I personally love my 550i but could use more toys as well.

I admit I am a bit jealous of the NEW Nissan GT-R's instrument package. It is fully configurable. It'll even tell you how many G's you're pulling. Here's a couple of quick links to some info. Story on GT-R Interior Photo

It seems some bright software engineer with some friends in the auto industry should be able to do this for other cars as a plug in.

Have fun guys!

 

You and Me are alike.
+1 to know your car down to the heart is very good and you can drive faster around corners with out any worry.

 

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one here who likes gauges. It's not very responsible to not want to know what's going on with your car. Heck, some simple gauges might reduce some of the "the car went into Safe Mode and I/the dealer doesn't know what's wrong" threads. To the folks relying on the computers, you do know that if something is wrong with your car and it didn't throw a code, the only thing the dealer is going to say is, "There's no trouble code. That'll be $110, please," don't you? Computers have made these so-called mechanics lazy nowadays. They plug your car into a terminal and make no efforts to actually diagnose the symptoms you complain about.

Some things gauges could warn about:

Volt meter: Alternator dies and now aaalll that stuff is running on the battery; heaven forbid if it happens at night! A volt meter would show the drop in the battery charge and alert you that you need to get to a service station in a hurry or start getting BMW Assist on the line.

Oil Pressure gauge: Literally the lifeblood of your engine. Idiot lights don't come on until it is absolutely too late. When the light comes on, you really do need to immediately shutdown the engine and pray no damage has been done. Ever heard of oil starvation? It can happen during aggressive cornering or traveling hilly terrain when the oil is low. An oil gauge and a DIPSTICK can do wonders to keep you apprised on this oh so important fluid. $20 total, if that much, in parts at the factory could save you THOUSANDS outside of warranty.

Coolant Temp gauge: Those hot summer days. Coolant is low, but you don't know it because you trust the computer to alert you and don't bother to ever open the hood. Meanwhile as you're sitting in your Bimmer nice and cool, your poor engine is cooking and dying of thirst because the coolant is too low to provide sufficient cooling. Idiot light's not gonna come on until the radiator is boiling over and the engine block is about ready to crack. A coolant gauge would allow you to see the temperature rising as you're traveling down the road or idling in traffic. You'd know to stop off someplace and fill up on coolant. And if the coolant and oil are low at the same time and the idiot lights come on??! tsk, tsk, tsk It's gonna be troooublle!

Some simple gauges can prevent a lot of headaches and bank drafts. And with these purporting to be "performance cars," they're probably driven as such by most of us here and those gauges would be greatly appreciated more than some of you realize. Hard driving amplifies engine heat, oil wear, coolant loss, battery drainage, etc. Gauges would keep us on top of that and let us know when playtime is over. The last thing I want is to be 700 miles from home in the town of Middle, sitting at the corner of No and Where with a dead car; all because I didn't have a gauge that would've alerted me to something that has me stranded there.

 

Listen to this guy he's been around a few garages Those gauges are for early warning signs or early diagnostic.

I have a feeling, in not very distant future driver can configure the MMI (man-machine interface like I-drive) to show customized icons, readings, gauges etc. That'll be cool, so people who don't care about temp, oil level etc just blank them out.

 

That's interesting you mention this. I have a 2004 E61 which had the warm up gauge that moved round the rev counter. However, I had a "twitchy" rev counter needle and the resolution was to replace the instrument cluster. Now, the warmup gauge doesn't move. I phoned the dealer and he said he wasn't sure but BMW quite often change things like this and don't tell the dealer. Sounds like that's exactly what they have done.

 

Again, In the 550 there is a dipstick. I always use that. Never trust I drive for oil level when you have a dipstick.

 

Russ, you're starting to sound like a Saab driver.

 

Where? Looks like I need to open my hood again. I only glanced in there when I was checking out the car. I had already read that there's no dipstick, so I didn't look for one. But you're saying there is one on the 550i?

 

Wonder if a volt gauge would've helped here?

 

Not sure where your dipstick is located, but my 550 doesn't have one other than the electronic one. Confirmed by BMW at last visit.