Any thoughts on this set of guages? How well do they work?? Accurate? I know what they look like so please no additional comments on that. Having oil pressure, oil temp and a "real" water temp guage for track days would be helpful.

 

like this?

 

Wow...thats slick. How'd you pull that off?

 

nerves of steel and a couple of hours

 

Great job.

 

That's awesome! How's the view from the steering wheel?

This is what I did:

 

i have the chrono pack on my 05 not a biggie but you lose the digital speed read out just an fyi

 

When I had my gages under the toggle panel, the view was always obstructed by the toggles or the shift **** and I always had to move my head downwards which created a safety problem when driving, so I moved everything up....and now I just shift my eyes and I get a very clear view...

 

I know on the stock coolant temp gauge; it stays in "the middle" from about 160F to at least 220F Not very accurate. I'd hope the Crono pack gauges would be more representative.

 

I have the chrono pak and the gauges seem pretty accurate. Oil pressure, especially. Having driven cars with accurate oil pressure gauges, I know when it should be high, and when a low reading is OK. Temperature gauges seem more accurate than most, but in a car with a good cooling system, the water and oil temperatures shouold stabilize pretty fast and stay there.


I personally prefer the speedo where I can see it, and the left and right turn signal lights. Lets face it, the speedo in front is more ergonomic, and the speedo in the midle is more of a design feature. Depends on whether you drive it, or sit in the car in the driveway and show it to people.

 

I've read that gauges in today's vehicles provide "average" readings. This is so enthusiasts like us aren't always comparing readings and running to the dealer to correct "off" readings

 

But if I understand correctly, you get it back as one of the read-outs on the on-board computer, if you've ordered that. (My car isn't here yet, so I can't confirm that.)

 

My on-board computer just shows AVERAGE speed for a trip, not momentary readings.

 

Maybe this is different on the 05s (or maybe the manual is wrong) but I'm looking at p. 66 of the 05 Owner's Manual that I downloaded from the Owner's Lounge:

I haven't got my car yet (she's in Cleveland!) so I can't confirm the above. Anyone?

 

I don't sit much in the driveway,and I can see mine fine in the middleIf I'm going for it,I worry more about what the tach. is telling me than the speedo

 

my understanding is the 05's have a small readout on the tach that shows the mph. I cant confirm because I havent recieve my car yet either... I will confirm once the car gets here.

 

I am at that decision too. I test drove one without the Chrono pack and i like that traditional look. The 05 i drove has a digital speedo on th Tach. Thats what i used when i drove it i really never looked at the center console. i know the traditionalist wouldnt have it any other way. I also looked at a 05 that had the Chrono pack and i liked the way the center looked with the different gauges but i dont know if i liked having the 2 pods over the wheel. If its about racing wouldnt you only want to focus on RPMs? I mean is it really worth the 2 extra oil temp and pres gauges?

 

I just got my hyper blue '05 MCS this week. The computer can show the following on the display at the bottom of the tachometer:
current speed
average speed
current miles per gallon
average miles per gallon
estimated miles before running out of fuel
outside temperature

If you don't like having to look over at the center mounted speedo then you can just leave the computer set to show current speed on the display on the tach.

 

As LombardStreet said, my '05 without computer does show current speed at the bottom of the tach. Or you can set it to show outside temp. I find myself using both - still getting used to having the big dial in the middle.

 

Having the current speed show digitally on the tach, when the big, easy to read speedometer is right next door sure does not make sense. The function of gauges should be to inform as quickly as possible, so that you can keep your eyes on the road. Things like digital readouts down by your feet are truly counterproductive. Analog gauges up at eye level are the only thing that makes any sense. I do not read speeds off my speedometer, I note what angle the pointer is at. Ditto for the gauges. In fact, one of the most annoying things about the Mini speedo in my car is that 55 is not straight up, like in most cars. The gas gauge does not even have labels. You just go by pointer position. This is how it should be.

 

Many years ago BMW did a test of analog vs digital gauges.Analog seemed to work better as our brains could see where we were running things as we had
the rest of the guage to look at.easier to see 50 if 40 and 60 are seen at the same time

 

My wife and I decided to take Simon for a little drive two weekends ago to get him over the break-in hump (started at 1170 miles, finished a bit short of 1300). We started from Sacramento drove up 50, around Lake Tahoe (South shore, and around to North Shore) and back to Sacramento down 80. The drive started about 3:30 in the afternoon and went into the early evening (back to Sac at about 7:30 pm).
During that drive I discovered that scanning the center speedometer doesn't cause the near / far refocusing that scanning the tach in front of the steering wheel does. It struck me as another wisely engineered feature of the Mini.
Loved the power on the passing lanes going up 50. That little Supercharger really comes into it's own with altitude.
LombardStreet: You are going to have a great time driving Tilly back . What a great break-in / introduction drive. I'm jealous.

 

I like my tach and I like my digital speed readout on the tach! I do not have the OBC but the tach has outside temperature and current speed, in an easily read screen.

Like Lot 15 I prefer the tach as the primary. I guess I'm a little more concernd about over reving than I am about ......uhmmmh... over speeding.

Plus the centre dash speedo isn't for the driver its for the passenger! and their interest in it is greatly increased once the needle starts pointing at them ! That doesn't happen much in the driveway.

 

Thanks - we're really looking forward to it. Just pray for good weather!