XtremeVette

C7 Jay Leno's impression and he caught the same thing I did on the gauge cluster. GM designer Ed Welburn did not or he didn't fully understand Jay...GM missed the mark as far as the gauges go. They should of had ALL the gauges be a monitor setup with no analog ones. In addition they should of allowed the gauge setup be able to be customized by the driver allowing the speedometer, tach, and all vitals (oil, coolant, battery, fuel, etc) to be able to be moved to where ever the driver wants to place them! Imagine being able to simple touch the screen and drag a gauge face like an icon to wherever you want it to go! Don't want a particular one...drag it off the screen and poof gone. How about options as far as analog display picture with a digital under it, digital only or analog only?!!! Would be sweet and not hard to design at all. How about keep the settings for one setup as preset 1 and allow the user multiple presets. Imagine one for racing, one for driving, and another for auto x. NICEEEEE........Anyways pay particular attention at the 8:25 mark on the video. Jay picked up on it and it was downplayed pretty quick. Currently the C7 only allows you to change the tach in the middle with customizable options. That's it. You can have a few different tachs. Ahhhhhh boooooooo hiss....Come on GM, what would of it cost to make 1 big monitor and 2 slightly smaller monitors for where the analog gauges are right now. Take note GM or aftermarket companies. New C7 full monitor(s) base gauge setup would be awesome!!!

RocketGuy3

Errr... Jay didn't make any sort of negative comment on it, he just misunderstood how it worked for a split second.

Anyways, I agree with you that all those features would be nice, but they are hardly worth making such a fuss about -- they're just not that big of a deal. Plus, they would add developmental cost and UE complexity. Who knows, though, maybe they'll implement something like that by the 2nd or 3rd model year.

XtremeVette

Well yes and no...the middle gauge has already incorporated the developmental cost and UE complexity. I don't think it would be that hard or far off to take it just a little bit further. Only cost would be would be the 2 additional monitors. I dunno....I agree with you..hopefully 2nd or 3rd model year would be nice.

UPDATE: Special thanks to "BlueOx". After really looking hard I have noticed that one screen offered for the center screen does indeed have a MPH and Tach incorporated together! So GM is even closer then I thought...oh sooooooooo close. The technology is there...just needs to be tweaked a little more. One big monitor I think would be the way to go for the ultimate setup. Currently it is a bit wishy washy...I mean who needs 3 areas where it says your MPH?

TractionControlOff

From this clip, I get the impression that Jay doesn't really like the C7. He simply didn't seem enthusiastic about it. When he was at Barrett Jackson for the C6 ZR1 and when he reviewed his own ZR1, he was extremely into that car: the way it looks, sounds and drives. I don't get the impression that he likes the new car.

Blackdevil77

I think Jay will be a little more excited once he really gets to drive the thing other than slowly cruising around the block

slief

Only one minor problem with your desire for one large display.. The 8" LCD that is currently use in the C7 dash is a commercially available off the shelf wide screen display. A display that would be wide enough to also replace the analog gauges on either side does not exist nor would the aspect ratio be even close to anything standard. Creationg such a display would be much more cost prohibitive than you might imagine since the aspect ration would be such that a processor to drive it would also need to be developed.

Bill Dearborn

Could it have been better? Yes! Is it good enough for now? Yes! I like digital Vs analog gauges for everything except the tach and fuel gauge. A digital tach changes so fast the numbers become a blur so you have no idea whether it is reading 1000 or 5000. The only way to display a tach is in analog form with either a sweeping needle or thermometer type display. Oil pressure, oil and coolant temps, volts can all be digital. Not sure how you would make a digital fuel gauge be intelligible.

As for moving displays around that would be great but I imagine the software development and testing cost would be pretty high for something that would confuse 90% of the owners.

What would be great is to develop an electronic display that combines the HUD and the Instrument Panel into one unit that allows the owner to move the display of instruments from one to the other.

Another item that would be great would be a FLIR unit tied into the HUD for night time or low visibility driving conditions. Caddy had one about 10 years ago but it was expensive. Problem is with much of that stuff you run into techno block heads who complain they can't see anything even when they can.

Bill

BlueOx

I get your point about the analog speedo but would guess that the number of folks who really want the speedo to be analog outnumber those who want it to be digital. At least for the near future.

That said, this is a screen that could be enlarged in the next few years/models, and when that happens, you might see what you are promoting come to pass. In fact I would say it's a sure bet within 3-5 years.

Davidl81

The Range Rover has a 12" TFT screen.

Dudeurgettnavette

This has already been posted...

speedlink

thanks for your reply. I wouldn't have been so diplomatic.

I can see some tweaking as we move along. Also, a chance for aftermarket.

speedlink

This is about the 3rd time I watched this video. I just noticed that Jay is wearing a Stingray pin on his left shirt pocket flap!

Wonder if Ed gave it to him?

gthal

Clearly that pin is payoff by GM for a positive review.

Groovepusher Sly

What are you going to do when all those pretty screens go out while you're driving? And no analog at all reminds me too much of KITT! Don't have to steer, brake, shift, look where you're going, talk on cell, text, talk to car on long trips, get where you're going, get out turn around to admire your C7, and for a split second it looks just like a 1984 Trans Am.
Let's just get 'em and drive 'em, stop tryin' to REDESIGN 'em, GM's already done that!

Sly

BlueOx

You are going to do the same thing I did when my 2003 Explorer's gas gauge died. Get it fixed! Except my whole damn gas tank had to be replaced also!

Groovepusher Sly

I probably won't do it while I'm driving though.

Sly

Kappa

Speedo, engine temp, and fuel are all analog. Even then, analog cluster can still fail. The one in my C5 went bad and I had no working gauges despite it being mostly analog.

C7envy

No when Jay asked about it Ed quickly redirected the question to a different topic. They don't want to talk about what the car can't do the moment it has been released. They don't want to direct any negativity on the car right now that is why Jay didn't push the subject and just played along. He is not as dim witted or clueless as he would have people believe.

Though it would have been better if all the screens were digital like on the LFA and ferrari and aventador. It wouldn't be that hard to do. Though I would still want them to have needles that run as smoothly as an analogue one. That is the problem with some digital gauges is that there is lag like for the viper gauge for example. Ferrari and the LFA have the best I have ever seen.

Jinx

What would you do if the C5/C6 IP suddenly died? You know it's not mechanically driven, right?

Are you still using a CRT computer monitor and TV because those new-fangled LCD screens can't be trusted?

Don't be silly. KITT used CRTs and static panels with incandescent indicator bulbs. How archaic.

.Jinx

HurricaneRN

...proves the point of how cheap and easy it is by giving $300,000 examples