My apologies if this was a past thread.

I'm sure most of you have noticed that the gage styling of the RSX and TSX have the RPM and speedometer needles oriented in an unconventional fashion:


Typically, the '0' positions of both are around the 8 o'clock portions of the dials. Does anyone know if there was a functional purpose of the RSX / TSX design? The reason I ask is because I've noticed that the gages "dare" me to rev the motor and go faster.

I didn't notice the mental effect it has on my driving until I test drove an older Civic coupe and Acura RL. When I hit 3000 RPM on either of them, the needle give the impression of a much busier engine, almost as if it were a hint for you to back off.

 

....amongst other issues you apparently have. Maybe you should seek professional counseling to work out these issues and then pay more attention to the driving environment like watching the road and listening to the sounds of your car.

Gages!? We ain't got no gages. We don't need no gages! I don't have to show you any stinking gages.

 

^^^


But in all seriousness, when i first started driving it, yes i had to reorientate myself to the difference.

Or else i'd be shifting at 5k all the time

 

^ I love the New Yorkers' no-nonsense attitude!

 

or worse, you'd be driving 80 mph most of the time

 

It's spelled "gauges"

 

nice try grasshopper

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gauges

 

It took me a little while to get used to the speedometer in that orientation. It just looks so pathetic when you're driving 30 MPH and looks like a wet noodle (if you catch my drift)...and then I realize I'm in the parking lot.

 

No, but the temp needle position does.

 

The eye can catch the 12 o'clock of the tach without really needing to have you look at the numbers; you know that when it gets to vertical you shift unless you need to push it.

On the speedo, that 12 o'clock position looks just about right, too!

 

How fast are you going when it's a quarter after nine?

 

The first drive in my new TSX back in 2005 was coming straight from my G2 Integra (with the typical 8:00 is '0' gauges). I drove the G2 to the dealer to pick up my TSX at lunch... hopped in, and on the freeway back to work, I was so happy/giddy that I was probably leadfooting a bit, but also thrown off by the orientation of the gauges and soon realized that no, traffic wasn't slow that day, I was doing 160 km/h on a downtown freeway (normally 100 km/h speed limit). Needless to say, the brakes work well.

 

Same here... first ended up speeding and revving the engine way more than I would have wanted... got quickly back to normal because i was trying to break the engine in properly.

 

How does the position of the numbers affect anything? They could have made the ticks spread out more and adjust the needle to compensate. It's just visual, and it has no bearing on your other senses. I listen to the engine to tell me when it's time to shift. I look at the gauge for a split second and I know what the speed and rpm is. I know how the car behaves, so if I saw the needle at 5.8k rpm, then I know it's about to jump to 7k with vtec. Heck, I can feel the bumps in the road and see all the landmarks fly by, and that tells me if I'm going too fast or not.

Maybe it's the color...blue/white makes you think you're more energized and ready for more action? *shrugs*

 

I don't get why it would affect your driving... keep your eyes on the road LOL

but all jokes aside, a lot of cars come with the motorcycle style gauges. It's a sexier design and I think it's F1 style.

 

didnt affect me in any way..heck i love how its like that. makes ur car seem like its going faster as the needles moves more and faster than a regular positioned needle gauge.

 

Coming from a rattling, noisy, need-noise-to-go-fast car lke my G2 teg, directly into the TSX (with its low road noise, smooth ride, and deceivingly fast acceleration compared to the Teg), was a big change!!

Also you tend to use your peripheral vision to 'read' the speedo and tach (I know I do), and if its accustomed to a 'regular' setup (8:00 = 0rpm / 0kmh), and you throw a zero-degree gauges cluster at it, it can and does screw things up until you adjust.

As I said, once I LOOKED down, and read the numbers, I realized "oh shit!" and slowed down... but relying on positioning of a needle w/o looking at the nubmers, from a different perspective, was fun at the start.

 

oh the position of the numbers DID affect my driving, during my first test drive and maybe first day or two. I think I had tendency to just GLIMPSE at the position of the needle to ESTIMATE the speed of the car. But as I mention above, may be for a day or two. IMHO it takes some time to get used to, since all other cars do ont have numbers starting at 6 o'clock position .

 

Gauge still looks like the correct spelling to me