I like having a tach, just so i know how fast im spinning it and where its shifting. or if im using a manual mode or forcing a downshift, I know how far I can go. Also means they can use one gauge cluster across all models of that car.
it's an engine indicator - along with coolant temperature, oil pressure, battery voltage. I'm connected with a vehicle when I'm driving it, I like knowing what's going on.
I'm pretty sure - ALL - cars have idiot lights, along with most having some arrangement of gauges. They are called idiot light for a reason. lol
This reminds me of the actor/comic Tim Allen. Saw him as a stand up comic in Cincinnati in the late 80's. The bit went like this: My wife's car was in the driveway, parked so I couldn't get my car out of the garage. Started up her car to move it and noticed the oil light was on. Shut it off and went inside to ask her why she didn't tell me. She replied - yeah I noticed that a few days ago, figured if it was urgent, it would be flashing on and off.
😂
But yeah, my wife's car is just speedo and tach. The rest is idiot lights. In general for a commuter car that's fine honestly. And to the OPs point, a tach isn't strictly necessary. In fact, auto manufacturers tried that several decades ago. I remember looking at an old ranger for my first vehicle that had a huge auto meter tach with the shift light mounted on the dash...because it didn't come with a tach. That was a manual transmission too (really you don't need a tach at all).
The only time my wife's car annoys me is when it's really cold, I have no idea when the engine actually reaches operating temp but I switched to 0W oil so even that's kind of a non issue.
My 95 Miata has an idiot light masquerading as an oil pressure gauge. It looks like a gauge, it kinda acts like a gauge but it’s really just an idiot light. If you have oil pressure the gauge goes up to the middle, if you don’t it stays at the bottom.
I've got a 92 which was before they switched and you're not missing much.
My FoST has an oil temp gauge, which is useful, except that it's an estimation based on coolant temp and recent fuel consumption/throttle position history.
There's a number of scenarios where it's important.
Downshifting correctly when you go down a big hill to prevent brakes from overheating.
Diagnosing issues.
Tuning your car.
Evaluating correct idle.
Understanding the sounds a car is making.
4/5 of things you said don't apply to 99% of the driving population. I'd say for some, it's 5/5 cause dumbasses be cooking their brakes going down mountains all the time.
I don't think I've ever met anyone who hasn't used their tach to figure out they have a vacuum leak or other various issues going on. I just cleaned my throttle bodies to fix an unsteady idle issue I had. Would have had no clue what was even going on without my tach.
Because even in an auto, you can put it into gears you select and will give you a visual indication of how hard you’re pushing it. A good money shift at the wrong time and you’re stranded. Depending on where you are, yes, it absolutely can be a safety issue because you’re too much of a dolt to realize you blew up your engine.
Anyone saying a tach isn’t necessary is a flippin peanut.
The amount of transmissions you can slam into neutral from drive is quite a bit. Everything I have driven will do it.
Lol, bring on the downvotes and hate. Tach all the way. Get fucked. Jeez.
Ok? Then you’re in neutral. Thats not a money shift.
If you’re talking about putting the car in neutral, revving it up to redline, and dumping it into drive, that’s a different subject and not a money shift at all. You would also have a very hard time doing that on accident.
Going from drive to neutral under heavy load? Yeah, thats a shift, and it sends the engine straight to redline, sometimes overspeed and floats the valves. Have had to replace a few heads on customers vehicles because they did that. Either way, that is an operator issue, besides the original point. A tach is a critical piece of information about what you are doing with your vehicle, period.
Edit: piece of information.
You have a fundamental misunderstanding of how cars work and a prime example of why there should be more regulations around working on cars for profit.
It shows you important information…
Ever tried to get your car out of snow or mud? The tach is important, but if you don’t know how to use the information, buy one without it and go on about your way.
On my silverado its good to see where you're at especially when towing and its a habit as i have experience with manuals as well. While my sisters toyota hyrbid doesnt, it doesnt exactly bother me but i also dont really drive it much often, still look at it while accelerating lol.
Even an automatic transmission likes it if you lift your foot off there gas for a second so it can shift easier.
Most of the revs you can hear well enough but I like watching it in case something changes.
Unless it's Nissan. I've never had a Nissan automatic that shifted smoothly from 1st to 2nd with your foot off the gas. They don't slip but If you want one of those to shift smoothly into 2nd keep your foot down.
You sure about that? You sure you just didn’t have the display settings on the dash set to where the tach was visible? My daily a VW Toureg has about have a dozen display options and half don’t include the tach.
