As many of you lovely readers know, cars are filling up with all sorts of screens left and right. Some cars fill their entire dashboards with screens while others just give you one giant screen with practically every single function on it. Back when putting screens in everything was becoming a big deal, I remember dreaming about how cool it would be to go all-out with customization like I do with my computer and phone.
Jason wrote about how Ford has sent an over-the-air update to all seventh-generation Mustangs so that their owners can now emulate the first-generation Mustang’s instrument cluster on their displays. I’m with My Goat Ate My Homework, here, it would be incredible if you could go nuts with cluster customization:
Anyone remember winamp skins? Why can’t manufacturers just open it up so people can load third party skins? I’d have so much fun with that.
Of course, I’m sure there are a million good reasons not to allow us silly car owners to do something like that. What if you upload some bad data?
We kicked off today with a 2025 Toyota Camry review from Alanis King. Shooting Brake points out something pretty amazing about Toyota:
Most car manufacturers, “there is no way we can meet these crazy high fuel economy numbers, it’ll make cars too expensive etc etc”. Toyota – “here’s the new Camry, it only comes as a hybrid getting 50 mpg and starts at just $30k.”
To be fair, Ford’s also done an excellent job with the Maverick hybrid. Conversely, the Tundra hybrid gets worse fuel economy while towing than a gas V8, so Toyota doesn’t always hit it out of the park. Still, when Toyota does a hybrid well, you get something pretty great.
Finally, we land on Autopian Asks from Thomas. He asked “how are you making yourself a better driver?” The answers from Urban Runabout and 10001010 hit close to home:
Urban Runabout
I’m playing more mellow music, which puts me in the mindset of enjoying the drive and taking things easier.
This does not mean I’m not doing 80+ on the freeways anymore.
It means I’m not following as closely & not weaving between traffic. If some idiot in an Altima wants to go faster than me – I now care somewhat less and have no issue w/ pulling out of the fast lane as long as it’s safe to do so.10001010
My wife recommended this to me years ago back when we would burn CDs for each other. She made me a disk with the likes of Hermans Hermits and early Beatles and such. I made my own disk with much, much more aggressive tracks and labeled it “GET THE F&%K OUT OF MY WAY!!!”
She says I missed the point of the exercise ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I admit, once some Carpenter Brut or Bonnie Tyler comes on, it’s game over. So, I listen to calmer tunes when I’m not seeking to get a speeding ticket.
Have a great evening, everyone!
It would be nice to have functional customized dash screens. I DO want to see my oil pressure and temp and my water temp, not just a warning light. I assume all this info is available in order to flash the warning light. So, let me see the numbers, dammit!
I like the idea of having dash displays customizable. Like one for day and a different one for night. also white on black or black on white text and big font for the olds.
Manufacturers making customizable dashboards should implement a ‘shuffle’ feature too. Today, you start up your car and get the original Mustang dash. Cool! Tomorrow, you get some bizarre Citroën CX creation (don’t worry, there’s a ‘skip’ option too).
Even simple light/dark mode switching like phones do would be so easy.
I wanna say that there was at least one one manufacturer who did something like this with physical guages. The guages were white-faced with the numbers cutout so they appear dart in daylight. When the headlights are turned on, the guages were backlit such that the faces appear dark and the numbers were lit up. I believe the needles were fiber-optic orange. Something like this aftermarket dash.
I’m 61, but my son got me onto the Fallout games and then I discovered the various playlists on spotify (and probably elsewhere). They seem to make me a smoother driver, and in the modified Holden V8, help keep the fuel costs affordable !
Now Playing – “My Chryslis Highwayman”
In 2017 or so…ad infinum
Can I have a Smith’s chronometric tach?
Please?
I used to have two tapes in my car. The Fugs, and Brian Eno’s Another Green World.
Pretty much covered all scenarios.
I agree. There’s a reason I chose this name. I think the history and operation of chronometric tachometers would be a great Autopian article accompanied by a video of one in operation. There’s a few good features on the Internet.
Is there a thorough explanation of how they work online? I’ve seen them in use but can’t quite figure out what’s going on inside. I mean I understand the net result, but the actual gears are a mystery.
My uncle built a rally calculator out of the ball integrator from a Nordon bomb sight and said it was a similar problem, except he was solving the difference between the clock and the road wheels.
https://youtu.be/l1g4S2oxZzQ?si=rA0jt5eOTsD5FQxu
In case anyone is wondering what sort of “aggressive” tracks I had on my disk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff_M8kcVRek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxcJW6bs5os
BRUH Carpenter Brut is my “I am Motorcycle God incarnate” jam. I still try not to follow too closely – I’d like to be the only idiot involved in my idiocy – but if I need to clear some miles quickly, this is the way. I also highly recommend the Hotline Miami and Hotline Miami 2, especially 2, as mostly pretty chill music, but Divide by Magna will instantly turn you into John/Joan Wick:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JflsBihO_MQ