[Thad E Ginathom]

It's not really "digital" anyway. Once it becomes a display, that display is analogue, whether it is an image of a moving needle on am lcd display or a mechanical meter.

[TwistOfFate!]

Voted Analog, but my answer is slightly different.
To comply with the age and trend, yet have the retro feel, I'd prefer the LED screens with configurable Analog displays for both Tacho & Speedometers.

[Pashin]

Voted - Not Particular.

My vote was influenced by the 8th Gen Civic which had the best combination of Analog and Digital cluster. 14 years since being introduced, it looks classy even to this day.

[shabash]

In my opinion, Digital or Analogue really does not matter. It's the aesthetics that matter. I am a big fan of the Skoda Digital cluster, But not so much about the one on the Creta...to be frank it looks cheap.

The question is how the dials fit into the overall dashboard of the vehicle. I really like the digital dial in the center part of the top-end Seltos. Here the point is, it is a mix of Analogue + Digital, but done in an extremely aesthetic way.

[Lobogris]

I fail to understand the naysayers. Why would someone want inferior and outdated technology versus a modern option? Don’t we love our smartphones? Would we want to go back to “classic” dial phones? Having a fully digital virtual cockpit like display is one of the most important features in a car for me after safety equipment and ventilated seats. I love the option of customising what it displays and the ability to see navigation information on it. Why settle for seeing just speed and fuel information when you can see everything if you want?

[littlebrother]

Circular Rev counter with Speed readout. Be it digital or analogue the rev counter must be circular and prominent. Not some semi lunar or crescent shaped chucked to corner rev counter.

I particularly liked the rev counter of my Volvo S60 D5 2016 in its sports setting, big bright circular red counter and digital speed read out in centre by its digital display. Not a fan of latest bmws digital display where it's not circular and the rev counter is anti clockwise. Prefer the old analogue or semi digital circular dials instead.

From what I recall, Honda's Nissan's and the swift I have owned had the half circle smaller than speedo chucked to corner rev counter which I don't prefer much . I rather prefer the dials from my Hyundais,VW and Skodas I haved used which are same size as the speedometer and prominent and circular.


Another example from the latest launch to the market Sonet, I prefer venues analogue Circular dials over Sonets tachy not circular chucked to the corner digital dials.

[R2D2]

Call me old fashioned but I prefer analog speedo and tacho meters over digital displays any day. I may be amenable to an 'analog' style display on an appropriately configurable digital display panel but for me nothing like those old fashioned pointers sweeping over a dial. Ditto with watches and clocks, I prefer time pieces with hands over those with digital displays.

[zhopudey]

I have just booked a Nexon, so I have to vote for digital. I just hope it's doesn't seem tacky a few years down the line.

[AMG Power]

While analogue meters may look better as digital read outs can appear low rent / video gameish, (Kwid etc) there are some situations where a digital read out is a must.

This would depend on the vehicle:

1. On manic cars that are extremely fast such as the RS7 or the AMG 63S etc you do not have the luxury of looking at meters when you're driving it the way it is meant to be driven. It would be a luxury to get even a fraction of a second to look at the HUD at those speeds. Having analogue dials is of no use in such situations when even looking down at the HUD itself needs planning. So a digital read is not a debatable area but an essential piece of kit.

2. On superbikes that are equally fast / faster than some super cars it makes no sense to have an analogue read out. The speedo would be a blur and even a digital read out can barely be made out. Here too a digital read out is essential.

3. On cars that are comfotably fast such as a G20 BMW 330i / Porsche Boxster / Cayman one has the luxury of enjoying analogue meters and the sweep of the dials as speeds increase. So here analogue dials would be fun and certainly the preference.

4. On cars / bikes that are slower than (3) analogue dials would certainly be the preferred medium.

[jeeva]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

I fail to understand the naysayers. Why would someone want inferior and outdated technology versus a modern option? Don’t we love our smartphones? Would we want to go back to “classic” dial phones? Having a fully digital virtual cockpit like display is one of the most important features in a car for me after safety equipment and ventilated seats. I love the option of customising what it displays and the ability to see navigation information on it. Why settle for seeing just speed and fuel information when you can see everything if you want?

