I know a lot of Americans use this site so I'll try and explain as simply as I can. A tachometer isn't where you store your tacos while driving, that's just called a tacoholder. A tachometer let's you know your revs per minute and that allegedly let's you know when to change gear. (gears are things European cars have)
Now I pay no attention to mine. I know the revs are up because the car goes brmmm brmmm. I know when to change up and down because the engine changes noise or I can't get up the hill.
So as far as I can see it's just a pointless pointer
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+1 y
My friend can't see very well so she just goes by how the car feels and sounds rather than a dial.
" ... A tachometer isn't where you store your tacos while driving.. "
😱 it is not? .. what have i done all these years then?
" gears are things European cars have.. "
Well sorry to disappoint you dear.. all cars have " gears" even the automatic ones..( although it happens automaticly actually some electric cars have them as wel.
But any way... why on earth do you need this thing in your car and there fore there are cars which don't have one. 😁 if you know your car it is telling you what it wants.. by make an ugly sound. A cry for help if you push it to far.
What i do hate the most in modern cars are those gear up gear down signal lights. You drive and suddenly an up arrow appears. Telling you to " gear " up... common are people dumb or something.. ?
No! Well some of us are. But then stay out of a car. 🤭 they are there to tell you how to drive economic " save fuel and that kind of crap " .
Oh how i like to force the engine to work. Pull up till 3.5 or 4.5 ... not always but it kind of cleans your engine.. by burning all residue in the engine..
The only time i'm paying attention of the rpm of the engine when i drive 4x4.. the back wheels have an electric gear system which can handle a lot. But off road.. you will break things 🙃
They are slightly useful, but mostly they are just because some people think they look cool. Most cars come with option packages. Tachs are probably part of a package, and it's all or nothing. In the past you could order individual options like tachs, but that's a thing of the past. Tachs probably come with some kind of performance or rally package.
I did something pretty stupid once. I had just bought a 68 Dodge Charger and was driving it cross country to where I lived. It was an automatic and I accidentally drove a fairly high speed in 2nd gear. I was reving the engine way too high. It was big city rush hour so I didn't hear it. The oil pump went out, which means the engine wasn't too far behind. If I had a tach, it's far more likely I'd have noticed being in the wrong gear and saved the engine.
Nowadays there's even less reason for a tach because the computer does everything for you. In most cars it's not even possible to have it in the wrong gear or rev it too high.
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Anonymous
(18-24)
+1 y
Tachs are very useful if you know what you're looking at. They can indicate whether your automatic transmission is shifting properly before you blow up your motor, or if, on a manual transmission, you are shifting properly, especially if there is a lot of noise and you can't hear/ feel the motor.
Nah, I'm American, this is hilarious. Now I want to prank someone with a taco in the sunglass holder. (see, I know stuff!)
As for why you have a tachometer. While yes, it's good at helping you select a gear, especially when you're engaged in spirited driving or on a slippery surface. It's also an excellent diagnostic tool for a car. It tells you if the car is idling correctly, sometimes when repairing a car, it's part of the procedure to rev the engine to a certain point. It might even warn you about transmission problems.
The only thing I take issue with: excluding interiors, there's no European car that beats it's American counterpart. There just isn't.
It let’s you know if you’re redlining. It can also help gauge fuel economy. You want the highest velocity at the lowest engine speed. In fuel fired engines, you want the compression stroke to occur as slowly as possible so less work is lost to heat.
The drive train tends to have lower wear at higher rpm, so it somewhat counterbalances the efficiency losses from high engine speeds. The same principles apply to electric cars that have a drive train.
If you’re a meathead, them it’s just another needle. Don’t point it in the red. Follow the directions of manufacturers who understand it.
On your update, you don’t see a problem with that? Seeing the speedometer, fuel gauge, oil/radiator temperature, or just out the windshield, i. e., the road/objects in front of them?
Nope, it's actually quite useful in telling you when there's something wrong with your vehicle before something major happens. You can see small fluctuations in the rpms and know it's time to get it in for service. Things should always be running smoothly. You can also see if the vehicle is improperly shifting gears in an automatic etc.
Well, maybe some people get confused between that and the speedometer but I still like having it on my dash since I do watch it , it kind of lets me know that my engine is still running when I see it and I’ve never needed it to actually know when to change gears I just did it by sound also , I like to see what the RPMs are doing for gas savings I try to keep the revs just under 2000 RPM at highway speeds
Australian cars don't come with factory fitted tacoholders. They should but don't - do like your thinking I have to say.
Generally I have to agree a tachometer is pretty useless and I seldom look at it. As you say you can hear the car engine so it is a useless pointer with no point other taking up dashboard space.
The ought to be something of more utility. An oversized odometer with twenty sub registers perhaps?
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Anonymous
(45 Plus)
+1 y
As a minimum the following is true;
A, Some people don't have perfect hearing.
B, Having a gauge allows you to 'tune' your ear to the pitch.
C, The safe rev limit varies from engine to engine.
My car has a tachometer and although I don't rely on it, I do look at it occasionally. At highway speeds, it reads about 3000 rpm. I have an automatic, so the car shifts itself.
In my personal opinion as an classic car lover, the tach is not necessary unless you are tuning the engine or driving really fast in a car without a rev limiter. To be honest im not entirely sure why new cars have tachs still. Even with a manual shift car you can shift by ear. The 1980s dodges (and maybe other cars from that era) didn't come with a tachometer from the factory with manual or automatic transmission. So, long story short, if its old its useful but if its new, not so much.
Unless you are racing it is pretty much useless. Today's cars with overdrive transmissions run at a pretty low speed. They can help when setting up gear ratios for drag racing, shift points, but for day to day driving not a lot of use.
Nope. An enthusiast knows where his engine peaks out in horsepower and torque. My tach is so marked in my manual transmission Corvette. Less useful but not useless in an automatic. I watch it in racing.
In most cases today. It is just added Bling on the dashboard. Makes people believe that they have a hotrod.. But, if you do have a real modified hotrod. Then it is essential to prevent engine damage if you are pushing it to the limit.
Every car has gears, most have automatic transmission though. A few have manual transmission though. It is actually cheaper to get manual transmission, but harder to find. They are just easier to make.
Well if you want to drive efficiently. Then you'd use the tachometer. Or if I'm driving very fast, I'll use tachometer to bring it close to the red line.
It tells one a lot if you know how to read it like when the revs are less than what they should be then you know that there is a issue with the engine.
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