Geeze without reading all the responses, I appreciate having a tach. I also have paid extra to have gauges when possible. I’m not into racing as if that was the only purpose of a tach back in the 60’s. I like knowing how fast the engine is turning on the interstate and it is a sure way to tell if you are developing a transmission problem. Plus, when I pull a trailer, I go into manual mode and watch the tach for shifting. And I really don’t think it costs a whole lot more to include it. The information is already being recorded in the engine management system. All they do is add a cheap display to show it.
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I was thinking I Was doing good on my 03 trailblazer that oil pressure gauge showed good results. It is not an actual gauge, just a computer guesstimate.
My 2012 Camry has a pretty useless dash, no temp gauge, no oil pressure gauge, no voltmeter (I actually preferred the old ammeter) and why don’t all cars come with an oil level gauge. I also think that you should have a red light in addition to the gauge.
My Camry has 3 different ways to tell me what my average fuel mileage is…how useless.
I don’t care very much about the presence or absence of a tach.
Speaking of Guneet, anyone remember Gunner way back. The kid that always wanted a Chevy something or other, Caprice I think. Said he was going away for a bit but never came back. Had kind of an issue with a military guy called Gunney I think was a just released Gunnery Sgt. or something and didn’t like the kid calling himself Gunner. Both are gone.
I got a good reason for a Tachometer depending you can let go off the throttle at a certain rpm to hear the exhaust backflow and snaps or depending on rpm range you are in you can give it some gas ro hear the burble and howl.
Vehicles manufactured during the last 30 years operate with a cooling system temperatures between 190 F and 230 F. In the late 1980’s, early 1990’s customers feared that there was trouble looming if the temperature gauge moved while stopped at a traffic light as the cooling system fan cycled on/off. Manufactures chose to dummy up the temperature gauge to solved that complaint, the gauge reads normal when in the normal operating range.
LOLOLOLOLOL (10 character rule)
Exactly!
Having more information available is always preferable to having less info available.
My Mustang has a tach and an automatic transmission. I do track days with the car. You’d think the tach might be useful for track use… frankly, I rarely even look at the thing anymore! 
I manually shift the car between 3rd and 4th at most tracks, sometime 2nd. The position on the track dictates where I shift, if I’ve been there before. The rev limiter protects me on the upside, the automatic is smart enough to prevent down shifting to early, soo… not much use anymore!
To @circuitsmith’s comment - configurable gauges are the way to go. I can do exactly that on my phone or a tablet app, mounted in the car, to read out anything that is on the OBD2 stream. And that includes cylinder head temps because that is what the ECU’s SOFTWARE uses to create coolant temp (much like @db4690’s comment about oil pressure!) There is no coolant temp sensor, no oil pressure sensor (just pressure switch for an idiot light) and no fuel pressure sensor.
But since tachs are electronic and rpm data is required to even run the car, so they are way cheaper than in the 60’s, why not put it in?
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We’ve all read and responded to stories people tell about oil lights going on, temperature warning lights, etc. In most of those stories they continued to drive, if anything going faster to get home quicker. Short of a system of warnings that ends with an automated dope slap there’s no gauge or light that seems to matter much except speed and fuel level. For the average buyer this question of a tach is as meaningless as the readout on any other gauge.
For those who like to watch the engine run, a tach is fun.
And what does that mean ?
Custom display ideas: default to just a big speedometer dial, smaller fuel gauge in a corner.
With GPS, speedo could change color based on local speed limit.
Green at or below the limit. Yellow +1 to +9 mph over. Red 10 or more over.
When 1/4 tank or lower the fuel gauge would get bigger, and maybe change color.
Set thresholds on other parameters like coolant temp, batt voltage etc. so a gauge will pop up if they start to deviate from norm.
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I have a couple of apps that will do exactly that. They are very configurable…too much for most people! A set list of dash overlays would satisfy most people. A downloadable customizable dash would be even better.
My truck now has an android based radio head unit that will run Torque Pro. I created a dash that gives me data that my truck’s rather comprehensive analog dash doesn’t. Like distance to empty and average fuel economy.
Plus I LIKE digital gauges for some things. Coolant temp, voltage, and speed to name 3. Allows min-max displays for things like short and long term fuel trim and A/F ratio.
+1
When you consider how many people are unable to understand the difference between a very straight-forward low oil pressure indicator light and a similarly clear low oil level light, the likelihood of the “average Joe” being able to configure their dash gauges is… slim.
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At any rate the carmakers could have a default dash that’s smarter than the typical speedo and equally big tach.
Why not both? We don’t need it, and most people don’t care, but it’s not hurting anything, so it’s not a big deal.
A number of years ago - 1989 to be exact - the GM division I worked for, sold Cadillac a 3 position adjustable shock and strut system. Soft, Touring and Sport shock stiffness. We had some automatic switching algorithms built in that would boost Soft to Touring and then to Sport based on various things the system could read as well as the driver select switch.
While other divisions wanted a 3 position switch (Opel), Cadillac refused and only used the automatic features because their cars were overwhelming the drivers with buttons and switches and knobs and levers.
Compare that to today… a BMW, Audi or Mercedes with seemingly endless configurations available from the display screen menus.
If so many drivers can’t configure their cell phones for hands free use in the car, what hope is there that those menus screens are ever even touched?
I suspect they aren’t marketing to the people who are actually buying them. That was Harley Davidson’s mistake, and it nearly killed the company as the Boomers aged out of bikes and the Xers and Millennials were more interested in sport bikes and bathing.
The people buying BMWs today are the people who grew up 20+ years ago wanting BMWs because of how they were marketed then. They aren’t buying the car because of what it is but because of what it has represented since they were kids.
That’s why my mom bought one when she decided to get a luxury car. She didn’t even really like it when she test drove it, but “BMW! Status!” And she hated it so much that she dumped it inside of 3 years in favor of the Acura that I told her to get in the first place, which also has a squillion configuration options that she’ll never touch, but at least it’s reliable and the seats don’t suck.
She’s mad at the Acura, though, because there’s no CD player. “I like CD’s.” Yeah, but the car’s not being marketed to you. It’s being marketed to the teens and 20 year olds who will one day have enough money to buy an Acura, and it wouldn’t do to get a stodgy old “this is the tech my parents used to use back when the world was new” image lodged in their heads about the brand.
The people who will want those 9-million configuration options are the high school / college students of today, who grew up with phones almost surgically attached to their hands.
They’re used to hyper-granular customization and they’re going to want that option in their cars (if they want cars at all).
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+1
Yup! I frequently see people in late luxury model cars who are holding a phone to their ear.
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You may not need a tach in your automatic car. But those who build your car may not want to design 2 different panels and manage 2 different inventories. My car does not have those PRND repeater lights; they are rendered by a LCD. The same dash is installed in the manual model
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