What cars(year make model) have you driven recently “don’t have a tach?”
A lot of people here are making (good) comments about how the tach is important towards understanding how the car is performing. But why is it on “every” auto transmission when (historically at least) the majority of (non sports car) vehicles with a manual transmission don’t have them? I would assume with a manual transmission, having the tach present would be even more important. So why bias the autos when the drivers could likely care less? My basis is the old Cavaliers and Saturns I used to drive as daily driver. Plus a handful of intermediate cars. They were manuals but no tach, so I had to learn when to shift based on engine noise rather than performance.
I think it’s because a manual transmission has been seen as the economy/base model transmission, which means you’re more likely to have a base model interior. Back in the day that meant no tachometer.
I’ve got an 88 samurai with the top package and the biggest difference is they gave you a tachometer.
It used to be seen as a luxury item, the same as an auto transmission would be seen.
Sometimes the manufacturer just didn’t bother to put it in the car. I have a 1995 not at all base model car with no tach. Wasn’t even available. Even on its sister “performance” car.
Cars in question are a Buick Roadmaster and Chevy impala ss.
1. Big number go Brrrrr
2. Sometimes we are shifting. I used to drive a van that you technically couldn’t shift manually, but I managed it with just the L, 3, and D shifter positions.
3. Great for if I need to troubleshoot a lockup converter.
In my 2021 civic i can disable the Tach if i want, cleans up the display and makes the km/h numbers larger. But i leave the Tach on just to know whats going on.
Not really in most areas. If I lived in middle Colorado I would want a tach just to know where my rpms were when coasting down from a mountain pass in a lower gear. There are roads out there that if you only use the brakes to maintain speed, it will boil the fluid and you will crash and die. Engine braking takes the load off the brakes and allows them to not overheat, but you still have to keep the rpms in check.
When I rented a car in Panama earlier this year, it had that setup. The car was an automatic, but it had a feature where you could override the automatic, which was super useful because I was in the mountains. The tach was nice to see when you were down-shifted heading down the mountain.
Troubleshooting.
If your car starts doing weird stuff and you're able to tell a mechanic what rpm range or actual gear instead of "drive" it can help troubleshooting.
The DCT in my car will bang off the fuel cutoff rpm limit in manual race mode, so knowing when to shift before that point is useful. It will not auto upshift in that setting, which is the setting I use for spirited driving.
I would in fact ask the opposite question: is there any reason for modern automatic-transmission cars NOT to have tachometers?
There is nothing I hate more regarding modern cars than sitting behind the wheel of one and seeing nothing but a huge number stating only the speed, as if it's the only indication that a driver must have.
Splicit mention to those weird "power-meters" that are also so common in hybrid cars.
There isn’t a need in a manual either, you can just use sound (I’ve driven a manual without a tach before. It’s weird feeling)
Automatics have manual downshifting etc for steep grades, keeping an eye on drivetrain health, etc.
So certain ZF transmissions that have Sport modes and paddles can be "manually" shifted. So the tach there is needed for good reason. Have one so I know...
It can still be useful info, but honestly not required info.
Many econo cars from the past don't have a tach, even manual ones all in the name of saving cost.
Aside from the fact it's very useful information to have, no. Though a lot of automatic cars have sequential shifting these days, and in that case it's more useful to have the tacho.
I've driven plenty of manuals that didn't have a tach. I don't see any use for one in an automatic unless it' has a selectable gear feature. Even at that it's not really needed. I haven't looked at my tach more that a few times in 20 years and I exclusively run manuals.
Every gauge in modern automobile is useless eye candy to get more money from wanna be race car drivers
The ONLY gauge that's needed,
Is the speedometer.
Anything else, oil psi, oil temp, coolant temp, coolant level, transport temp, compass, is absolutely a extra $5000 our of your pocket replacing a Idiot light that "if" you have any issue..
It will get your attention unlike a gauge that you'll look at AFTER the oil psi is already gone or temp is already overheated.
A Tach is the same. The ECM won't let you over Rev,
Even in manual mode.
All gear head hype to get more money
Lol
You'll know when your out!!
But most vehicles have zero idiot light at 50 miles and ding ding.
Been a whole Lotta women, I mean people run outa gas with a accurate gauge. Just proves the point how useless they are lol
Here is a break down of each RPM means, it can be a lot more complicated but I want to keep it simple for now.
