The floormat could have a small "eye" at the rear and a hook under the seat that it fits on. That should be easy and cheap.

Personally, I think they should have all sorts of cool gadgets, but I think they should also make it easy and cheap to get a stripper model for those who want performance with as little cost as possible. I also wish car companies could make it where you could choose individual options instead of having to get an entire "package". I doubt we'll be choosing our rear gear ratios for our brand new F-bodies any time soon, though.

 

-Cowl hood (Z28)
-Racing stripes on Z28
-Heated seats
-Hidden trunk key thing behind license plate
-Split rear seats
-Dual exhaust
-Chrome angle cut tips
-Nice emblems, maybe like the Z06 emblems
-Multiple interior designs and color choices
-GFX (no body intergration)
-Fender to door stripes on SS
-Louvered hood (maybe on SS)
-Hidden windshield wipers
-Radio antenna in fender rather than quarter panel
-Nice rims
-Fender flares
-Memory seats and mirrors
-3 spoked steering wheel (like Solstice concept or even the production car)
-Digital vehicle display
-Distinct looks for each model (especially if there is no Firebird)
-Model emblems in interior

 

well, i think the main reason they do like they do is to just cut down manufacturing costs (duh)
just like power windows and locks are coming standard on everything just because it is a way to raise prices and it is less money to develop a power window and lock rather than do both power and manual
me personally, i really only want hud bad
the heated leather seats and steering wheels are a good idea (considering it's a little cold here right now )

on a side note, isn't it hard to read a digital speedo?
like if you go 0-60 in like 4-5 seconds, don't the numbers spin too fast to even read what you're doing? (don't know, i've never driven a digitally equipped speedo car, just wondering)

 

AHHH!!!! No one is understanding me! Like I said a "digital analog gauge" Picture an LCD in your dashboard that turns on and displays an analog gauge. With the car turned on, it would appear to be an analog gauge, but its really a computer generated gauge that displays digital information anallagolly(sp lol). With the car turned off, it would look like a blank dashboard.

I think this would be cool because:
-It can be faster, and far more accurate.
-It would also glow, just like your computer screen does, so it would be really easy to see and read.
-you would be able to pack a lot more necessary information into a small space.

 

better headlights and (please dont flame) better cup holders. having an interior thats better than the gto would be nice, I recently have imagened the next gen f body to be the result if the c6 corvette and gto where to make sweet sweet love and have a child.

 

So long as these gadgets are optional, I don't really mind!

Just give me the usual power windows, power seats and remote keyless entry, power steering, a decent stereo with in dash CD (trunbk mounted changers suck) and AC. I.e. just the basic power package group. Oh and make mine a hard-top please .

I don't need a HUD or OnStar and I *don't* want doors that lack a real mechanical opener and handles (like, say the C6).

I'd rather see options for bigger brakes, better handling and more power , before options for gadgets. But hey, a man can dream...

Also other people said better headlights, interior quality etc. I agree, but I think should come with the new 5th gen package anyway and so they don't fall into the realm of gadgets as such.

 

i see what you're saying now (lightbulb clicks on)
not a bad idea, but what if something goes wrong with it, you're royally screwed while with standard gauges you only lose 1 and you can still actually see it
just a thought

but back to my other question, is it hard to read? i'm just curious because i know some 80's cars had a digital one

 

It would be expensive.. or they'll have to make it so it fits in all sorts of dashes and spread the cost off on other models.

So you want, say a lcd screen where you can draw your analog gauges.. Thats not a bad idea, but then you have to worry about refresh rates of lcd (cheaper ones have that ghosting problem), glare, and sunlight washout. I bet they con solve 95% of those problems... but in the end, you have an lcd screen, that simulates analog gauges.... why not just have anaolg gauges then? heh


I can see if its done right, it coul dbe awesome.. especially if you configure the looks and settings yourself.. but I have a feeling it would be alot more expensive.. I rather have them install a set of fast and accurate analog guages, and spend the extra hundreds on say, improving materials used thruout the cabin.

 

You have any examples? Ive seen cars that have just a digital readout, and yes that can get hard to read, but im not sure what your saying. I think an LCDish type thing in the dashboard would be easy to read.

I know... the key thing about something like is that it would be have to be optional. It would be great for someone who wants a good tach, and it would also have other stuff like a shift light. Not everyone could afford this, and not everyone would want it.

