A weekend in the Dodge Challenger R/T reminded me that when it comes to gauges, simple is always better. This was never really in dispute as I am never wrong, but occasionally one manufacturer or another tries to get to cute and screws things up, like say, Chevrolet and the Camaro.
Thankfully, the Challenger was spared such fakery. As you can see, the gauges are nothing more than black on white dials that are shared with any number of Chrysler products.
An oversight? Not really. The Challenger's original gauges were similar in style, just harder to read. Had Dodge gone overboard in its quest to revisit the past, the added authenticity would have been negligible while usability would have suffered. In this case, the evil eye of the accounting department actually helped the cause. Don't get used to it.
Ed Hellwig, Senior Editor, Inside Line @ 8,234 miles
stephen987 says:
04:29 PM, 08/ 3/09
AMEN.
I find the deeply hooded pods so popular now (Camaro, Mustang, Altima) very difficult compared to a simple panel like the Challenger's.
Even better would be a layout with a single display for all of the gauges, without the individual tunnels. Think "ten year old Honda" or even "ten year old Bonneville" here.
roadburner says:
05:07 PM, 08/ 3/09
I agree; the gauges in my 1995 3er are much easier to read than the electroluminescent light show in my MS3.
mikeolan says:
07:28 PM, 08/ 3/09
Chrysler has the best gauges hands down.
cx7lover says:
09:18 PM, 08/ 3/09
You know what I find saddening about this shot.. you could tell anyone it was from the Charger and they might know the difference. They used the parts bin too heavily when designing this thing.
stovt001 says:
09:45 PM, 08/ 3/09
While the Camaro's gauges may be harder to read (still better than the GT-R's absurd speedometer), you wouldn't mistake the view for any other car.
cwmoo740 says:
10:46 PM, 08/ 3/09
This is identical to the Dodge Caliber rental car that I had about a year ago. Very clear, but it kind of looks cheap.
mikeolan says:
11:28 PM, 08/ 3/09
@CX7Lover
The Charger's gauges are great, too. Other than the actual nasty looking green display below, there's nothing that should be changed. These gauges will look great 20 years from now, and I can't think of any other case where that's true.
cx7lover says:
02:26 AM, 08/ 4/09
I'm not denying the legibility of them, they could have at least made a little bit of an effort to differentiate them from the other Chrysler's that have the same cluster.
dougtheeng says:
06:45 AM, 08/ 4/09
I'm not a fan of the white-background for these gauges, but the legibility seems ok. That green glow looks annoying in this picture, but in my experience from other Dodge vehicles its not too bad in real life.
carguy622 says:
07:17 AM, 08/ 4/09
Except for the disappearing redline at night, 5 gauge cluster in my Miata is perfect. Legible, large, and free of unnecessary clutter.
carguy622 says:
07:18 AM, 08/ 4/09
cx7lover: If it ain't broke...
compliance says:
09:00 AM, 08/ 4/09
The white faced gauges are way out of style. That was so 10 years ago.
audisport says:
10:34 AM, 08/ 4/09
I'll add my Audi homer comment of the day. Can't beat my A4's cluster.
bimmerjay says:
12:46 PM, 08/ 4/09
The '90's called and would like their white-faced gauges back...
billt9 says:
01:30 PM, 08/ 4/09
those gauges are so ugly, you just can't beat a real BMW.
milt721 says:
09:13 AM, 08/ 5/09
Where's the oil pressure and amp gauges??
randycat99 says:
07:26 PM, 08/ 6/09
A design scheme that sacrifices legibility just to ape some ridiculous "classic" style that will just end up looking horrid a year from now is akin to styling-fad madness.
The Dodge gauges are *exactly* the way they should be for a modern car- FUNCTIONAL. The retro-transformers look in the Camaro would be utter trash in a Challenger. Same goes for the Mach I Mustang look- it may look nostalgically retro, but was it really that great looking in the first place to justify the extra difficulty to use them as functional gauges? So not worth it, imo.
carswapper says:
12:14 PM, 08/ 8/09
well if it has to beat the other 2 on something I guess gauges is something.