Digital vs analogue cockpits... help or hindrance?

Richdog

Richdog

Richdog

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I have seen a lot of cars lately with the full digital cockpits /active info displays and having seen them I am extremely torn about whether I think they are a feature worth having or not. One the one hand, they provide everything from customisable speed and trip information to full map views within your forward peripheral vision, one the other hand... they are also a distraction not only for your attention but also seem to glare somewhat when night driving.

Additionally, I have worries about if the electronics or power fail... you then literally cannot see anything. What are the chance of that vs experiencing a failure with an "old skool" analogue. The best I have seen seems to be a hybrid solution with analogue dials with a digital screen in the middle.

So if you please I am interested to get some other opinions. What are your thoughts on digital cockpits... essential driving tool, distracting gimmick, or something inbetween? :)
 
Nasher said:
OFC it's all something to break later on and be expensive to fix :p
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Yeah I also kind of get this feeling... I was previously considering it as an essential modern extra that would really help long-term utility of a car, but the more I have seen of it the more I think I can live without it and that it may be a pain in future if it goes wrong.
 
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We had tech in the 80's you know!
 
Housey - Austin Maestro, shirley?

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Not just digital, but talking as well. Though of course Renault beat them to the electronic dash punch with the 11 TXE Electronique, by a whole week...

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But the Renault never had the comedy value of Nicolette Mackenzie's voice announcing 'Warning Low Fuel' right after the car ground to a halt :p
 
Clusters have been electronically fed even with digital gauges for a long long time.

The speedo pickup on my 20 year old MX5 is a digital speed sensor
 
I drove a Maestro Van around Silverstone in the mid 80's when it still had the old layout bar the left right under the daily express bridge. Lived me.
 
Housey said:
I drove a Maestro Van around Silverstone in the mid 80's when it still had the old layout bar the left right under the daily express bridge. Lived me.
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Silverstone had a few great layouts over the years. That was one of them. The current one never will be.

re: the Maestro - BL had Lucas (the Prince Of Darkness™) and Smiths produce the digital dash. Is it any wonder that it caused trouble? They'd have almost been better off having the Italians (Magneti Marelli) do it - if you're going to fit something that's broken from Day One, at least have it be cheap and broken rather than expensive and broken :p
 
Housey said:
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We had tech in the 80's you know!
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That little knob is such a good idea. The up button next to the cruise control changes my digital speedo from KPH<>MPH, just a little annoying when you're supposed to be doing 50km/h down the residential street rather than 50mph...
 
Guys while some of those old displays are very cool looking and I didn't even know they previously existed, can we focus our thoughts on the modern, higher tech ones please? I'd really like to hear opinions in them from people who do and don't own them. :)
 
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I like what this adds to an interior ambience/experience. Dials can be analogue form as shown.

Another one I’m fond of is the CRZ - which is a hybrid dash too

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I prefer a digital speedo anything else I'm not fussed about, possibly due to riding a bike much more than driving a car and getting used to just having my speed,my tach and a clock to look at.
 
Looks nice and all on the Land Rover, but it's all non-standard fittings and expensive. Inevitably it's all going to go wrong at some point (because Land Rover) and be extortionate to fix.
 
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