appreciate the simplicity and nostalgia of an added-on cheap little 2-1/8″ tach just for the fun of watching and hearing a big block slay tires.
I mean, there has to be hundreds of things that can go wrong that wouldn’t make a noise, wouldn’t there?
No CEL available is a terrifying concept to me…
Yes sir, I agree with you completely except for the ‘terrifying’ part. However wrong i may be, I figure the exhilaration of the driving experience and the trust I give the engine I put together outweighs my nervosity. The seat of my pants should tell me if it’s acting right and my ears should tell me if it has okay oil pressure and valve clearances, and where the paths converge again in the yellow wood should tell me what I need to do with the ignition timing.
Best looking gauges: Corvette C5, C6. Clear, classic, beautiful.
Runner up: Lexus IS, 2005-ish.
http://images.gtcarlot.com/pictures/47054247.jpg
Special mention – first gen Lexus GS (the el glo ones… aaah… early 2000s el glo gauge faces… paying for countless of Ebay sellers’ kids’ college).
MGTF with its centrally located octagonal gauges. It looks better in red, but you’ll get the idea:
https://youtu.be/gBRIuGKG_0U?si=zOoThvcaD_gH5VFI
What – no danger to manifold?
Re: the XT; if you tilted the column, the gauges moved with it. Swear to god. Played with one in a junkyard once. So cool.
But about the coolest interiors, man, 60s/early70s bmw interiors are just spectacular examples of bauhaus/architectural design translated to an interior space. Really surprised that there are not current car companies chasing this design language, it still looks so fresh
Same with our 2005 Nissan Murano SL. The cluster was sort of free-standing and mounted to the top of the column, rather than to the dashboard. The dashboard itself was a pretty flat, unintrusive expanse that you could see right over.
I always liked the early 80s European A1 VW cluster with the LED warning lights and 24 hour digital clock. This was an order of magnitude better than the US built Rabbit cluster.
I rather like the Bentley one, it makes no sense, the rev counter is huge, the speedometer is in front of the front passenger seat and the oil pressure is in tubes, and for reasons there are two voltmeters.
I always thought the Chrysler LHS gages were nice. Elegant and beautiful.
44292 (432×211) (AllPar pic of the gage cluster)
Good choices. Chrysler LeBaron GTS is on my list, though I like the C4 better.
1966 Dodge Charger. Hands down, no competition. Electroluminescent, directly descended form the Chrysler Turbine cars. Gorgeous. They exude a coolness typically reserved for fine chronometers. And I don’t even like watches.
How about the Tesla ModelS blank dash and everything meaningful on the center mounted touchpad-like tablet?
…
Hello, anyone??? Crickets…
JK. I cannot stand that nonsense either. Just trying to be funny and I really hope that this isn’t the future of my driving experiences in 15 years.
Saturn did it first, anyway.
https://media.ed.edmunds-media.com/saturn/ion/2003/oem/2003_saturn_ion_coupe_3_i_oem_1_500.jpg
I understand being annoyed at the Tesla implementation of a lot of things, but I (for one) love the centered-mounted cluster on my Prius.
I have three favorites: the “Astradome” instrument cluster on my grandparents’ 1961 Chrysler, the ribbon speedometer on my uncle’s 1960 Buick Invicta and, finally, the futuristic cluster on my 1974 Fiat X1/9, which I bought 50 years ago this week and still have.
You mean the cut-out gauges for the X1/9? Those were so cool, and I salute your long-term commitment to such a great car! As a kid, they represented actually obtainable Italian exotic fun to me. Knew a guy who had one in the ’80s and I always lusted after it.
Yeah, those are the ones. Sort of felt exotic at the time. They still bring a smile when I drive it.
I have some bias, but AP1 S2000 is very far up there. 80s Citroens at large are probably my favorite
Any car with a tachometer and a Jatco Xtronic CVT delivering power to the wheels. It’s a sight to behold, the needle rubber-banding its way to efficient, strong power delivery.
Honda has a bunch of awesome ones! The first-gen Insight, S2000, 4th gen Prelude
The 3rd gen Renault Espace is good too. Too bad we didn’t get it over here.
The Suzuki Aerio’s digital dash is awesome and got hate for no reason.
The Chevy Sonic’s digital cluster is cool too.
Gauges are one of my favorite parts of cars. Excited for the Honda Zero EV as it has gauges that can be changed to mimic historical Hondas!
My all-time favorites have to include the Honda S2000 cluster and the Lexus LFA, of course. Lexus started the whole ‘screens as gauges’ thing only to let their brand be leapfrogged.
Honorable mention: 2006 Honda Civic Si
What I’d love to know – anyone here have a 2023-24 Mustang & drive around with the last-stage Fox Body gauges chosen?
I have no choice on mine, but I’m curious if contemporary Mustang owners actually like it or think it’s just a silly retro gimmick.
I don’t know if fictional gauges count or not but K.I.T.T.’s dash still mesmerizes me 40 years later.
They should. I have no idea what IGNITORS actually meant but jeeze I want them.