I've been woundering for a while, a lot about what would the best dashboiard design on a car is, like, practical, not over complicated, simple but detailed.
I recently saw a mid 90's 929 dashboard and it looks awsome, the deep singular binicalles, the way it is, I'm jsut woundering waht is the baest, ebcause i want to 3d model a dash, but IO need stuff to be influenced by, so what would you say would be the best design? But it can't be a complicated one like the new BMW's, or Mercs or whatever, so, basically, can't be a multimedia dash. But i'm open to a smple one because I might want to fit a computer in there.
VQ
02-06-2005, 12:21 AM
Anyone? Most Dashes now look similar yes, but what would be your personal favourite guys?
chris
02-06-2005, 01:01 AM
I'll nominate the following, what I reckon is absolutely the very best, and nothing less.
Mclaren F1: Faultless ergonomics and positioning of all instruments and controls. Elegantly crafted, with room for everything, even despite occupying a quite amount of room. A benchmark. The whole interior is faultless. The designers (Peter Stevens and Gordon Murray) got this one so right.
Alfa 156: Very classy, and classically Alfa Romeo. How could one not be smitten with those seperate round binnacles for tachometre and speedometre, and with the markings for the instruments in Italian (benzina, acqua, giri, olio, etc). The way it wraps around you, and gives the impression of a cosy fit, yet the whole interior has enough space is also quite impressive.
SAAB 9-5: The SAAB 9-5 dash is hated by some for being so generically SAAB, and also for the dull grey finish of the console, but I beg to differ. This is practical, no nonsense easy to live with design at its best. Many modern Volvos also deserve similar praise.
2000-2002 Lamborghini Diablo VT: How can one not love the interior of this car. It has classical influence, is sporty, high tech, and at the same time truly opulent and luxurious. Superb design work.
Maserati 3200 GT / Coupé GT: Luxurious, classical opulent Maserati design, but without the flaws of the past. Even charming details like the traditional Maserati oval clock remain. It couldn't be anything but Italian.
Honda NSX: Supercars especially need to take consideration of ease-of-use because they could possibly be moving at very great speed. So any tasks the driver might need to perform should be very easy to accomplish in the shortest amount of time. And that is why NSX is good. Ease of use and ergonomics are faultless, and the quality is also faultless.
And now worst:
All new BMW's with I-drive: Terrible system that makes simple things difficult to achieve. This isn't really progress.
1985 Subaru Vortex: Tragic 80's design at its worst. Ah, but it has many buttons.. Correct indeed. About twice as many as needed to do everything. 1980's = era of the gadget, and more buttons equalled better, or supposedly so. One could criticise many cars from this era for this very thing.
Alfa Romeo GTV: Nothing much desirable about the interiors in this. Flawed ergonomics, in newer and older models. Only saved by magnificent driving experience, and howling V6 engines sent from heaven.
VQ
02-06-2005, 04:02 AM
Yes I'm quite a fan of the Saab interiors, having been in a few, I recently saw a 92-95 model Mazda 929 interior which looked quite stunning to me, then looked into some more Japanese designs and saw the Lexus GS interior which looked equally as nice, the Audi interiors I've heard are incredibly acclaimed, they even go tot he extent of getting blind people to do a feel test on them.
Thanks for that Chris, I'll look up images of them now, I'm really after getting my own interior style that is easy to use and attractive and all of that, possibly for me to create for a real car, but I want to see if it will work in 3d first.
chris
02-06-2005, 04:26 AM
Lexus interiors are almost always faultless.
Lexus is still the quality and reliability leader by a mile in their class, but also they teach the Euro brands some lessons in ease-of-use of the sat-nav system (touch screen), and for the fact they haven't tried to lump everything into one system (like I-drive, or Audi's MMI).
You'd be surprised at the sort of tests car makers do on their car interiors. Smell tests are important. They might for instance subject a material to heat, and then smell it, to make sure it doesn't give off any unpleasant odours. (I pity the poor person who must do that job).
