All digital gauge clusters are in.
11-12-17, 07:10 PM
#76
Lexus Fanatic
The competition by that point was much better in terms of materials, fit and finish and even dash displays. You had the LS400, Acura RL, Infiniti Q45. The problem with GM's displays of that era was that they didn't compensate for the bad fit and finish and the assembly quality. You can only be distracted with a nice gauge cluster for so long, before the rest of the car makes you dislike the car you're driving.
11-12-17, 07:15 PM
#77
Lexus Champion
And not too get too far off track, but I remember having several Malibus that were rentals that I parked, and they had better fit/finish and driving feel compared to the Aurora. No squeak, rattles etc. The Aurora to me had one other problem. The door closed with a ridiculous "clang" rather than a nice "thunk".
My cousin years earlier had his Accords (he was an Accord tech with his own garage). You could close any door on his late 80's Accords and look at the fit and finish, materials and be just amazed. His 1989 Accord with 250K (kilometers), still gave you a beautiful clean gauge cluster and yet you could close the driver's door and be amazed at that "thunk". Every time.
My cousin years earlier had his Accords (he was an Accord tech with his own garage). You could close any door on his late 80's Accords and look at the fit and finish, materials and be just amazed. His 1989 Accord with 250K (kilometers), still gave you a beautiful clean gauge cluster and yet you could close the driver's door and be amazed at that "thunk". Every time.
11-12-17, 07:23 PM
#78
Lexus Fanatic
And not too get too far off track, but I remember having several Malibus that were rentals that I parked, and they had better fit/finish and driving feel compared to the Aurora. No squeak, rattles etc. The Aurora to me had one other problem. The door closed with a ridiculous "clang" rather than a nice "thunk".
My cousin years earlier had his Accords (he was an Accord tech with his own garage). You could close any door on his late 80's Accords and look at the fit and finish, materials and be just amazed. His 1989 Accord with 250K (kilometers), still gave you a beautiful clean gauge cluster and yet you could close the driver's door and be amazed at that "thunk". Every time.
My cousin years earlier had his Accords (he was an Accord tech with his own garage). You could close any door on his late 80's Accords and look at the fit and finish, materials and be just amazed. His 1989 Accord with 250K (kilometers), still gave you a beautiful clean gauge cluster and yet you could close the driver's door and be amazed at that "thunk". Every time.
11-13-17, 06:34 AM
#79
Lexus Fanatic
Its astonishing how much talk GM gets on this board.
Anyhow, GM would be in a much better position today if they put efforts like they did in the two generations of Aurora. During that era, it was one of a very vehicles by GM that were worthy of paying a premium and forgoing the reliability provided by the Japanese manufacturers.
Sadly, like GM often does, they cheap out and go a different route. Shame as they now import CT6 and some Buicks from China.
They could of done so much better.
Anyhow, GM would be in a much better position today if they put efforts like they did in the two generations of Aurora. During that era, it was one of a very vehicles by GM that were worthy of paying a premium and forgoing the reliability provided by the Japanese manufacturers.
Sadly, like GM often does, they cheap out and go a different route. Shame as they now import CT6 and some Buicks from China.
They could of done so much better.
11-13-17, 07:08 AM
#80
Lexus Fanatic
Well, GM is a huge manufacturer...in recent years, they have played musical-chairs with Toyota and VW as to the world's largest...depending on how one defines the term and measures it by. And, unlike the other, Lexus-specific threads, we can discuss anything on wheels here in Car Chat. I'll admit, though, that I probably started (and continued) more theads than was necessary on my specific new car...part of that was the several hassles I went through just getting it LOL.
Might have been just a generational thing. I was of an earlier generation that had grown up with the big, traditional-sedan Olds 88s and 98s that our parents (and sometimes we ourselves) drove LOL. To us, the Aurora looked more like the early, turtle-shaped Toronado than the big Olds sedans we were used to. We weren't terribly impressed with the Aurora's quality and fit/finish, either.....but, by that time, that was a problem pretty much throughout GM's line-up, not just the Aurora. As others here have also pointed out, for too long, especially after the nice vehicles they did in the late 60s, the corporation was run by bean-counters...fortunately, those days now seem gone, at least as far as the fit/finish of their vehicles are concerned....in some ways, it's the late-60s again.