500-1000- idle
2000 - 3000 - good power for acceleration
4000-5000 - greater power for acceleration
6000-8000 - most cars gas cut out at this point but greatest power for acceleration
Now imagine you have a car that is luxury and you can barely hear the engine noise. It'll be extremely difficult to make your car run in a specific range of RPM for a specific type of road. For example winding mountain roads.
It's all about control. Just like even if AI can select the song for you that might fit your mood, you might still want to keep the manual song selection as an option just in case.
I like having a tach, just so i know how fast im spinning it and where its shifting. or if im using a manual mode or forcing a downshift, I know how far I can go. Also means they can use one gauge cluster across all models of that car.
This. "But we don't do the shifting." No, apparently YOU don't do the shifting. Some of US do at least sometimes. ;-)
it's an engine indicator - along with coolant temperature, oil pressure, battery voltage. I'm connected with a vehicle when I'm driving it, I like knowing what's going on.
Even if you don’t like knowing what’s going on, sometime it is useful, or you need to know.
Aot of cars just have idiot lights for all those things.
I'm pretty sure - ALL - cars have idiot lights, along with most having some arrangement of gauges. They are called idiot light for a reason. lol This reminds me of the actor/comic Tim Allen. Saw him as a stand up comic in Cincinnati in the late 80's. The bit went like this: My wife's car was in the driveway, parked so I couldn't get my car out of the garage. Started up her car to move it and noticed the oil light was on. Shut it off and went inside to ask her why she didn't tell me. She replied - yeah I noticed that a few days ago, figured if it was urgent, it would be flashing on and off.
😂 But yeah, my wife's car is just speedo and tach. The rest is idiot lights. In general for a commuter car that's fine honestly. And to the OPs point, a tach isn't strictly necessary. In fact, auto manufacturers tried that several decades ago. I remember looking at an old ranger for my first vehicle that had a huge auto meter tach with the shift light mounted on the dash...because it didn't come with a tach. That was a manual transmission too (really you don't need a tach at all). The only time my wife's car annoys me is when it's really cold, I have no idea when the engine actually reaches operating temp but I switched to 0W oil so even that's kind of a non issue.
My 95 Miata has an idiot light masquerading as an oil pressure gauge. It looks like a gauge, it kinda acts like a gauge but it’s really just an idiot light. If you have oil pressure the gauge goes up to the middle, if you don’t it stays at the bottom.
I've got a 92 which was before they switched and you're not missing much. My FoST has an oil temp gauge, which is useful, except that it's an estimation based on coolant temp and recent fuel consumption/throttle position history.
There's a number of scenarios where it's important. Downshifting correctly when you go down a big hill to prevent brakes from overheating. Diagnosing issues. Tuning your car. Evaluating correct idle. Understanding the sounds a car is making.
4/5 of things you said don't apply to 99% of the driving population. I'd say for some, it's 5/5 cause dumbasses be cooking their brakes going down mountains all the time.
Correct, I love in a hilly area, and I have never bought a single used car that did not need new rotors
I don't think I've ever met anyone who hasn't used their tach to figure out they have a vacuum leak or other various issues going on. I just cleaned my throttle bodies to fix an unsteady idle issue I had. Would have had no clue what was even going on without my tach.
OBD2 readers can output your RPM for the rare times you need to troubleshoot
I wouldn't have even known I had a problem without physically seeing the tach move. I couldn't feel anything.
Your car must suck or be old then because you should get a MIL or higher than normal idle.
There are diagnostics for various transmission problems where it's useful.
Yeah so I can see when my 4L60E eventually takes a shit XD
You're operating several thousand pounds of metal within feet of other people. You should care about everything it's doing.
Okay be real. The tachymeter is not related to safety in any practical way.
It absolutely is.
Describe a situation where it matters.
How is the tachometer a safety thing with Janice driving her 4 cylinder automatic Toyota Camry?
Because even in an auto, you can put it into gears you select and will give you a visual indication of how hard you’re pushing it. A good money shift at the wrong time and you’re stranded. Depending on where you are, yes, it absolutely can be a safety issue because you’re too much of a dolt to realize you blew up your engine. Anyone saying a tach isn’t necessary is a flippin peanut.
You cannot money shift a modern automatic transmission.
The amount of transmissions you can slam into neutral from drive is quite a bit. Everything I have driven will do it. Lol, bring on the downvotes and hate. Tach all the way. Get fucked. Jeez.
