While not new and not groundbreaking "news", it looks like this dumbing down of the motor driver/owner continues.

So all you get now is a "blue" constant ON dash Coolant Temp Warning that your engine is Cold ...blue light goes off when it's not so cold...and a red light if engine overheats.

Mazda first did this on the DE Mazda 2, then the 2010 Mazda 3, and now the 2012 Mazda 5...next..

Is it a money saving excercise...yes, partly IMO.
Is the 'Cold Blue' light a good Idea, yes...maybe
Will it make the driver think to keep engine revs down...possibly?

What do you think?

http://www.thecarconnection.com/mart...-no-temp-gauge

 

I find it incredibly stupid...
Why would a car maker do that, it would much harder to moniter the temp of your car now.
I think they should just show the actual temperature of the car and state the proper operating temperature. Seriously, how hard is that? The ECU in almost every car does that so why not show the information?

 

most people don't pay attention to this stuff anyways so in that sense I understand why Mazda is making this change.
On the other hand, I think it is a continuation of 'we know best'

 

True, but sometime (most times) to much information is just too much..

Imagine if Mazda hooked a direct Digital Dash link to the ECU monitoring of engine Coolant temps...you would get SO many owners whining or comparing coolant temps, and why someones is running a few degrees cooler or hotter...and the old, MY old Car never did that, why do you think the Oil Pressure Gauge in S1 was/is semi-dumb.....too much information....for most not all owners.

 

I like the idea - most people have no clue what to do with the information they see on the dash . The red means too hot light may actually save quite a few engines from damage due to overheating .
As for the enthusiast - the existing guage was never sufficient anyway so most fit an aftermarket .

 

Meh, I guess it's okay. Might alert the average dumbass that he was overheating before serious engine damage, but.............probably not.

Anybody that is serious is going to install something that they can monitor anyway.

Don't think it will keep said dumbass from over rev'ing a cold engine though.

 

Basically the guage in the RX8 isn't a hell of a lot better

By the time the guage is moving over the normal warm position it is too hot.......

 

Add a few more digital bars between "red" and "green" and you'd have a good digital gauge.

Better solution - a programmable digital dash. Default setting is colored lights for the clueless, but can be optionally set w/digital gauges w/real data if you aren't. Write good sw once - satisfy everyone .

 

I agree that for the average driver this isn't much father off from the current situation. As mentioned, the current gauge doesn't even start to move until you're already in the danger zone and by the time it's in a position where you would notice you're way past overheating.

I had this happen to me on a canyon run which is why I opted to install a gauge that provides a warning. What Mazda would/should do is make sure the red light has an audible warning and that would actually provide a greater awareness than the current gauge.

 

I agree, I had an New beetle and it did the same thing, the first thing I did was put in proper gauges. Basically one of the first things I did in my 8, as well, I mean there really isn't much difference between the joke gauges we have and the light gauge, at least the light gauge would flash at you when you were screwed, so you might notice.

 

My girlfriend has a new Mazda 3 and I was wondering why there was no coolant temp gauge.

 

Scangauge II

 

Meh my 1958 came with 3 gauges stock. A Speedo, Mechanical Fuel, and Clock.

Everything else it was assumed you knew. It was assumed you could hear when you were at redline, and that you checked the oil and knew by the feel of the engine when it was warmed up.

 

My mother's new car hasn't got it either. It's chevrolet spark (a daewoo catually). The old matiz i think had it though.

 

isn't the guage in the 8 (and most cars) basically this, cold warming good and overheating..

 

I was about to say the same thing

Cold: At start
Normal: 2min after start
Hot: You're engine is already blown


My motorcycle shows me the exact temp °C or °F and I love it.

 

Isn't it same with oil pressure, at least it was in MX-5, it already was "digital" in the 90s. It looks like a gauge, but it's just on or off.

 

Yup, our gauge is a dummy gauge, in part as a response to people complaining about the original MX-5 gauge, which was proper and moved. The problem is that the average consumer doesn't know what they should be looking for anyway, which is why they complained in the first place.

 

just go with a motometer like my dads 1930 car had. It was just a thermometer (the original hood ornament) that was screwed into the top of the radiator. You could watch it as you drove down the road.

 

Our gauge barley moves any way, so no big deal.

 

our gauge is really doing just that anyways, it does not give an accurate depiction of temp, anyways its either all the way down, mid cocked or overloading, no different than the lights

 

I test drove a 2009 Honda Fits when it came out, it had this blue/red temp light already.

 

Almost all temperature gauges in cars today are just idiot gauges anyway. They do the same thing as this "light on/off" thing, except its done with a needle. You may get a slight variance, but your needle is either going to be normal or over-heating for the most part.

 

oh man things just keep getting better and better.

as for the "gauge" thing, I can always tap my own ...

pain in the ***? hell yea

i don't trust stock gauges anyway.

 

+1.

I have so many ******** come in complaining that their temperature control isn't " 75*F", It's like they are holding a thermometer to it. Yeah right. They just complain because most of the time they have it in auto mode. (I'm talking about Lexus cars of course)
They should've kept it simple.


Oh, and yeah we run 10,000 mile oil change intervals with some cars that require 0W-20.
BMW has been doing it for years - why is this such a surprise to people?