I have both an Ion Quad Coupe as well as a Mini Cooper and both have center gauges (mini has tach on steering wheel) and I like them both.

I agree that Saturn should have just given the Ion traditional gauges and that alone would have save them alot (not all) of biased negative press since most of these same mags never bagged on Scion, Toyota, Bmw Z8, Plymouth Prowler, Mini and etc for having almost the same thing.

Pic of my modded Mini Cooper dash- http://www.mini2.com/gallery/personal/picture52165.html

 

Thanks for the "cluster" clarification. I personally would not buy any vehicle with a center cluster.. That would annoy the hell out of me...

 

No sweat, man. Johnsocal, that dash looks pretty cool. I dig the diamond plate floor mats, too, though they wouldn't do much good in a Michigan winter (snow) or the rest of the year (rain). LOL.

I forgot to mention the Prowler having the gauges in the middle, too.

 

I like the Mini Cooper dash because it has the tach where its supposed to be, and there is a little digital speedo in the middle of the tach. So there is no real need to even look at the big speedo in the middle.

I don't know about the middle gauge thing because I've never driven a car with one for a long period of time to get used to it. I do know that I hate Toyota's center gauges because they are all to small and hard to see.

 

Thanks

Having the speedo in the center is no big deal (I really like the center speedo on the Mini) but Saturn should have put the tach next to the steering wheel from the beginning and hopefully the new tach thats on the Ion Competition package will become standard on all manual Ions.

 

Scions designs more likely than not finalized by the time the Ion hit the market

A word on the Cobalt . The LSD isnt avail. as a lone option from all I can tell with the available info . It is only included if you get the competition pkg. which also has the recaro's . Cobalt wouldnt get any additional guages as the tach is in front of the driver and the boost guage is already factory mounted on the a-pillar pod in every Cobalt SS . The Ions tach/boost on the column was probably a result of complaints of owners who autoX or roadrace their redline . Ive heard alot of griping about having to look over at the tach when eyes should be directly ahead .

 

Both the Scion xa and xb are older Toyota's that were sold in Japan long before they were brought to the US and the tc coupe is the only real all-new model that Scion is selling.

 

My question is this: why isn't all that stuff standard?

On a side note, I hate ANY car with a center dash. Terrible idea.

 

"Competition package" and there aren't any real performance parts other than the LSD? Kind of lame. CAI, exhaust, blower pulley, more sport/race-oriented suspension pieces, etc.... should be part of a real "competition package"...not simple tachs, etc.... Give us things that increase performance.

I hope to see real performance and competition parts/packages from GM in the near future.