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View Poll Results: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?
Look every so often while driving 534 85.30%
Look very rarely while driving 69 11.02%
Look only ever to check the fuel level 16 2.56%
Look only before starting out 7 1.12%
Never 0 0%
Voters: 626. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 25th August 2019, 12:46   #61
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

Well, I am a mileage freak. I keep taking a momentary glance at the instrument cluster regarding the fuel efficiency, total distance covered and the distance covered in the trip(the latter 2 mostly when I take breaks). Any sounds the car makes, I become alert and I will not be at peace until I correct it. Maybe because its the first car I drive! And this habit continues eventhough i have driven 16K kms.
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Old 25th August 2019, 12:53   #62
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

Quite often to be honest. It is one of the few ways of knowing what the current condition of the vehicle is and if at all some of the parameters of the vehicle are not ideal, we could infact take preventive measures to avoid catastrophic failures. Knowing to check the MID and the instrumentation cluster is vital. What baffles me the most is that I have seen people who ignore the check engine warning and airbag signs in their vehicles.
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Old 25th August 2019, 20:52   #63
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

I keep a check at all times. It's been a habit since i learned how to drive. Then it was out of curiosity, Now it's an obsession.
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Old 25th August 2019, 22:22   #64
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

Mine is an ancient car in today's terms - 2011 Dzire. It has very few gauges but the one that I constantly use is the RPM meter. Also once in a while I do check if there are any indicative lights on.
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Old 25th August 2019, 23:27   #65
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

Quote:
Originally Posted by srinivasgv View Post
Well, I am a mileage freak. I keep taking a momentary glance at the instrument cluster.. Any sounds the car makes, I become alert and I will not be at peace until I correct it.
I've done 10x your mileage at minimum and I still do it
It's a nice thing to do really.

Most have covered the things a car owner should do regularly. Waiting for the rpm to drop before you drive, letting the Christmas lights go off before cranking your car, looking into the cluster every now and then and all that.
I do check for my brakes the first thing before I drive off. It's become more of a habit as I switch between the Fiesta and the i10 often. The latter has a serious bite while the Fiesta is more tame.
I had an incident with my Fiesta not so long ago when the hand brake and the ABS light just did not go off while everything else was functioning as is. Turned out that a batch or maybe one of the new born pups in my area who decided to spend the night under my car chewed the cables. My mech was able to tell me the reason over a phone call and assured me nothing would go wrong and just that the ABS won't work until it's fixed. It was repaired the next day.

And I can't agree more.. Any new noise coming out of your car should raise your ear and eyebrows.

Last edited by adneeraj : 25th August 2019 at 23:31. Reason: Added specifics on the car
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Old 26th August 2019, 11:53   #66
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

I usually check before cranking and just after, to ensure all indicators flash and turn off, and wait till the engine rpm settles down, in case of a cold start.

Mostly in Bengaluru traffic I keep looking at how drastically the milage drops and stays low.

On the highways, MID is seen only to plan a fuel stop and recently, to keep a tab on the speeds, noticing a lot many speed guns installed.

Voted for 'Look every so often while driving' as most of my driving these days is within the city.
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Old 26th August 2019, 13:33   #67
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

Every morning, I ensure to check the MID before and after start. Wait for 30-60 seconds of idling and then start.

While on the go, for a new drive one may need to refer to the tachometer. Once you get some experience with the machine, the engine sound and response tells you when to shift. It's anyway not required on an auto transmission car.

However, the mileage and speed is something I check while on a highway.
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Old 26th August 2019, 14:27   #68
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

Definitely once, before I put the vehicle in motion. While driving, I have the habit of checking it frequently. I would feel a bit helpless, when any of the gauges doesn't work. I believe, this is a very much needed habit for anyone driving a vehicle.
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Old 26th August 2019, 14:32   #69
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

This is a good survey. Even I have noticed that I keep my eyes almost all the time on the meters. This is both good and bad in a way. Good because you are within speed limits, keep a look out for vital parameters (any unwanted lights), keep a check on the rpm.

The bad is that ideally you should complete focus on the road and steering, shifting gears, acceleration and braking should work with muscle memory.

I will try to look more at the road from now on (unless am on a speed limit road)
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Old 26th August 2019, 17:16   #70
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

I pretty much look every so often at the instrument cluster. Somehow heavily ingrained into my driving style.
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Old 26th August 2019, 17:51   #71
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

While I do check the instru cluster often, my most checks are to see at what speed I am driving when I shift gears. Generally I target a gear change when I'm driving at 2,000 RPM plus
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Old 26th August 2019, 21:17   #72
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

I am soo obsessed with checking the meters n number of times while driving. I constantly keep an eye on the instantaneous FE indicator of my Rapid Petrol (it gives a whooping ~5KMPL Bumper to Bumper and I get anxious, again check to see that now it is ~4.7KMPL and repeat ).

When I am thinking about it now, I had this habit since my Splendor days, it was my first bike. Recently, while at my hometown, I had found that my Splendor's speedometer needle was shaking, tried replacing the cable but it didn't solve the problem. Went in search for a repair shop which I know a decade back and found out that was relocated, somehow got to find him, he fixed the issue. In the end, I asked him to change the needles as the current ones appear to be faded. His expression was and told me it looks fine to him. I insisted on changing the needles and got those done.
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Old 26th August 2019, 21:31   #73
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

I have to change my habit, I rarely check all the warning signs on the cluster. I generally only check the fuel reading and odometer reading, have to change my habit now.
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Old 26th August 2019, 21:44   #74
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

As an enthusiast, I check the instrument cluster regularly even when i am seated next to the driver

I mainly observe the RPM and the speed and sometimes the fancy stuff like how the instantaneous economy fluctuates as I experiment with the gears and the RPMs.

DTE also is very important to me especially when the fuel bar is dipping.

In short, I make use of all the steering control buttons while i am driving.
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Old 27th August 2019, 01:33   #75
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Re: How often do you check the instrument cluster/MID while driving?

I very often keep on looking at the MID because I lose track of speed on 4 lane roads. Apart from this I also have a frequent look on the fuel meter and I could tell how much mileage my car is giving just by looking at the drops in the fuel bar. My daily driver is an A-Star so I have to calculate the mileage in my head.
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