2009 Honda Fit Sport: Underused Space in the Instrument Panel

That space looks like it should've housed a temperature gauge, but some bean-counter cheaped out & went with an idiot light instead.

My gawd, do people really want their instrument cluster lit up like times sqaure?? Too much visual distraction there with the blue & 'special effects' there.

I think Hyundai did the right thing with their minimalist gauges on the Genesis. (Don't scoff at the power of minimalism. That's the reason why Google, Craigslist etc won over Yahoo & Ebay)

I agree that a temp. gauge would be a welcome addition. Though I can't say I find the empty space beside the fuel guage particularly bothersome. Given that the guages are functional and highly legible (though massively overexposed in these pics), I'm not complaining. Particulary since I haven't had a car actually overheat on me in few decades - the idiot light serves as adequate warning of that very unlikely event.

Now an OUTSIDE temperature readout is something I could use.

And I find the blue lighting quite soothing and easy on the eyes.

I don't mind that there's no temperature gauge, but what's the point of having a pod that's only half used?
Or make it like my first cherokee with a fuel gauge the size of the speedo. People joke about it with gas-guzzlers, but being that big, you could actually watch the fuel level move.

If they add a temp gauge then the conversation in the service drive goes like:
"My car is running hot"
"but the needle is within the normal range"
"But it is higher than it usually is"
"but it is right on the correct spot where it should be"
"but it didn't run that hot last week"
"but it is normal"
"FIX IT!"

so they save the money by leaving it out and the headaches.

That is funny though that they split it up into 3 areas like that. They could have just done the side by side tach/speedo setup with the fuel gauge in the bottom of one and the other info at the bottom of the other.

"do people really want their instrument cluster lit up like times square"

well said, it is there to get information to you, not entertain. That is all I need, the driver behind me all glassy eyed going "Look at all the pretty colors" as they drive.

Next thing you know they will put a giant speedometer in the center of the dash!

I find the blue and white hatred interesting. Those are my two favorite backlighting colors in that order. I wonder if it's an age thing. I'm 24 and I tend to prefer blue or white LED lighting to green or red.

Anyone else care to chime in with their age and preference?

zimtheinvader,

Lol, nicely done dude!!!

Owner of a 2009 Fit Sport Auto with 6600 miles put on since mid October. With the Auto, the left side of the fuel gauge is the PRNDL display and the bottom has a 1st to 5th gear display when you use the paddle shifters. Only problem is trying to keep one eye on the tach on the left and one eye on the gear display on the right.

The blue gauge lighting is not as wild looking as in the photo. They dim down too of course.

And the auto has a different drive ratio - 70 mph is right at a sweet 2500 rpm. I'm a motorsports photographer and have gone off for a full week with computers and camera gear and clothes for two and had plenty of room.

If you don't like Times Square, use the dimmer switch. I'm pretty sure every car made has one.

Temperature gauge? Sure it's nice to have it there but when's the last time you saw and heard a car overheated? If one takes the car to tracks often then I totally agree, a temperature gauge is essential (better yet, add an oil temperature one as well). But on a Fit? I gotta agree with the bean counters here, they should do anything possible to reduce cost with an economy car like the Fit.

fadetoblackii,

I really dislike green instruments because they're so dull! I'm 20 and have to see them every day. Family owns a 99 Camry and an 01 Outback (at least the latter has red needles). I remember a while back I was watching a Hyundai presentation online and the speaker, John Krafcik, said the reason why so many companies used green was because it was cheaper to put in cars than other colored bulbs/LEDs (making the point that Hyundai spent extra money for blue gauges). Green doesn't look "fresh" or exciting, in my opinion.

I wish more companies would do like what Ford does with the Mustang and give the owner a color pallette to choose from so they can change it to however they feel.

I relent the disappearance of gauges with idiot lights... I realize that a car rarely overheats, but in the winter I wait until the engine temperature gets into the "normal" range before I rev it high. Not all cars have the BWM temperature adjusted tachometer.

And it does look cheap... I expected Honda would be one of the last companies to take out gauges, but I guess iPod hookups sell more Fits.

"but when's the last time you saw and heard a car overheated?"

I suppose that might be true if you always have a new car but in the real world it's a very important guage.

An idiot light only tells you the car has already overheated, most people would have noticed that before the light even comes on.

temp guages are great for noticing problems before they become serious.

