Can we bully Ford into improving gauge cluster?

[Tricky Dick]

I hated ours until I rode in my brother in laws brand new F-150. The speedo can be seen from 50 feet away.... Ugh.

I pulled around a newer F150 to pass it the other day and it was the first time I've been able to clearly read the speedo of another car from inside mine.

Sponsored

 

[helifino16]

You never know - they might just add a third speedometer given their own direction. I can remember when they'd purposely omit stuff on the dash to eliminate distractions. With so much to look at, it's a wonder that anyone is watching the road.

All the more reason for 'Crash avoidance' and 'Lane assistance' systems. Still noting like averting your gaze to see what the hell THAT beeping is all about while trying to avoid some jackass trying to cut you off. lol

 

[C00TER]

Or at least allow us to change/customize it.

Firstly, the tachometer being a vertical bar is really annoying for those of us that drive manual. Every race/sports car has it as a horizontal bar or some type of horizontal gauge going from left to right as RPM's increase. Every typical stick shift car has it as of course an analog gauge. Either of those would be fantastic.

The fact there is TWO huge speedometers is such a waste of space. I've never looked at either of them.

The amount of useful information that we can have displayed is quite minimal mainly due to the fact that the speedometers take up like 60% of the panel.

Why do they allow certain parameters to be displayed as gauges and others not to be? For example we can see oil temp but not oil pressure which is perhaps much more important. And we can't see exact coolant temp? The old 80's Bronco's had that even. We are going backwards here... Can't see air/fuel ratio either? I am certain that the car has all this info so why is it keeping it from us?

They've already shown that they can make a dash screen that seems to be MASSIVELY better, with the new Ford Bronco Raptor digital gauge cluster. At the very least, that has a radial tachometer.

Maybe Ford could put out an update to at least have the GOAT modes affect the display more. So that when I switch to SPORT mode, I get more useful gauge info, a horizontal tachometer with shifting lights, etc. Like how the new GR86 does. All the Bronco does is just change some colors to red which is useless.

If you look through this forum it's pretty universally agreed that the gauge cluster needs a lot of improvement. And most agree it doesn't need a better chip, faster performance, or a bunch more features. It just needs a way better UI/UX that actually displays the info we want for the thing we are trying to do, and doesn't display the things that we don't care to see.

I wish the mechanical speedometer was a mechanical tack.
That’s the change I would make

 

[Jhuff]

The only items I pay attention to on the cluster are the digital speedo and the temps are on the right hand side.

I still don't get folks focusing on the tach when they drive a manual. I guess some of us learned to drive manuals by feel, so a tach is next to useless unless you are hovering near redline.

Sounds more like people that haven’t driven a manual complaining. My motorcycle doesn’t have one, not an issue. Only time I ever looked at it in the Escape is when I couldn’t remember going from 4th to 5th. That’s more an issue with Alzheimer’s than my dash.
I would have preferred a single round guage like in the first Gen. Or something a little more normal. This just seems odd but as my grandson says, grandpa, you are speeding, aren’t you looking at your speedometer? Nope!

Similar to the comments saying you can’t wheel using a manual. Clearly people that have never driven a manual when wheeling.

I like the digital screen personally.. but space could be utilized better if they got rid of the analog speedo. It's redundant.

The tach doesn't bother me. I have an auto, but I've always had manuals and my first was an old pickup that didn't even have a tach. I don't understand the need to focus on them so hard when the engine tells you what it wants. They probably just tried to be innovative but people don't do so well with change, lol.

I've driven manuals of every size for decades, some with and some without tachs. Some vehicles (loud commercial vehicles or most motorcycles) don't need tachs because you can hear and feel what's going on. Some you can't.

Driving by "feel" doesn't give you any clue at all how close you are to redline if there is wind noise, zero vibration from the drive train, or loud music. I can't count how many times I have forgotten to upshift after a maneuver on a busy highway, only to find myself still at max rpms a few minutes later... because my modern vehicle provided zero "feel". A Tach is definitely necessary.

During the few times the information is needed, I don't want to look down and have to search my screen for the little indicator.

 

[NC_Pinz]

I've driven manuals of every size for decades, some with and some without tachs. Some vehicles (loud commercial vehicles or most motorcycles) don't need tachs because you can hear and feel what's going on. Some you can't.

Driving by "feel" doesn't give you any clue at all how close you are to redline if there is wind noise, zero vibration from the drive train, or loud music. I can't count how many times I have forgotten to upshift after a maneuver on a busy highway, only to find myself still at max rpms a few minutes later... because my modern vehicle provided zero "feel". A Tach is definitely necessary.

During the few times the information is needed, I don't want to look down and have to search my screen for the little indicator.

We'll have to agree to disagree, or agree that some folks just need the extra aid. I've driven all kinds from quiet to loud and have never had an issue judging roughly where I'm at in the rev band. I find shifting as natural as breathing when in a vehicle I'm used to.

Like I said previously, if you are hovering near redline, I can see the use to prevent overrevving if you have an old school vehicle that won't protect you by cutting out the ignition or similar. Some folks obviously drive differently than myself.

 

[Silver-Bolt]

Don't worry, there is a refresh in the works.

 

[BigFootie]

We'll have to agree to disagree, or agree that some folks just need the extra aid. I've driven all kinds from quiet to loud and have never had an issue judging roughly where I'm at in the rev band. I find shifting as natural as breathing when in a vehicle I'm used to.

Like I said previously, if you are hovering near redline, I can see the use to prevent overrevving if you have an old school vehicle that won't protect you by cutting out the ignition or similar. Some folks obviously drive differently than myself.

I also don't find myself ever getting that near redline anymore. It was different when I was in my teens and we had a big old tach banded to our steering column because the cars then didn't have the smarts to prevent overreving and neither did we unless we had a tach.

 

[Lèòn]

Im behind this as long as we can also get MyColor!

 

[Silver-Bolt]

I also don't find myself ever getting that near redline anymore. It was different when I was in my teens and we had a big old tach banded to our steering column because the cars then didn't have the smarts to prevent overreving and neither did we unless we had a tach.

Shift when the valves started to float. lol

 

[Sparkherd]

Yeah, no old school analog-esque ROUND TACH?
Like every other tach in this solar system?!?
And, Oh Yeah, the Bronco is a UTILITY VEE-HICKLE...pretty good chance you will hop out of it...key in pocket, and walk around the front to open a gate...and HONK HONK!!!
Stoopid-assed Ford keeps hiring over-degreed injuneers outta Mumbai whose only vehicle experience is three-wheeled Cushmans.

Sponsored