Amusing Instrumentation

erhayes

Contributor
:
2022CX5 PP
I presently drive a Mazda CX7 turbo and am starting to consider exchanging it in the next model year. As I look through the offerings: CX5, CX7, Rogue, Subaru Forester, Hyundai Tucson and others, one thing I noticed about the instruments is they all have speedometer calibrated to 140 or 160 miles per hour. This is laughable in vehicles that will strain to reach 110 or in the case of my turbo CX7 maybe 120 (governor limited to 118, I've read). Is the manufactures trying to mislead us that we have powerful engines under hood instead of the pedestrian 150 to 175HP? Ed
 
I've never understood why they do that with most cars. It would be nicer to have a relevant top speed and spread out the speeds you actually go so it is easier to read. But some say they like the typical freeway speed to be top center
 
But some say they like the typical freeway speed to be top center

Exactly why I like it. Straight up is easy to see at a glance (80mph indicated) or 78 mph actual, my typical freeway cruising speed. All 3 of my cars have same speedo setup, so it's easy to switch cars and adjust.

IMO, good decision by Mazda on speedo layout, they did their homework.
 
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I've never understood why they do that with most cars. It would be nicer to have a relevant top speed and spread out the speeds you actually go so it is easier to read. But some say they like the typical freeway speed to be top center

Interesting question which just so happens to have been 'answered' for some situations in my latest car magazine. These is Audi's and VW's responses...

Audi: "It's all about production costs. By using one dial across most versions of the same car, we keep costs down" - for example the A3.

OK there is only one CX5 but this answer realy applies to various types of the same model.

VW: They agreed with Audi but added, "If you take your car to Europe, you can use unrestricted sectionsof autobahn, and the faster you go the bigger the margin of error. At 140 mph the margin of error may be as high as 14 mph. Our dials need to allow for that. VW use different speedos in some models to make them easier to read,too. If the rev counter and speedometer needle point in the same direction, and rise at the same rate in top gear, it's quicker to read at a glance."
 
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I also think, as mentioned, some kids are gullible and think if their parent's car says 140 mph, then it can go that fast.
 
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