Digital petrol guages
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Soldato
the gauge in my rover 75 was linked to the trip computer
so if you had a heavy foot it was showing if you carry on driving like this you will run out in so many mile and if you took it steady you could see the gauge going back up and you miles till empty on the computer going up also
so if you had a heavy foot it was showing if you carry on driving like this you will run out in so many mile and if you took it steady you could see the gauge going back up and you miles till empty on the computer going up also
Caporegime
No funny business in the A3, found it very reliable, it has a 50L tank and when the dial and trip computer are down to empty it takes 50L exactly. I'm hoping the total capacity is slightly more than 50L or I'm cutting it fine most weeks!
My Seat has a needle but I think it takes the reading from the Estimated miles left in the tank rather than the actual fuel level as it will drop a bit if i boot it for a couple of mins, then go back up if i drive more sedately again once the Estimate increases again.
Associate
I find this very frustrating. Surely the wisdom of mankind can extend to designing a fuel gauge that will measure the volume of fuel left in a tank accurately regardless of slope etc?
Soldato
Hi, I'm sorry but I'd rather have a display that accurately tells me how many miles of fuel is left according to the driving conditions. It is much more accurate than one that makes me have to guess, which is what you would have to do if it only shows the fuel remaining. The Mondeo method worked just fine for me..
Chris
Chris
Soldato
The Swift is fine never had a problem, My sisters Yaris I could actually rip the bloody thing out and go crazy with it. doesn't help she never puts any fuel in it, I always end up putting more in as it's always flashing telling me she has nothing in, I put £10 in and it jumps up to 4 bars or something ggrrr.
Most digital gauges are retarded and inherently crap when applied to a car dashboard. Fine for an odometer (in fact an analog one would be ridiculous) and stuff like fuel computers, but for any information that you need to get quickly standard analogue gauges are vastly superior.
Had a 1991 model Honda Prelude with digital dash and now have a 1986 model Toyota supra with digital dash, both worked/work fine, never had a problem.
The prelude was very good having 20 bars so usable to measure each 5%, obviously it wasn't perfect as the first bar lasted ~2 days but all the others were consistent and you knew when the fuel light came on the were 2 gallons left so you could easily work out how far you could go if careful.
The Supra has 10 bars and again the first one lasts a lifetime but the rest are consistent and when it gets to only a few left you can press a button to change the readout to show the bottom 15 litres in the tank which again helps you determine how far you can go if careful (or not).
By contrast I prefer this to the analogue gauge in my mothers Fabia as its much cooler but also once you've gotten used to it its more accurate.
The prelude was very good having 20 bars so usable to measure each 5%, obviously it wasn't perfect as the first bar lasted ~2 days but all the others were consistent and you knew when the fuel light came on the were 2 gallons left so you could easily work out how far you could go if careful.
The Supra has 10 bars and again the first one lasts a lifetime but the rest are consistent and when it gets to only a few left you can press a button to change the readout to show the bottom 15 litres in the tank which again helps you determine how far you can go if careful (or not).
By contrast I prefer this to the analogue gauge in my mothers Fabia as its much cooler but also once you've gotten used to it its more accurate.
I've got to disagree.
I find it annoying going back to an analogue set of dials after the digital readouts on the Soarers. The fuel gauge is slightly annoying for some of the reasons mentioned in this thread, but with a push of a button I can get a litre read out in digits so that isn't a worry.
Its the Speedo reading I like. Having a number displayed in your eye line is much easier and nicer to read than a set of dials.
Soldato
The S-Class can do that, you just flip to the screen with the miles remaining and it tells you in gallons how much fuel is in the tank. It isn't perfect but it is good enough. The actual fuel indicator only has 3 lit elements, one between full and half, one between half and what is unmarked but is presumably a quarter and then a teeeny line to R (less than half the length of the previous segments). Clearly designed to have you thinking about filling up when you get towards a quarter of a tank.
The MX-5 doesn't even have a warning light!
Soldato
Dunno about digital gauges but I put £44 of derv in my 07 Civic and brimmed it and the computer said I have a range of 511miles.. A week later the gauge has now dropped to the full mark and it reads I have 536 mile range.
Only car I’ve ever owned that the range goes up the more the fuel goes down !!
Only car I’ve ever owned that the range goes up the more the fuel goes down !!
Caporegime
Because your total range will be based on your current average MPG, this must have gone up from when you brimmed the tank.
Soldato
That is entirely down to the individual, and is often dependent on the person's age and/or what they grew up with.
I work much better with a digital display of a number for stuff like speed.
Then again, whenever I'm faced with an analogue clock, I have to mentally convert it's reading into digital format to know what the time is.
People who grew up with analogue clocks tend to do the opposite when faced with a digital clock, and thus such people would share your opinion.
And yes I have a digital speedo in my car, a little Defi HUD unit with a good old 7 segment VFD display. I love it.
Soldato
lol Thanks for that. I actually didn't realise it would calculate mpg to overall range.
Pretty stupid of me really but... there ya go.
I'm used to filling up my old car and thinking that's about 300 miles.
Soldato
The gauge in my mx5 is rather inaccurate in that on empty I have 10 litres left