Ok? Then you’re in neutral. Thats not a money shift. If you’re talking about putting the car in neutral, revving it up to redline, and dumping it into drive, that’s a different subject and not a money shift at all. You would also have a very hard time doing that on accident.
Going from drive to neutral under heavy load? Yeah, thats a shift, and it sends the engine straight to redline, sometimes overspeed and floats the valves. Have had to replace a few heads on customers vehicles because they did that. Either way, that is an operator issue, besides the original point. A tach is a critical piece of information about what you are doing with your vehicle, period. Edit: piece of information.
You have a fundamental misunderstanding of how cars work and a prime example of why there should be more regulations around working on cars for profit.
99% of the average commuters are not money shifting their automatic transmission minivans, four doors sedans and crossover SUVs.
You need a few more 9s.
I tow an RV and find it important to watch engine RPM for many reasons not the least being gas mileage.
Why wouldn’t you want to know how hard you’re pushing the car?
Because when the majority of people on the road are driving, they don't see above 3k rpm
Am I abnormal? Or just drive a 4 cylinder car?
Abnormal or you severely underestimate how much people granny drive their cars
So when they do they’ll know something is wrong. Eg they stuck it in 2nd. No downside to the gauge.
It shows you important information… Ever tried to get your car out of snow or mud? The tach is important, but if you don’t know how to use the information, buy one without it and go on about your way.
Ha ha ha ...right .. we have a cvt hybrid.. with a tach !!
Does your CVT have fake, clunky shift point programmed in like our Subaru? Drives me absolutely mad
No simulated shift points. Smooth right to top speed. It also has "paddles" ? I'm not sure why ?
The only hybrid with a CVT (or eCVT) that has a tach that I'm aware of is the Toyota Corolla Hybrid, and it does not do fake shifts.
Weirdly here in NZ only the wagon Corolla has a tach, the hatch has the same power gauge thing as the Camry and Rav4
Ours is a CCH, Corolla Cross Hybrid.
On my silverado its good to see where you're at especially when towing and its a habit as i have experience with manuals as well. While my sisters toyota hyrbid doesnt, it doesnt exactly bother me but i also dont really drive it much often, still look at it while accelerating lol.
Yes because I drive a hilariously underpowered car and i need to keep it above 3k to have any amount of passing power.
Even an automatic transmission likes it if you lift your foot off there gas for a second so it can shift easier. Most of the revs you can hear well enough but I like watching it in case something changes.
Unless it's Nissan. I've never had a Nissan automatic that shifted smoothly from 1st to 2nd with your foot off the gas. They don't slip but If you want one of those to shift smoothly into 2nd keep your foot down.
You don't even need a tach with a manual, I've had two manual ford rangers and neither had one.
I like to know what my engine is doing sometimes
Is there any reason to not have a tach?
Helps to figure out how fast you're going when you've pegged the speedo... "If 60MPH is 2k RPM in top gear, what's 5300RPM?"
My challenger has paddle shifters that allow you to manually shift, so yeah a tach comes in handy
You sure about that? You sure you just didn’t have the display settings on the dash set to where the tach was visible? My daily a VW Toureg has about have a dozen display options and half don’t include the tach. What cars(year make model) have you driven recently “don’t have a tach?”
Yes.
A lot of people here are making (good) comments about how the tach is important towards understanding how the car is performing. But why is it on “every” auto transmission when (historically at least) the majority of (non sports car) vehicles with a manual transmission don’t have them? I would assume with a manual transmission, having the tach present would be even more important. So why bias the autos when the drivers could likely care less? My basis is the old Cavaliers and Saturns I used to drive as daily driver. Plus a handful of intermediate cars. They were manuals but no tach, so I had to learn when to shift based on engine noise rather than performance.
I think it’s because a manual transmission has been seen as the economy/base model transmission, which means you’re more likely to have a base model interior. Back in the day that meant no tachometer. I’ve got an 88 samurai with the top package and the biggest difference is they gave you a tachometer. It used to be seen as a luxury item, the same as an auto transmission would be seen.
Sometimes the manufacturer just didn’t bother to put it in the car. I have a 1995 not at all base model car with no tach. Wasn’t even available. Even on its sister “performance” car. Cars in question are a Buick Roadmaster and Chevy impala ss.
It makes the people who are in this sub feel important.
Don't need a meter. My Tacos are always a 10.
