except showing everyone how badly ur speeding are there any advantages, i would think theyre worse bc u have to move ur eyes out of a direct line of sight to the center of the car (instead of straight ahead).

 

you are correct.they are stupid.

 

Advantage?? There is none.

 

Center mounted guages serve one purpose...to make the car more annoying to drive. I wonder who came up with such a dim-witted idea.

 

prob makes it easier to build both LHD and RHD versions ...

 

I doubt even that. From what I remember, some are still slightly angled towards the driver.

The advantage? Novelty.

 

The reason I heard from GM is "unobstructed line of site" ...





[DR. EVIL] Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight... [/DR. EVIL]

 

Also something about being able to make the steering wheel smaler and placing it in a better position. That makes sense, but that's never really been a problem....Not worth the trade off IMO.

I believe they just wanted the car to stand out more. Saturn is viewed as fairly traditional...

Watch the next year or so...you may see the gauges back in a more traditional position again.

 

It also allows them to lower the dash height to do this. Anyone who ever owned or drove a first gen Camaro knows what its like with an "obstructed view".

FWIW, the way most of us probably drive, who needs a speedometer in their face anyway?

 

I guess they figure that turning your head every so often to look at the guages is an OK trade-offs then?!

I know it's a tiny fraction of time.. but people spend enough time driving with their eys not on the road as it is...

 

Good point.... maybe then pillar mounted gauges should become the norm?

 

Actually... I expect Head's Up Displays to become more commonplace as time goes by...

At least on non-econo cars...

 

Yup...HUD's where it's at!

Of course....you could bring up the new MINI....It has a center mounted Seedo doesn't it? People go wild over that car....

 

Yeah, but the important gauge (the tach) is right where it's supposed to be, centered behind the steering wheel.

-Trev

 

This is a trend that I definitely hope doesn't continue. I like the gauges in front of me just fine thanks.

-Mike