A vehicle for the oil geek!

[440Magnum]

Well, I like the new Grand Cherokee for many reasons, not just this. A co-worker and I had a 4x4 Pentastar-powered JGC all this week, and he was looking at the central text display area between the gauge pods which was uselessly echoing the speed in digital rather than analog form. He's a gauge geek like me (tows a 17,000 LB combined weight 5th wheel rig with a 7.3L Ford 350 and pods up the A-pillar monitoring everything from EGT and boost to trans temp). He commented how silly it was to have a digital speedometer, and that if he were designing a car that little area woulld show you something USEFUL like the transmission temp or oil temp. I punched through the menu options with my left thumb on the steering wheel buttons and brought up this: And this: At which point I looked over and my cow-orker was picking his jaw up off the floormat. I should have wagered a beer on it. If I remember right under the "vehicle info" menu you can display oil temp, oil pressure, coolant temp, and trans fluid temp in that readout area. Each one has the same digital readout with a bar-graph gauge below. SERIOUSLY neat option, and it stays on whatever you select permanently, it doesn't revert to the trip odometer or a useless digital speedometer every time you shut the engine off. The examples ways in which Chrysler has turned around since throwing off the Daimler yoke are just amazing. This kind of info has been available to the powertrain computers since the 90s, and this is the first example I've seen where the driver had the option to view them.

 

[440Magnum]

Oh yeah- driving at 70 mph on the highway on a 35 degree day, the trans temp stabilized at about 165, the oil temp at about 170, and the coolant bounced between 193 and 198 as and T-stat and fan (not likely much of a player at highway speed) did their thing.

 

[Ursae_Majoris]

My 2011 T&C has the same read out. It also displays tire pressure for each tire (pretty accurate, verified with a digital tire gauge), current and avg fuel economy and the entrainment center options. Same screen is used for accessory programming: door unlock options, keyless entry, headlight delay, automatic wipers/headlights, remote starter. I like digital speedometer. Chrysler analog is more difficult for me to use, for some reason. Same for my wife. we had no problems with analog speedometers in other cars. I think it is the color and font selection in T&C.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: Ursae_Majoris

I like digital speedometer. Chrysler analog is more difficult for me to use, for some reason. Same for my wife. we had no problems with analog speedometers in other cars. I think it is the color and font selection in T&C.

I don't have a problem reading the one in the photos above (which IIRC is the same as in the last Caravan rental I had). What I really don't like is that the pretty bright white digits and rings are illuminated all the time (even in daylight) rather than just being white paint. It looks pretty, but when twilight comes you don't have a cue that you're headlights are still off. I think that's part of why I see so many people driving around at night with their headlights off these days. Either they're vehicles like GM and Toyota with DRLS blazing so that the driver sees light ahead- nevermind that he has no taillamps or sidemarkers, or else they have constantly-illuminated dash clusters and that cue is missing.

 

[Astro14]

new Charger has them too....

 

[Ursae_Majoris]

http://www.chrysler.com/en/2012/town-country-touring/gallery/ After looking at it again, I think the problem for me are poor markings. They go 20,40,60" MPH skipping 10, 30, 50, so it takes more time to figure if you are driving 45 or 55 MPH. I do not want to do math in my head while I am driving. I need to keep my eyes on the road. T&C has automatic headlights. Dashboard is always illuminated, but it will tell me if Low-Beams are on.

 

[JHZR2]

That's good stuff! Ive yet to be able to pull those two data points off of any of my OBDII vehicles...

 

[jigen]

Very nice! My car only diplays oil temp (something that I leave displayed 100% of the time). I would not mind having those other temps displayed!

 

[Nick R]

I think the 2012+ cruze has those in the DIC, but the 2011 doesn't. But I like my digital speedo, I rarely even look at the analog one.

 

[45ACP]

I like that display.......

 

[beast3300]

Yes that is sweet, it should also have oil press on there too.

 

[45ACP]

Originally Posted By: beast3300

Yes that is sweet, it should also have oil press on there too.

+1 All we see is either-or! Even BMW seems to put oil TEMP only. If you can do one why not do the other...

 

[david_ES2]

Yeah i dont care for digital speedos either, you can easily tell how fast car can accelerate with a needle but with a digital one everyone thinks the car is fast because the numbers change quick. Very nice display though, hondas and not sure how many others on the other hand are taking gauges out of cars, for example the coolant temp meter on the 2012 civic...seriously!? Lol

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: 45ACP

Originally Posted By: beast3300

Yes that is sweet, it should also have oil press on there too.

+1 All we see is either-or!

When the Jeep system is showing oil temp, you can toggle between the other options (oil pressure, trans temp, coolant temp, etc.) using the up/down buttons under your left thumb on the steering wheel. No need to even look down. Yes, if there were enough area to show several at once it would be nice, but with so many things to show its actually less confusing (IMO) to toggle between them.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2

That's good stuff! Ive yet to be able to pull those two data points off of any of my OBDII vehicles...

Strange, I can pull trans temp (but not oil temp) off the Expedition. IIRC, the 6.0L+ PSD trucks had the ability to see both through the OBDII, and have a trans temp gauge. I do like Dodge's format of presenting the information however, and making it accessible.

 

[97tbird]

my BMW does show some data like that, when you go into the test mode of the OBC if you have a compatible garmin gps you can pull off data like that and also scan and clear OBDII codes on any car ...for about $ 99 ($96 on amazon I think) http://gbr.garmin.com/ecoroute-hd/ https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=38354

 

[rslifkin]

I wish my Jeep could pull data like that. The computer does know the trans temp (but not oil temp), but it doesn't report it anywhere, not even over OBDII.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Those data points are, as I recall, above and beyond the OBD-II specification. So manufacturers are not required to report it in a standardized format, though I'm sure most modern vehicles track those data. GM has long been a leader (at least in my experience) of making data available to the driver. The Cadillac/Corvette DIC is/was excellent. I'm glad to see Chrysler now getting in the game. I wish all others would join them.

 

[Scum_Frog]

Gotta love the new Jeep Grand Cherokee....awesome rig!

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum

The examples ways in which Chrysler has turned around since throwing off the Daimler yoke are just amazing. This kind of info has been available to the powertrain computers since the 90s, and this is the first example I've seen where the driver had the option to view them.

Yeah oil temp gauges are really a new idea in cars.