does the chevy sonic have a temperature gauge?

[mrblueman]

or why dose it not have this gage. and other gauges like oil gage or battery gage. i would like to know what my car temperature is ever now and then. it seems like most if not all new cars have this gauges. what they think that the temp or oil gage is not a big deal.

 

[Papasonic]

The only gauge in the Sonic is the fuel gauge.

Apparently we don't need to know any more than that according to GM engineering. They think that a warning light is sufficient.

 

[mrblueman]

The only gauge in the Sonic is the fuel gauge.

Apparently we don't need to know any more than that according to GM engineering. They think that a warning light is sufficient.

but how do you know if your car is going to over heat or something with out gauges.

 

[rdss]

The light comes in to warn you. Get a ScanGaugeII or Ultra Gauge if you want to know more about your engine while driving.

 

[HADES20]

They probably didn't include one because the car is aimed at younger buyers and the old engineers at GM probably assumed we're to busy texting and such to pay attention to stuff like that

 

[Papasonic]

but how do you know if your car is going to over heat or something with out gauges.

That is an excellent question; something a GM product engineer should explain to us.

The only real reason is cost, but who among us wouldn't be willing to pay the extra amount to have a full set of gauges. Missing are: Coolant temp, Oil press, Amp or Volts, Boost gauge (on turbo)

Even the top trim Sonic, the RS model doesn't have adequate instrumentation.

 

[ungawd]

I'm a fan of gauges over idiot lights as well. I remedied the situation by purchasing an ultragauge. It works great, fits astetically, and allows for viewing and clearing malfunction indicator lights.

 

[SuperFudd]

There is a functional down side to having the likes of the Ultraguage attached all the time, right?

Yes, I am quite disturbed by the Govenment Motors management deciding we are too stupid to want gauges. There should be both gauges and lights.

If you are inclined to install a real temperature guage, consider making it an oil temperature guage.

 

[ungawd]

There is a functional down side to having the likes of the Ultraguage attached all the time, right?

Yes, I am quite disturbed by the Govenment Motors management deciding we are too stupid to want gauges. There should be both gauges and lights.

If you are inclined to install a real temperature guage, consider making it an oil temperature guage.

There's a functional upside, OnStar can't monitor you. :banana:

 

[Macehammer]

Criticize GM or Chevy for their engineering/design decision.

BTW, this side of cars isn't my forte, but I wonder if any Vendors have the might, gusto, know-how, to make an aftermarket replacement for the whole Tach assembly, and what that type of thing would cost to an end buyer...

It's mostly plastic, after all, and having a more functional built-in utilizing some of the already present components would be great....

 

[ungawd]

Criticize GM or Chevy for their engineering/design decision.

BTW, this side of cars isn't my forte, but I wonder if any Vendors have the might, gusto, know-how, to make an aftermarket replacement for the whole Tach assembly, and what that type of thing would cost to an end buyer...

It's mostly plastic, after all, and having a more functional built-in utilizing some of the already present components would be great....

Antiquated laws may hinder that. It may be illegal to tamper with the instrument cluster as the odometers on older vehicles are mechanical and can be changed. The laws could vary by state even.

 

[ColonelPanic]

I've had some factory temperature gauges that were so dumbed down, they might as well have been idiot lights. Can't say I really miss having one in the Sonic since the past two cars I've owned weren't honest with me anyway. Although at least having one user selectable multi-function gage (ala mid 80's Somerset with digital gauges :banana would be a welcome addition.

The last couple of cars, I had a ScanGauge connected and watched coolant temps - it could have wide temperature swings, say from 180-something up to 210 and the gauge never moved. By the time the gauge would start to move past "normal" I bet it would be too late. Probably would still be in the same situation as waiting for the idiot light to come on.

I've got a ScanGaugeE now unused, but it's going into my wife's Vibe since it's lacking a trip computer.

 

[Macehammer]

You should never use "my wife's Vibe" in a sentence....

 

[sx sonic]

There is a functional down side to having the likes of the Ultraguage attached all the time, right?

Yes, I am quite disturbed by the Govenment Motors management deciding we are too stupid to want gauges. There should be both gauges and lights.

If you are inclined to install a real temperature guage, consider making it an oil temperature guage.

Sadly idiot lights over instrumentation is not exclusive to GM, in fact IMHO GM has been one of the better manufacturer's at providing consistently good gauges (i.e they had more &/or better gauges then say FORD on most of their vehicle lineup).

O.E.M.s make cars to sell to the general populous. They want to make cars as cheap as possible to fluff their bottom line, BUT they've got competition so they have to try to be the most reliable, fastest, best handling, most mpg, flashiest, etc to beat the other O.E.M.s and take their sales.

Improving their cars cost money, so they save where the can. My generation sadly has an extreme obsession with form over function, new is cool regardless if it works (I-phones come to mind).

So what's easy to cut and save money while not affecting many potential buyers? GUAGES!! they don't stream Bluetooth, or have apps so my peers have little use for them. all they need is -Gas, -Speed and well that's really it, oh and they may want to know their MPG.

So in a stroke of brilliant engineering O.E.M.s are wiping out gauges because well only a shrinking portion of buyers want them. Don't blame GM, blame the buyers.

 

[Maddmatts]

Don't blame GM, blame the buyers.

This exactly. Unfortunately there's this thing called "the lowest common denominator". And it dictates how a lot of things happen these days.

I remember reading an article some time ago that the average driver has problems with information overload while driving. I'd like to take one of these people into a ****pit and ask them to tell me what the head temp for cyl. 5 on #2 engine is and watch their brains melt out their ears.

 

[sx sonic]

I take it you tried to put c*ckpit? and it turned it into ****pit lol

 

[laborsmith]

GM makes lots of cars that come with many if not all of the gauges one would want. They usually carry iconic names, such as Camaro (couldn't resist) or Corvette.

But the fact is, most cars aimed at the majority of American buyers (the Sonic included) depend on "idiot lights" to meet the driving needs of their targeted customers.

This was true before 2008 and will be true after 2016; government motors notwithstanding.


Laborsmith

 

[Kuntryboy865]

The light comes in to warn you. Get a ScanGaugeII or Ultra Gauge if you want to know more about your engine while driving.

This, I bought my ultragauge to keep an eye on the temps the other read outs are a bonus to me.

 

[Palmaris]

I think that car manufacturers have thought about this question. Why do you need a temperature gauge that climbs up to exactly the same spot every time you drive and goes down to 0 every time you shut the car off?

Repeat this for thousands to hundreds of thousands of cycles with no changes. Why, cause how often do cars overheat a little bit now a days? They don't. If there is a problem, its major and that's when the indicator light will come on. You will probably be more likely to notice it as well if its something new and not the same old gauge that I ignore.

For the minuscule percentage that need to know the engine temp, they will buy a separate gauge for temps.

 

[$ub$onic]

I don't care how the justify it I still like to see what the engine is doing