Glass Dash - FUGLY to me.

[rorywquin]

We were wandering around London on Tuesday evening waiting to go to a show we saw lots of lovely new MBs S and E class (with chauffeurs) outside our hotel. Had a look at the interior of a couple and I have to say that I really do not like the new "glass cockpit" - I much prefer the looks of the proper (old school) dials.

 

[John Laidlaw]

Strangely for a crumbly like me I like the virtual dash. I have it in my XC90 and it’s clear and bright. Additionally you get no issues with sunshine glare either.

 

[Blobcat]

With the costs of thin film displays ever dropping they'll soon be the standard on all vehicles as the costs for mechanical clocks will be far in excess of the screens.

 

[Naraic]

With the costs of thin film displays ever dropping they'll soon be the standard on all vehicles as the costs for mechanical clocks will be far in excess of the screens.

Agreed...they will be very cheap to produce...yet, when they fail, they will be absolutely, incredibly expensive to replace. Go figure.

 

[JBell]

I think they look superb, utterly simple and sleek..

If they do fail expect OEM's to massively overprice them, they are just LED screens but you will pay more than you could buy a 55" TV for

 

[Capra]

I think they are great, I recently sat in a new one and they looked very nice, even when the car is switched off they look great. Makes my W204 look so dated. Don't see why the screens should have issues as LED screens have been around for years, maybe what controls the screens may fail?

 

[rorywquin]

I think they look superb, utterly simple and sleek..

If they do fail expect OEM's to massively overprice them, they are just LED screens but you will pay more than you could buy a 55" TV for

Volume?

 

[JBell]

Volume?

Doubt it, they will use the same screens in every model so the volume will be high

 

[keefysher]

Volume?

You can probably turn the sound down from an app too

 

[Craiglxviii]

Doubt it, they will use the same screens in every model so the volume will be high

It's more that they use the same modules just arranged in a different shape. The volumes of the components (which is where the cost really comes from) will be unreal, as these become more widespread- remember the Big 5 OEMs sell 60 million cars per year between them.

 

[EmilysDad]

Just a cheap way of producing a dash without any design input. I was waiting in the Citroen dealers recently (EmilysMum has a Citroen) and the dash of a C4 consisted of just 2 digital displays ..... zero design input.

Loved my Senator's digi dash in the day though ....

 

[Craiglxviii]

Agreed...they will be very cheap to produce...yet, when they fail, they will be absolutely, incredibly expensive to replace. Go figure.

Modern combimeters cost around $20 to the plant. A "glass cockpit" is around $80-100 dependent on the specific tech involved. Electronics aren't always the cheapest way to create a function (cheapest lighting in lumens/ watt for example is T5 flourescent).

 

[Yugguy]

I do prefer the physical dials, however the best dials ever were in our 2009 Yaris, they were floating projected which meant when looking from road to dials and back you didn't have to refocus.

Awesome.

I am sure tablet dials will be standard on all cars soon enough.

 

[ZZZZ]

I love those single screen, long display instrument clusters, but only if they sit inside / under a proper dash cowling.
Those that simply stuck on, are not only impractical - reflection, etc, but also look like an afterthought ... in my opinion, of course.

 

[Craiglxviii]

I do prefer the physical dials, however the best dials ever were in our 2009 Yaris, they were floating projected which meant when looking from road to dials and back you didn't have to refocus.

Awesome.

I am sure tablet dials will be standard on all cars soon enough.

Nah. Way too expensive. We'll all have HUDs before that, I'm only half-joking too...

 

[ZZZZ]

I know, but there's still something almost miserable about a curved down dash, with a shiny new screen stuck in front of it, with seemingly no regards to the shape of architectonics of the former.

 

[Blobcat]

I know, but there's still something almost miserable about a curved down dash, with a shiny new screen stuck in front of it, with seemingly no regards to the shape of architectonics of the former.

No idea what you mean...

 

[Craiglxviii]

No idea what you mean...

View attachment 46298

Was that built by McDonnell-Douglas?

 

[Blobcat]

Was that built by McDonnell-Douglas?

As it almost never worked, I presume Lucas had something to do with it...

 

[Naraic]

Ah yes...forgotten how bad the Lagonda looked (outside and in).