KnifeMissile

At great risk to sales, the lower end Toyota cars come with their instrument panel in the centre of their dashboard, like so:



To many people, this is very annoying. Toyota's claim is that this is actually a better place for the instrument panel than the traditional place, where you have to stare through your steering wheel to see it (something I always found very strange about cars). Of course, this is a radical change, so they're testing the waters with their lower end (read cheaper) cars. Of course, there are those who believe this is merely a cost saving feature, so that the same dashboards can be used between different countries, regardless of whether they're left or right side driving.

Personally, I like the center instrument panel but it was done much better on the Echo than the Yaris. On the Echo, the panel was tilted towards the driver (the only guy who needs to know), whereas the Yaris' panel is perfectly symmetrical, facing straight back. I have no idea why they would do this and it lends some credibility to the "cost savings" theory.

What do people think of this idea? What do people think Toyota was thinking?

snowy

Actually, the Prius has been like this for some time. My friend has an older Prius and the instrument panel is fully digitized and in the center. It is a little odd, but you get used to it. It doesn't bother me personally.

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amonkie

From my training .... It is not a extremely significatn change, but you have to keep in mind the further away you have to look from your view outside the windshield, the longer it takes to bring your eyes back, and that is attention you DO NOT have 100% on the road.

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BadNick

If we all just pay attention to our driving like we're suppossed to, there is hardly any reason to look at anything on the instrument panel anyway, except in rare circumstances.

Meditrina

I think it is all a matter of what you are used to. After driving for 20 years, I am used to the traditional dashboard. This would take some getting used to. Other than that, if it brings down the cost of a car a bit, I'd try it out.

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ratbastid

It looks like it's positioned higher on the dash than a traditional instrument cluster. That mean a smaller glance away from the road, and less glance-away time.

Charlatan

As I see it, it is cost savings so they can make it left or right drive.

I don't see any other way to defend it. I can't see how it adds anything to viewability. I don't see how it really detracts either, so I suppose it really doesn't matter, other than will car buyers reject it.

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Martian

Gah, it's the Ion all over again.

For Toyota that makes sense. Saturn uses a similar setup with the Ion (the first one to do it, so far as I know) which I don't think sells outside North America.

I suspect it's mostly convention speaking, but I hate that. The one time I drove an Ion, not having the speedo between the spokes where I expected it to be caused me no end of trouble.

I don't think the glance time would be reduced signifigantly in either situation. If anything, I'd expect this to be worse, since it requires the driver to look to the side instead of keeping eyes at twelve. Either way, once used to the setup a glance at the instruments should be no more than that and only takes a fraction of a second - if you're looking any longer than it absolutely takes to read the gauges, you're looking too long.

I've seen people who literally watch their gauges climbing. I don't understand this; it's moving, you know that because it's position changed. The stuff outside the car needs your attention far more urgently than anything inside.

Now driving without gauges, that's an experience.

Not one I'd recommend, but an experience all the same.

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ratbastid

Oh, man. The memories.

One night, on the way back to campus from Rocky Horror, in a small pickup with the six people in the back, under the camper shell, the panel lights went out. On a rural freeway at 3:00 in the morning with no other cars to hint at the appropriate speed, I literally drove by feel.

shakran

Well. . . I kinda like to look at the speedo from time to time. And all those gauges/idiot lights that tell me when my car's about to catch fire are kinda important too

BadNick

I did say "hardly any reason". Hopefully if you take half decent care of your car, it is not about to catch fire, loose oil pressure, or blow water out of the radiator as you drive down the road. And in the rare case when it does happen, having a light go off two feet to the right of where it is now would get your attention unless you're asleep at the wheel.

But for those of you who must watch the gauges so you know what's going on, may I humbly suggest a "heads up display" ...HUD

shakran

And that's actually what has me suspicious that these cars with the center-mount gauges are doing it for the money, not for the supposed safety gains. A HUD is much better from a safety standpoint than either mounting location would be for standard gauges.

Martian

HUD's can be a bit hard to read, though. Granted, the ones I've used (in a Grand Prix GTP and Bonneville SSEi) probably aren't the finest craftsmanship, but I found the numbers didn't show up on the glass clearly enough.

I still prefer an old-fashioned gauge cluster where it's always been.

redlemon : My experience was kind of similar.. I was with one other person, the car was an old rusted out Cavalier and it was the actual speedo that stopped working, due to a faulty sending unit. The tach had died a long time ago and the fuel gauge stuck at half (this thing was one of the worst pieces of shit I've ever seen on the road). I had a temperature gauge and nothing else on the panel to give me any sort of idea what the car was doing; I managed it alright, but I'd rather not do it again.

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame