I was reading an article on the Scion xA (the non-godawful one) and it sounded like a decent car. Then I saw a photo of the interior, and it has one of those newfangled instrument panels where the speedometer and other gauges are in the middle of the dash and there is nothing directly in front of the driver. This turned me off immediately – but I hate all new things at first so I figured I’d ask here about it.
Does anyone have this in their car? Do you actually get used to it? Is it better in some way than the traditional setup?
The ex and I bought a new Toyota Echo in 2001, which had a centered display. I adapted to it quite well, actually - instead of having to do a weird little head-dance to get the steering wheel out of the way so I could see whatever it was I needed to on the dashboard, all I had to do was glance sideways quickly and then get my attention back on the road. It’s the same principle as using the passenger-side rear view mirror, and it works quite well, IMO.
I recently bought a new car. During my shopping, I test-drove a Saturn Ion coupe. This has the “center” instrument panel. It really freaked me out during the test drive, and eventually that was one of the reasons I didn’t buy the car. (The other being the Saturn dealership’s habit of using “no haggle pricing”.)
In case you’re curious, I ended up getting a Honda Civic coupe.
We just bought a Scion xB last night (same center instrument panel as the xA). I agree it’s ugly, but it was the most affordable and practical vehicle we found on the market…anyway, about the control panel: it’s different, but not so much that it distracts, ya know? We’ll get used to it. I read the reasoning behind the center controls is to avoid having to totally re-design the dash for the American model (it’s been sold to our left-hand driving friends overseas for several years).
Slate has quite an ode to the xB up here. I can understand that it is a very practical car despite its looks. I wonder if you get used to the look? I thought the Honda Element looked like crap when it came out and I’m stunned to find that it looks just fine in the article’s picture, next to the xB.
You get used to it very quickly. Every time I have to drive my Mom around in her saturn, it takes a few minutes to remember where all the gauges are. Then it becomes routine, and I don’t notice it anymore. As was mentioned previously, it is kinda nice that you don’t have to peer around the steering wheel to read the board. YMMV.
Maybe it’s just what I’m accustomed to, but center placement just seems wrong. It looks like such a bad design choice. I’ve not driven such a car myself, but it seems to me that such placement of the car’s vitals would cause the driver to look away from the road for a longer period of time than the standard straight-ahead placement would.
Yep.
Mini Coopers that don’t have the Nav system have the center mounted instruments.
I’ve always thought the center instruments were a sign of one less thing the car company has to flip for the Japanese/British versus most everyone else markets.
Are these cars available with heads up display? Because I can imagine getting used to having instruments that you don’t look at much in the center of the dash, but not if I didn’t have my HUD. Until I got my new Grand Prix with the HUD I didn’t realize how long it does take you to look down at the instruments - I can’t imagine looking down and over at them now. It seems inordinately dangerous, when we’ve been moving towards having the driver reach and look for less. (Try changing the radio station on a classic Mustang while you’re driving it, if you’re used to the controls being on the steering wheel!)
It strikes me as the triumph of cost over form. The big advantage of a center instrument panel has nothing to do with driving - pretty much everyone agrees that it sucks. There’s no excuse for making a driver look way over to his right to see critical information that he should be scanning many times a minute.
So why do it? My thinking is because then they can make the same instrument panel for left hand drive cars as right-hand drive, and save a bunch of money on manufacturing and inventory costs.
The couple of times I drove the Mini, I was freaked out by the center dash. The regular driver of the car has gotten used to it, but then again, he speeds like a mutherfucker normally…(or at least it seems like that, that’s one of those cars where you always feel like you’re going half-again as fast as you are).
I agree that it’s slightly underhanded and potentially unsafe to put it all the way over there.
Someone mentioned the HUD. Are there any cars that use it? Would glare screw it up?
I own a 02 Prius with a centered display. I like it better than a normal through the wheel display. First off, you don’t have to look as far away from the road than a normal display. It is sitting right there in your preiphiral vision. A quick glance over will be all that is needed.
Like what? I would think that if you are driving a stick, the RPMs are more important, generally speaking. If you mean the speed, I don’t need to check that every couple of minutes. I generally know how fast I am going.
The mini has the RPM gauge and the REALLY important warning lamps directly in front of the driver. The speedometer and other warning lamps are in the center in a nice, BIG easy to read display. I really don’t think it’s that much different to glance down to the right as opposed to glancing just down.
We have an Echo with a centered display. Yeah, I freaked a bit, but you know, I got used to it quickly.
One area it might be superior - at night, looking ahead on the road, I can see what’s out there much better. Now, when I’m driving the pickup with it’s standard set up I’m all too aware of the panel lights throwing glare on to the windshield that reduces the sharpness of what I’m seeing outside.
I don’t think your eyes are moving any farther to read the center display than to read the standard one. You’re just not used to the direction. Maybe during your initial week or so while you’re getting used to it there might be issues, but you adapt quickly. I switch back and forth now without a thought about ti.
Regarding the wheel getting in the way… that never happens to me in my car. I wonder if it’s dependent on your height, or just on the design of the wheel and the gauges.
If the wheel gets in your way, you probably have it at the wrong height/tilt anyway. I can’t imagine how a properly set wheel would get in the way of the dials, unless the wheel is unusually small so you can’t see through it or has some unusual design that puts bars in the top half of it or something.
I have an Echo, and I find I quite like the centered panel. It didn’t take long at all to get used to it. In other cars, the steering wheel always blocked part of the panel (this might be because I’m quite short), and now I have a clear view. Also, my center panel is up higher than a driver’s side panel, so I can look at it without having to look down quite so far. It only took me a few days to get used to it, and now it seems totally normal. If you like the car otherwise, don’t let the panel put you off if you think you can learn to like it.
Well if you’re talking about the new BMW MINI, I think its to ape the original Mini. I can’t remember the last time I saw inside a Mini cockpit but its quite cramped and the speedo was too big to fit behind the sterring wheel. Small European cars from the 1950s/1960s had messy dashes because of the size of the car.
And in modern cars? I prefer the instruments to be ahead of me, not to one side. I only need the speedo, rev counter and fuel guage, all of which I can see quite well through the steering wheel on my Mum’s car.