- clogged rads- all rads will clog up some day and having the guage start to run a little high in stop and go traffic is a great sign to have it flushed or replaced before damage is done

- coolant leaks- whether it's internal or external, coolant will enventually find a way out of your engine. As the air pockets travel though the motor, the guage will rise and fall telling you something is wrong before you end up stuck on the side of the road.

- thermostats- most of them fail open these days. If they do, the only way you will know is a temp guage.

It's a cheap and useful item to have.

Temperature gauges are necessary when a car gets to be about ~5 years old. If you've got a radiator leak or even worse- a head gasket leak, by the time an idiot light goes on you're too late. With my last car (which had a radiator leak and it was NOT an old car nor was it an abused car) , it allowed me to find help before it was too late.

This is a major fail.

Why not leave the needle alone and add a temp gauge? Watches use a hollow shaft with a 2nd shaft through it to allow for two (or 3) needles to rotate on the same axis.

The lack of the temp gauge is a baffling omission anyway. Even the lowliest of economy cars have them these days (except for the Versa, which scared the crap out of me when I got one as a rental and didn't know what the glowing light on the dash meant).

A good gauge is always superior to an idiot light. Take it from the idiot who let his '77 Granada (my first auto equiped car) run out of oil because I was checking the auto trans fluid level instead of the oil dipstick and the idiot light was burnt out.

The first thing I did after installing the replacement engine (other than learing which dip stick was which) was add an aftermarket gauge set.

While we're talking about crappy backlights, may I bring up the orange so widely used in BMWs and Nissans? Ugh.

I was never a fan of the lights in my '87 535. They always seemed a little blurry.

The gauges in my '96 SHO were the definition of clear and easy to read. My '92 Nissan SE-R had nice clean easy to read gauges too as I recall.

Hi Erin!

If you don't mind, I'd also like to include the Fit in our manure-carrying experiment. Spread as much around the interior as possible, then tell me how many cubic feet it can hold. I'd expect it to do very well! We're also including the Infiniti and Mazda 6, and Scott's doing the Caravan.

P.S.: I like the blue instruments, but can't they think of something to put next to the gas gauge? Could you blog on that please?

Thanks! Bye!

kissel1

do you have strange obsession with manure?

Re." ... I realize that a car rarely overheats, but in the winter I wait until the engine temperature gets into the "normal" range before I rev it high. Not all cars have the BWM temperature adjusted tachometer."

The Fit has a blue "C" idiot light that comes on on cold start-up and stays that way until the engine reaches normal operating temperature. I get that you would prefer a guage - but the "idiot" light accomplishes this quite well. And when not needed (i.e. - 99% of the time) it's simply not there.

A lot of the time, less is more. I look at so many other Honda products and the massive button-itis that has inflicted what used to be among the very best guage / switchgear ergonomics in the busines, and I just have a real hard time getting on the case of the Fit for its restraint in this regard.

Lenoroc--I drive a said Nissan, and I prefer the orange to the bright white. In my previous Altima (2000), I had to dim the interior lights because they were white. My current Altima (2005) has orange in it and I don't mind having the gauges on full illumination at night.

My father's Cadillac has a white digital instrument panel, and it annoys me how bright it is. It casts reflections on the clear plastic covering it producing a double image.

It seems to me that the DGC has not been around a full year. Maybe it was the overwhelming number of BMW and Evo posts that diluted the frequency of the DGC posts?

Any kind of manure hauling comparison involving a hatchback/wagon should include two measurements; one with the back seat in the upright position and a second one with both back seats folded down.

@Lenoroc
The orange lighting is not bad at all. Much better than the 'snot green' I've seen in a lot of manufacturers and always remains highly visible. Nissan's presentation in particular is attractive and upscale without looking tacky or cheap (which is what this Honda's looks like)

And for those of you chalking this up to 'minimalism' , give me a break. This is just Honda cutting another corner like they do in all of their vehicles. (Next you'll tell me Honda cheaping out on sound insulation is part of the Honda charm) Plenty of other manufacturers have managed to walk that fine line of adding a temperature gauge without screwing up the interior ergonomics with a sea of incomprehensible buttons.

This should satisfy your need for manure:
http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2008/03/2007-toyota-tundra-sr5-double-cab-aww-crap.html

The unsymetry of it the dissonance would agravate me to no end.