GM's main problem (and this part of it still IS a problem) is that they simply don't know how to market....and they don't always recognize something good when they do have it. They research, develop, introduce, sell, and, sometimes, unfortunately, discontinue vehicles, regardless of actual customer demand. Plus, even today, they are essentially stuck with two truck/SUV divisions (Chevy and GMC) selling essentially the same vehicles, with only minor differences in trim, equipment, and badging.
Perhaps the best success story in modern times, for GM, was the establishment of the customer-friendly Saturn division and its innovative S-series cars of the 1990s (I bought one myself)....but the corporation's upper-management even managed to screw THAT up.
Anyhow, GM would be in a much better position today if they put efforts like they did in the two generations of Aurora. During that era, it was one of a very vehicles by GM that were worthy of paying a premium and forgoing the reliability provided by the Japanese manufacturers.
Sadly, like GM often does, they cheap out and go a different route. Shame as they now import CT6 and some Buicks from China.
They could of done so much better.
They could of done so much better.
Perhaps the best success story in modern times, for GM, was the establishment of the customer-friendly Saturn division and its innovative S-series cars of the 1990s (I bought one myself)....but the corporation's upper-management even managed to screw THAT up.
Last edited by mmarshall; 11-13-17 at 11:22 AM.
11-13-17, 08:00 AM
#82
Lexus Champion
11-13-17, 08:23 AM
#83
Lexus Fanatic
11-13-17, 08:50 AM
#85
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
ok, back to digital dashes.
11-13-17, 10:16 AM
#86
Lexus Fanatic
11-13-17, 11:39 AM
#87
Lexus Fanatic
Scion, maybe, but I have to strongly disagree with your view of Saturn....at least in the early years. The S-class sedans, wagons, and coupes were the very epitome of 90s-vintage automotive success. The customer-friendly dealerships, no-dicker deals, better-than-average reliability (which was then-unusual for GM), dent/rust/corrosion-proof plastic side-panels, waterborne paint, innovative devices like the spin-off transmission filters, money-back guarantee for the first 30 days, and ability to order any car, any time, any way you wanted it without mandatory option-packages grouped together, basically gave the company cult-status among its satisfied customers...many of which came back for repeat purchases. When did the company go downhill?...when the bozos in upper-level GM management forgot what the division was supposed to stand for, and tried to run it like the rest of GM. 
Though the view is not universal by any means, by all of the posters here, the general consensus in this thread seems to be that the best compromise with the gauges is to use electronic-backlit (electro-luminescent) gauges/readouts in a basic analog style/format, with needles. Some vehicles allow one, with an adjustment **** to choose back and forth between the two, although on both Buicks I've owned, if you adjust it that way, a large digital speedometer-readout appears inside (in the center of) the regular analog-style speedometer....so you get both at once.
Originally Posted by bitkahuna
ok, back to digital dashes.
Last edited by mmarshall; 11-13-17 at 12:23 PM.
11-13-17, 12:33 PM
#88
Lexus Fanatic
Though the view is not universal by any means, by all of the posters here, the general consensus in this thread seems to be that the best compromise with the gauges is to use electronic-backlit (electro-luminescent) gauges/readouts in a basic analog style/format, with needles. Some vehicles allow one, with an adjustment **** to choose back and forth between the two, although on both Buicks I've owned, if you adjust it that way, a large digital speedometer-readout appears inside (in the center of) the regular analog-style speedometer....so you get both at once.
11-13-17, 12:49 PM
#89
Racer
Thread Starter
I'd like to see night vision IR go mainstream, and output onto the gauge cluster. Or real time dash cam output.
There are some luxury features that have not trickled down yet.
There are some luxury features that have not trickled down yet.
