LA Auto Show: Ecodriving the Smart Fortwo

[SVOboy]

Well, calling it ecodriving is pushing the limit a little bit, but I did get to take the fortwo out for a serious spin around the block. I test drove the U.S. version of the car, and not any of the cooler, European options, so that certainly needs to be taken into account. On that [...] Related posts:

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[MetroMPG]

It would be nice if Daimler would offer a proper manual shift in this car. The characteristics of the automatic manual is probably the top complaint I read about.

The gauge cluster was well laid out, and the analog clock on the dash added a nice touch, though it might make reading the clock more time intensive than safe when on the road.

Eh? So the tach and speedometer should be digital numeric displays too, by that logic.

I'm under the impression that analog instrumentation (including a clock) is actually easier to process at a glance than numeric displays.

[SVOboy]

I think there's a difference just in terms of what you're used to seeing in cars, but I do tend to think it's easier to read all digital displays. Mehbe that's just me though.

[cfg83]

SVOboy -

Originally Posted by SVOboy

I think there's a difference just in terms of what you're used to seeing in cars, but I do tend to think it's easier to read all digital displays. Mehbe that's just me though.

Aesthetically I like old-school gauges. That said, once you go flat-screen display (as in the Ford Smart Gauge?) you can have "classic mode" with gauge clusters or new-school digital mode. It can have "skins" just like computer media players and such. Also, all the data that is being reported from the ECU/PCM to the Scangauge is just *waiting* to be displayed on the dashboard, *straight* from the ECU/PCM, no middle man.

CarloSW2