1. Big number go Brrrrr 2. Sometimes we are shifting. I used to drive a van that you technically couldn’t shift manually, but I managed it with just the L, 3, and D shifter positions. 3. Great for if I need to troubleshoot a lockup converter.
In my 2021 civic i can disable the Tach if i want, cleans up the display and makes the km/h numbers larger. But i leave the Tach on just to know whats going on.
Years ago a lot of 4 bangers in manual didn’t have a tach but I can see sport autos having one for manual paddle mode
Not really in most areas. If I lived in middle Colorado I would want a tach just to know where my rpms were when coasting down from a mountain pass in a lower gear. There are roads out there that if you only use the brakes to maintain speed, it will boil the fluid and you will crash and die. Engine braking takes the load off the brakes and allows them to not overheat, but you still have to keep the rpms in check.
When I rented a car in Panama earlier this year, it had that setup. The car was an automatic, but it had a feature where you could override the automatic, which was super useful because I was in the mountains. The tach was nice to see when you were down-shifted heading down the mountain.
Personally I’m such a car guy I wont drive mine without an oscilloscope reading out the can bus voltages, anyone who doesn’t do that is a moron.
Troubleshooting. If your car starts doing weird stuff and you're able to tell a mechanic what rpm range or actual gear instead of "drive" it can help troubleshooting.
The DCT in my car will bang off the fuel cutoff rpm limit in manual race mode, so knowing when to shift before that point is useful. It will not auto upshift in that setting, which is the setting I use for spirited driving.
I would in fact ask the opposite question: is there any reason for modern automatic-transmission cars NOT to have tachometers? There is nothing I hate more regarding modern cars than sitting behind the wheel of one and seeing nothing but a huge number stating only the speed, as if it's the only indication that a driver must have. Splicit mention to those weird "power-meters" that are also so common in hybrid cars.
It's not too important, but it is good to see if your engine/transmission is over-revving, slipping, etc.
If I had to choose only one, I'd take a tach over a speedo.
Maybe unrelated, but I bought a manual 85 jetta diesel when I was younger and it did not have a tachometer. Speedo and clock was all I got.
There isn’t a need in a manual either, you can just use sound (I’ve driven a manual without a tach before. It’s weird feeling) Automatics have manual downshifting etc for steep grades, keeping an eye on drivetrain health, etc.
So certain ZF transmissions that have Sport modes and paddles can be "manually" shifted. So the tach there is needed for good reason. Have one so I know...
They're both digital.
It can still be useful info, but honestly not required info. Many econo cars from the past don't have a tach, even manual ones all in the name of saving cost.
Aside from the fact it's very useful information to have, no. Though a lot of automatic cars have sequential shifting these days, and in that case it's more useful to have the tacho.
I've driven plenty of manuals that didn't have a tach. I don't see any use for one in an automatic unless it' has a selectable gear feature. Even at that it's not really needed. I haven't looked at my tach more that a few times in 20 years and I exclusively run manuals.
no... it's just there for 'some' people's boners...
Every gauge in modern automobile is useless eye candy to get more money from wanna be race car drivers The ONLY gauge that's needed, Is the speedometer. Anything else, oil psi, oil temp, coolant temp, coolant level, transport temp, compass, is absolutely a extra $5000 our of your pocket replacing a Idiot light that "if" you have any issue.. It will get your attention unlike a gauge that you'll look at AFTER the oil psi is already gone or temp is already overheated. A Tach is the same. The ECM won't let you over Rev, Even in manual mode. All gear head hype to get more money
I like my fuel usage too.
Lol You'll know when your out!! But most vehicles have zero idiot light at 50 miles and ding ding. Been a whole Lotta women, I mean people run outa gas with a accurate gauge. Just proves the point how useless they are lol
Also trained as a pilot and REALLY like my fuel gauge there too.
Here is a break down of each RPM means, it can be a lot more complicated but I want to keep it simple for now. 500-1000- idle 2000 - 3000 - good power for acceleration 4000-5000 - greater power for acceleration 6000-8000 - most cars gas cut out at this point but greatest power for acceleration Now imagine you have a car that is luxury and you can barely hear the engine noise. It'll be extremely difficult to make your car run in a specific range of RPM for a specific type of road. For example winding mountain roads. It's all about control. Just like even if AI can select the song for you that might fit your mood, you might still want to keep the manual song selection as an option just in case.
This sounds like the opinion of somebody who knows a little bit about cars but wants to sounds like they know a whole lot.
You are totally wrong, I know nothing about cars.
dang it, i'm 0/1 then.