With the popularization of LCD screens for everything from breadmakers to shopping carts, it’s no wonder that auto manufacturers are adopting the screens as an innovative means of linking man with machine.
Rather than debate the efficacy of this trend, I want to raise the alarm over the loss of analogue gauges to screen-mania. Ford, with its MyFord Touch interface technology, may be leading the way in this adverse trend.
Yes, more information can be accessed through a screen with layered programs, but the content is often the answer to the question no one asked. What we should be asking is: What’s my coolant temperature and is it on the rise? What’s my oil pressure and is it dropping? And these important questions should be answered the old fashion way with a set of clear, easy-to-read analogue gauges.
The presence of gauges isn’t mutually exclusive to the screen. Check out the photos. The MyFord Touch gauge cluster consists of a large speedometer – and that’s good – but it’s surrounded by two LCD screens, one of which depicts a tachometer and one that mimics a fuel gauge. There’s no coolant temperature readout or oil pressure indicators readily visible.
The other picture is the gauge cluster that Porsche designed for the Cayenne Hybrid. You’ll note the full set of analogue gauges plus an LCD screen positioned next to the analogue tachometer. The screen enables the driver to scroll through the multitude of readouts typical these days in heavily computerized vehicles.
Porsche has the balance of gauges to screen right. I drove the Cayenne from Anchorage, Alaska, to Vancouver, BC during the winter and found its gauge cluster to be among the best as well as most informative I’ve ever experienced in an SUV.
Rather than debate the efficacy of this trend, I want to raise the alarm over the loss of analogue gauges to screen-mania. Ford, with its MyFord Touch interface technology, may be leading the way in this adverse trend.
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| 2011 Ford Edge (Photo: Matthieu Lambert/Auto123.com) |
Yes, more information can be accessed through a screen with layered programs, but the content is often the answer to the question no one asked. What we should be asking is: What’s my coolant temperature and is it on the rise? What’s my oil pressure and is it dropping? And these important questions should be answered the old fashion way with a set of clear, easy-to-read analogue gauges.
The presence of gauges isn’t mutually exclusive to the screen. Check out the photos. The MyFord Touch gauge cluster consists of a large speedometer – and that’s good – but it’s surrounded by two LCD screens, one of which depicts a tachometer and one that mimics a fuel gauge. There’s no coolant temperature readout or oil pressure indicators readily visible.
The other picture is the gauge cluster that Porsche designed for the Cayenne Hybrid. You’ll note the full set of analogue gauges plus an LCD screen positioned next to the analogue tachometer. The screen enables the driver to scroll through the multitude of readouts typical these days in heavily computerized vehicles.
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| 2011 Porsche Cayenne S Hybride (Photo: Rob Rothwell/Auto123.com) |
Porsche has the balance of gauges to screen right. I drove the Cayenne from Anchorage, Alaska, to Vancouver, BC during the winter and found its gauge cluster to be among the best as well as most informative I’ve ever experienced in an SUV.