Because they would be faster, more accurate, and precise. Like for the tach... I was thinking INSIDE of the analog tach, put a 4 digit digital readout, for people who dyno and want to know the exact rpm they make their peak power at. It doesnt need to be an LCD screen, but come to think of it, thats probably the only way its possible. Also you could have seperate LCDs for each gauge. They/it wouldnt have to be anything special to keep the price down. About the refresh rates. most lcds work fairly well at 60Hz. Thats a perfect number to refresh the data to. The gauges would be extremely accurate if they refreshed the cars data 60 times a second (although im dreaming there, thats really fast). 10 times a second would be a good number.

If you would rather have analog gauges and some cash, then you are a perfect example as why it should be optional. But yea imagine that, you could have 10 different gauge faces saved in your car, and you wouldnt have to pay for new ones, or go through the work of changing it.

 

Hmm can it go the other way?

I've got no need for heated seats...but cooled seats/steering wheel now that would be great on a summers day.

 

I like the idea of a customiazable shift light.
also maybe an lcd screen between tach and speedo or something like this or maybe this that you can have various settings to read out various things (performance, gas + engine temps, outside temp+time, etc.).
Also headlights that change angles when you turn would be a nice idea.

 

I'm not trying to make fun of you.

It's just that we sometimes make a sacred cow out of safety. There is always risk in anything we do.

We can make a car ultimately safer by limiting ingress & egress, cutting the passenger compartment width by several inches to maximize side impact crush zones, extending bumpers out several more inches & packing them with energy absorbing foam, forcing passengers to wear helmets and five-point safety harnesses, outlawing any objects from being in a driver's hand except a steering wheel, pulling driver's licenses for all moving violations, and forcing all licensed drivers to take a refresher driver's course and evaluated proficiency test every other year.

It'll happen some day, you will see. 800 people a WEEK get killed in the USA in car crashes. Eventually the safetycrats will determine that the general motorist is too risky and has no business piloting a dangerous ball of rolling momentum. They will contend that we can get around just fine via public transportation which is piloted by QUALIFIED personnel. It's the same mindset that assumes guns are only safe when in the hands of a sworn law enforcement officer. They believe that everyone else are just itching to accidently shoot someone.

I'm all for technological safety improvements, but in the end, we must balance safety with performance, convenience and cost. My Chevy Venture has the side airbags, and I'm glad to see them there. It's just that I'm hoping the 5th-gen design will lean more towards the performance side of the equation, and not sacrifice performance by adding hundreds of pounds worth of auxilliary safety equipment.

I must apologise if my message was too flippant, I didn't intend it to read like I was making fun of you.

 

This is my concept, to the best I could edit it in 5 minutes: link

The one last thing I would change about it would be more contrasting colors. blue and black dont stand out against each other that great. Notice I added in the digital readouts, the shift light, and gear indicator.

 

I see, but besides looks, its going to be useless when your actually driving..

LCD's have this ghosting effect, because they can't 100% turn pixels on and off fast enough.. If anyone has ever played a vid game on an older lap top screen, they know what I'm talking about.. the new ones are getting better.

But lets say you can get 60 hz of perfect refresh.. When your really driving with spirit, you are usually in the process of acceling and decelling down constantly. Your RPM's will be measured with a 4 digit number.. like 3450. The first two least sig digits will be a unreadable blur, because they will be changing so fast. you mgiht be able sorta make out the hundreds column, perhaps in slow accel or in high gears, but if you think about it, at least for the first 3 gears, that number iwll be changing probably fast enough to blur thru ur eyes... which leaves you basically with a the final thousands digit.. then on top of that, you have to read the number in a glance. This is why there is some delay in refresh's of numbers.. else they just blur by. 10 times a second, may still be pushing it..


I do agree, being able to "skin" your dash would be pretty neat though. But in a perfmance car, I'd have to sit down see that its just as easy or easier to read in different lighting conditions and such.. I'd bet its physically easier for the human eye to read paint than glowing lcd's though.

 

Sorry about that, I guess yesterday was a bad day. I am also mad cause I've brought this up before. Give me a car that can pull over .90g with a v8 that puts over 315hp to the rear wheels and a nice 6 speed, a radio and air bags/side air bags and I will be in heaven. I don't want power anything, I dont want dsc and I want my feet and hands to be the only one controlling my car. (although I don't mine abs, even if I've never owned a car yet with it. Thats what I want. I hope they make a cheap base v8.