Ironically I've found the orange in Nissan/Infiniti to be weird, but the orange in BMW's to be pretty tasteful. I think it's because Nissans have a slightly more 'yellow' hue to them that I just don't like.

If the color is more red I like that a little better, but blue or white are more palpable to me. I've had the green gauges before and I hated them.

LOL @ Donna's comment!

Maybe kissel1 is none other than Triumph the Insult Comic Dog?

The Fit is a nice car......for me to poop on.

Just a joke folks, no hate mail.

kissel1,
A dingo ate your baby?

That blank space is seriously bothersome. I know it seems way too OCD, but I honestly think staring at that and knowing it would drive me bonkers would prevent me from buying this car...not like I'm interested in the first place, but still.

As for the blue/white argument, my brother, who's a recreational pilot, always hates on blue lights because blue is the worst for night vision, which is true...however, my view is that the light output from a gauge cluster isn't enough to blind you or damage your night vision (that's really more anecdotal than scientific, as I've been driving VWs for the past 7+ years) and the entire concern is a little overblown.

"The unsymetry of it the dissonance would agravate me to no end."

In there a Klingon / English translator in the house?

LOL ... a spell checker would help too.

I completely agree Erin. This car could use an internal and external temperature display. I find it very strange that all you get is a little symbol when you start the car indicating it's cold and then it eventually turns off and you're supposed to assume the car is at normal operating temperature. As you well point out, there was plenty of room for Honda to fit both kinds of gauges where that huge gas gauge is.

I can only assume Erin, the large gas gauge goes along with the whole theme of the Fit, which is gas conservation. Anyone buying a Fit is doing so for the incredible gas mileage on top of all the other attributes of the car. But between the instantaneous gas read-out and the huge fuel gauge it's a bit overkill.

I have never posted on these long-term blogs, since if I don't own the car I really don't care to read about what it's like living with it (especially not for a whole year). But it is neat owning a 2009 Fit and having a blog to read through as well.

The gauge cluster lighting scheme reminds me of the 2010 Fusion and thats not a good thing. Honda used to do gauges right but each car they redesign seems to get farther and farther away from what they used to do well.

Agreed. Early 90s back lighting definitely leaves something to be desired but Honda and VW were making simple, clear gauges at the time that I appreciated.

Also as pointed out, blue is the worst nighttime color practically (actually maybe purple?). Amber is the best. Go BMW, Pontiac, and Nissan.

All that being said, my Nissan uses white backlighting (I think) and I don't have any issues with it. Brightness is turned down about halfway.

It's much better if the manufacturer uses illumination of a longer wavelength, like a red, instead of blue or white because the shorter wavelength light decimates your night vision.

Instrumentation color was on of the deciding factors of the car I bought. I have a 2004 Winning Blue Mazda 3 5-door. Besides that blue is my favorite color I am a little bias. I chose that car because I found it that I would truely enjoy looking at the cluster everytime I entered the car.
IMO - Amber (Nissans) and green (Ford) readouts remind of the monochrome monitors of those colors from 80s and 90s and think that they could do better.
Scientifically, red is best at night, but I really don't like that color in my car.

Instrumentation color was one of the deciding factors of the car I bought. I have a 2004 Winning Blue Mazda 3 5-door. Besides that blue is my favorite color so I am a little bias. I chose that car because I found it that I would truely enjoy looking at the cluster everytime I entered the car.

IMO - Amber (Nissans) remind of the old monochrome monitors of those colors from 80s and the green Ford uses remind of a Speak-and-Spell.

Scientifically, red is best at night, but I really don't like that color in my car which I know is there.

I think the lack of something in that gauge would drive me crazy. As for interior lighting, I really like red. I'm only 18 and only driven a 95 camry (with green interior lights), a 00 corolla (green interior lights), a 08 Accord (off-white), and my 05 RSX Type S (red). The green just looks really old so I don't like it too much. I really liked the whit-ish blue of the accord, easy to read and easy on the eyes. But my favorite so far has been the red in the Type S. It feels nicely sporty and isn't distracting while driving, while still looking nice if you decide to admire the gauges. The only problem is that the gauge faces are white so when it's not quite dark outside, the red becomes pink until it's sufficiently dark