More Gauges, Debatable Usefulness - More Refined But Still Plenty Fun

Edmunds.com

More Gauges, Debatable Usefulness - More Refined But Still Plenty Fun

Our 2015 Ford Mustang GT has plenty of information available through its gauges. But it is debatable on how useful this information is.

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diondi

Brent, if you guys had gotten the Ecoboost model the vacuum gauge would've been a boost gauge. That sure would be useful, wouldn't it? ;-)

darthbimmer

I agree, a lot of these secondary gauges are more gimmicky than useful, and I say that as an enthusiast driver. Speed, tach, and fuel tank are the obvious gauges every car should have. I like to see gauges for engine water temp and oil pressure instead of simply having warning lights for when they go out of normal range; that helps me notice when a problem is developing well before the dreaded "Service Engine Now" type light comes on. But gauges like vacuum pressure and turbo boost seem irrelevant unless you're running a highly modified engine where you actually need to monitor these values because you can't trust the engine computers to do it properly themselves.

bankerdanny

My first thought at the main picture was the pointless vacuum gauge should be oil temp.

bankerdanny

My '87 Mustang LX 5.0 had the appropriate minimum gauge setup for a performance car in a nice layout right in front of the driver: Tach, Speedo, Oil Pressure, Engine Temp, Fuel Level, Volts. Everything you need to keep an eye on key engine parameters.

greg128

I think the more information the better. It is all informative. Any readout for oil temperature is a plus, and that display is looks great to me.

If this was an Audi the title of the post would have been: "Readily available and useful engine operation information at a glance or push of a button."

greg128

The editor says the readouts are "Gimmicky" I just read the new post for the long term Murano with a positively titled: "All the gauges you need" showing a video game looking icon of a car in the middle of the screen. I guess that is not gimmicky but the Mustang displays are.

I would suggest that the 2 post titles looked at side by side: "All the gauges you need" for the Murano vs. "More gauges. Doubtful usefulness" for the Mustang shows the anti-domestic brand bias ingrained in the people working for the Edmunds site. I would suggest attempting to disassociate the brand name from the vehicle being evaluated. For example why did it take so long to inform us readers that the BMW i3 has a lousy ride over a bumpy road?

reminder

Engine vacuum? How about the temperature in the trunk?

greg128

Engine vacuum was used in the past as a fuel economy gauge.

reminder

Yeah, if you're running a 5.0 Stang, MPG ain't on the radar.

s197gt

diondi said:

Brent, if you guys had gotten the Ecoboost model....

lot of people saying that lately...

did you guys try using the track apps during testing to see how accurate they were as compared to your hifalutin gps stuff?

adantium

A LOT of people thinking you should have gotten an Ecoboost. How about you treat yourselves to an Ecoboost Premium for the summer season? I'd be curious to how the cooled seats do in the hot summer heat. And see how the smaller engine does pulling the heavier convertible around and how it handles or how it doesn't. Is there cowl shake? Is it too windy with the roof down? is the roof cheap? is the engine underpowered? Is this the best car convertible for the money sold in Murica? How will it compare to the A3 or 1 or 3 series convertibles? Which one has more back seat room? Anyway just throwin it out there.

boff

I'm shaking my head at this post. About the only thing I agree with is that there should be numbers for the oil temp display (I use this display all the time, especially in winter, to monitor when the engine is warm enough for more throttle). Otherwise, how can more info be bad? It's not like they sacrificed something useful to build in these displays. And even if some displays aren't essential, they are at very least fun and engaging, which I think is the point of anything in an enthusiast car. The only real issue I have with the centre stack gauges is that they need to be canted towards the driver. As it is their at-a-glance legibility is compromised.

boff

I'm also a little tired of every Mustang post turning into a whine-fest about the Ecoboost, although I do agree with the suggestion of adantium, above.

socal_eric

With no temperature markings I wouldn't be surprised if it is like what did on the SVT Focus and some of there other models since then that have came with these sort of ancillary gauges. The Focus had an add-on oil temperature and pressure gauge but they were essentially worthless since they were calculated values based off other powertrain controller data. Instead of having an actual oil pressure and temperature sender it only had the normal go/no-go pressure switch and no temp sender, and instead used algorithms based off coolant temp, engine rpms, engine operating time, etc. to display numbers.

It could very well be possible the Mustang has a real oil pressure sender, but there's also a chance it doesn't. Not showing actual numbers on the oil "temp" gauge would have be very suspicious that at least that digital gauge is just a calculated estimate anyway. While I don't mind extra data and gauges in a performance model there is such a thing as data overload, which is worse if they're dummy gauges and don't read true (like most coolant gauges that immediately park in the mid-point and don't move to prevent normal, non-car savvy people from thinking something is wrong with their car just because it fluctuates).

socal_eric

BTW - pardon the spelling errors (darn phone no spell check).

agentorange

At least Ford give you gauges. Try finding even a temperature gauge on most Jaguars these days. My 2008 XKR doesn't have one, less than ideal when you live in the desert SW, IMHO.

barich1

The complaints about missing gauges are pretty irrelevant these days. My Mazda3 has a coolant temp light. It's blue if the engine is cold, off if normal, red if hot, and flashing red if "pull over and shut off the engine NOW." Modern coolant gauges don't provide any more accurate info than that, and they're less likely to be noticed when there's a problem (lights catch your eye more easily). Plus they're more expensive.

Accurate voltage gauges would be difficult on a modern car too. To save fuel, computers increase alternator output while coasting and decrease it while not. The computer knows if the commanded alternator output doesn't match the actual and will turn on a warning light. But if your gauge was fluctuating between 12-15 volts, how would you know when it's supposed to be where and if that actually indicates a problem? Which is why vehicles that still have voltage gauges pin them at "normal" just like their temperature gauges.

Same with oil pressure. The computer knows what it should be at any given RPM. 99.9% of the people driving don't. A fluctuating gauge doesn't provide useful information.

gslippy

I'm with barich1. Most drivers don't know what these gauges mean (they've never tuned an engine, or rebuilt one). Besides, on a computer-controlled engine with a factory warranty, what are you gonna do about any of the numbers anyway? A CEL will light if a parameter goes bad.

All those gauges in the Mustang are for mere entertainment. It's a modern car, not an airplane.