Complete LCD Gauge Clusters
The 10 Best And 10 Worst Automotive TechnologiesI've noticed a trend in luxury vehicles of replacing analog gauges with an LCD-based cluster. Lexus and Volvo do an excellent job with theirs. But Jaguar, Land Rover, Hyundai, and Cadillac fail miserably.
To begin, they all use a 12.3-inch display. They're completely two-dimensional. In comparison, Lexus and Volvo employ ring elements to give the screen some depth. Cadillac gets bonus points for offering different themes, but ultimately gets caught trying to replicate the analog needle and doing a poorer job than the technology getting replaced. And at night, you can see the LCD's backlight bleeding out, even at its dimmest setting. When there's a lot of dark content on-screen, that's pretty annoying.
LCD gauge clusters look great when Nvidia is demonstrating its Tegra K1-powered development board. But they're difficult to pull off well in practice. We're going to see a lot more of this technology in the future. For now, though, a number of companies are struggling to get the aesthetic aspect right.
At least BMW disables it automatically when the car is in Sport mode. The Jaguar you have to disable every time. But yes I agree its obnoxious unless its completely transparent, which most of the time it isn't. Seems harsh most of the time which is not something I'd tolerate in a luxury vehicle.
We've yet to spend seat time in a Tesla. The times I've seen them, I wouldn't say its the best. The interior just overwhelms you with touch screen LCDs, and overwhelming you doesn't make it the best. The drivetrain is impressive though.
The big problem is the smoothness. Even when they try to mask it, you can still feel a shudder. The level of refinement on start/stop isn't good enough for a luxury vehicle. For a Ford Fiesta? Sure, but a $40k+ luxury / sports sedan? Not so much.
I know Toyota and Ford use a Microsoft based solution so those probably would, but I don't think it matters too much because if you are buying a Chevy Sonic, you probably don't have the cash to buy their half assed nav system.
Actually my sister's Ford Fiesta supports WAV. Also the Tesla Model S supports FLAC up to 48KHz 24bit or 96KHz 16bit.
I keep a folder of FLAC music on my flash drive for car testing hoping that one day a car will work with FLAC. So far it has not happened yet
Actually my sister's Ford Fiesta supports WAV. Also the Tesla Model S supports FLAC up to 48KHz 24bit or 96KHz 16bit.
Yep. FLACK support.... for the low price of $89,000!
Actually my sister's Ford Fiesta supports WAV. Also the Tesla Model S supports FLAC up to 48KHz 24bit or 96KHz 16bit.
Yep. FLACK support.... for the low price of $89,000!
Don't forget you have to sign your life over and let them monitor your usage too.