Well, I'd take that analogy with a pinch of salt. There is something warm, subtle, and classy about analogue systems in general. The world's most sought after wrist watches are still manufactured analogue, when LED/LCDs are super cheap to produce, can be loaded with technology to the gills, and perhaps easy to customize. I feel, nothing, absolutely nothing can replace the feel and charm of those sweeping needles in the speedometer and tacho.
The millennials must be thinking different though. Present analogue clusters no longer depend upon mechanical links (cables) for input, they are all wired up. RPM signals are picked up from the alternator signals, and the vehicle speed sensor picks up the speed info.

A recent point in case is the Tata Nexon.

The digital one.


And then, the analogue.

[Singh101]

I have a feeling that the people who are raging against digital dials are going to feel like Nokia did when they ignored Android and doubled down on Symbian. Or BlackBerry purists who swore by their clicky QWERTY keyboards and scoffed at touch-screen typing.

You don't know what information you'll need your car to display in your field of vision tomorrow. At some point, having a speedometer was just enough. Then someone pointed out that a fuel gauge would be a nice addition. Then the temp gauge. The tachometer. The warning lights. Now there's a whole list of information you can cycle through on your MID and set it to your liking in practically every modern car.

Aren't we all moving towards electric cars? I don't want a needle telling me how much charge I have left in my car. I want a screen- with text- like I do on my phone.

Similar principle with the other information. A speedometer needle quite often is off by a notch or two from the actual speed you're doing. A digital tachometer can display your RPM and changes in it much faster than a traditional needle (Remember the Lexus LFA, anyone?) I'd rather have my remaining fuel in percentage or litres, with possibly a gentle pulsing graphic when I'm running too low. This sentiment applies to every information that's displayed in a 'traditional' gauge cluster right now.

Cheers!

[arijit_chat2006]

Voted for old school dials.

In luxury cars, maybe, only because of the plethora of information they share, and the kind of functionality available in them.

However for the cars that are found in numbers onn our roads, I don't quite like them, e.g., the ones on the Nexon, Creta, Sonet, etc.

I may have said this in some of my earlier posts, I'll reiterate here - I'm an old school guy, who loves his analogue dials for speedo & tacho.

Yes, I also love the MID that the new cars add, only when they are simplistic in nature and don't come at the cost of replacement of analogue dials (or, maybe at the cost of the size of the analogue dials, e.g., make the analogue dials smaller followed by a huge MID )

[noopster]

Am reminded of the Douglas Adams quote:

Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea

I thoroughly abide by this philosophy when it comes to watches but can't say the same for digital dials on the car dashboard! I remember being blown away when I first saw the digital speedometer on the Honda Civic many moons ago. More recently the Skoda Kodiaq's digital dials also had me fascinated.

But I still voted indifferent. There is such a thing as doing things for the sake of doing things and I fear digital dials are a bit like that.

[Vid6639]

When I was deciding my Kodiaq, the L&K had the virtual cockpit and the Scout variant did not.

Initially I was tempted for the L&K thinking it was cool to have virtual dials. It still is but after spending sometime with the L&K and trying it out, I realised it's more novelty and initial excitement than anything. It has a few more display options but essentially you see the same speed and rpm in different designs. You can opt to see maps but only if you use Skoda inbuilt maps vs Android auto. Moreover when driving the digital display just isn't as easy to read as an analog display.

Also as a kid and car enthusiast we could identify cars by their dials. Now it's just a screen placed there with no design element just the software.

If you are a tech guy you will see that with the cost of LCD panels lower and the fact that they are pure digital the cost is most likely lesser than analog dials.

The analog dials need the digital signal to be converted from ECU to analog. They have electro mechanical components.

I feel initial days the digital dials are cool and as time goes you don't even bother with them. Personally the good old analog tacho, speedo, fuel and temp dials should be there. There can be a digital screen to augment them.

I like the new Honda City and Seltos system vs the Creta. The new BMW anti clockwise digital display is a disaster.

[vjbox]

I believe digital instrument cluster when done right works like a charm. While Analog has that classic appeal, it could be a tricky integration with otherwise full modern interiors as it would be more of a juxtapose. Also in my opinion, the design language of the car should allow for an analogues cluster and most modern cars have already crossed that point where it can make it counter intuitive.