The Ferrari 612 Scaglietti is quite nice inside, and a notable improvement from Ferrari over some of the bits and pieces looking efforts it has done recently.
The F50 wasn't bad, provided you didn't expect lots of gadgets, because it was stripped bare of everything. Not even powered windows existed in it - they had manual operation. Although that even was an improvement over the crude F40 whose windows were fixed, with only little slide-across sections providing any kind of opening.
An audio system wasn't installed in F50, because you wouldn't be able to hear it over the raucous scream of the V12. But for the type of car it was, it had the right type of interior ambience. The cold-cathode instrument display added a nice high-tech touch.
VQ
02-07-2005, 12:23 AM
Compared to a Mclaren F1 which had CD stereo sound....
chris
02-07-2005, 02:50 AM
Indeed. Although only when the F1 is going slow is it any use. Otherwise it is completely drowned out by the engine. To be honest with one of those, I think I'd only ever listen to the 12 cylinder sound system. ;) BMW Mclaren V12 engines always sound good.
Er, also, I think you can change your avatar back. :)
VQ
02-07-2005, 03:21 AM
Well, hmm, I might, I'll find the image..
Yes, any nearly big block engine sounds nice to my ears.
blackice111288
02-08-2005, 06:36 PM
yeah, your avatar looks kinda crappy, what happened to that hard core caprince you had on there, that thing was nice.
oh, on the dashes, the JZA80 Supra (MKIV) had a nice dash. kinda complicated but it was still kinda cool, like a airplane cockpit sort of.
http://www.theindian.co.nz/testing/page_pic/h_lge101.jpghttp://www.theindian.co.nz/testing/page_pic/h_lge102.jpg http://www.theindian.co.nz/testing/page_pic/h_lge103.jpg Anything but small is the extra-wide wing, supported by an elaborate carbon-fibre mount. The big black wing looks even wider than the car, but that's just a trick of perspective. The moulded twin-post support has adjustable bolts for altering the angle of attack, which would result in some serious downforce with a wing this size.
Other exterior changes include the twin-leg rear vision mirrors, smoked tail light lenses and blackened Toyota badge on the tailgate. All other factory badges have been removed but plenty of vinyl stickers have taken their place. With the fat wheels and lowered stance, the car looks fast just standing still. How fast?
http://www.theindian.co.nz/testing/page_pic/Supra4.jpg http://www.theindian.co.nz/testing/page_pic/Supra5.jpghttp://www.theindian.co.nz/testing/page_pic/Supra6.jpg http://www.theindian.co.nz/testing/page_pic/h_lge118.jpg The claims of 700hp and a quarter-mile time of 11.5 seconds weren't backed up by any printouts or time slips, but we see no reason to doubt them. The 2JZ-GTE six has had its twin turbos replaced by a single Trust T78 on a Trust exhaust manifold with a Type R wastegate and blow-off valve. The exhaust dumps through a Mega system, while a long 100mm induction pipe carries a Gracer Airinx air filter, fed by a duct from the front spoiler. The intercooler pipe from the turbo goes around this to meet the ARC Racing intercooler mounted at the front. You can just see this through the main opening at the front of the car.
From the intercooler a polished pipe leads back into the factory ETCS throttle body, though the inlet manifold itself has been modified with six new injector bosses each carrying a 720cc/min injector. These injectors are 'hose' type, with braided lines and anodised fittings. A race-type adjustable fuel pressure regulator is mounted on the firewall just behind the manifold. Exposed adjustable cam pulleys turn Trust camshafts and of course the bottom-end features forged pistons and all the other trappings of a 700hp engine.
C-West make no mention of any changes to the 6-speed Toyota/Getrag gearbox, but the clutch is now an OS Giken triple-plate item and the differential has been upgraded with an ATS item. Braking has also been upgraded with Brembo callipers and large drilled discs at the front end, still using the factory ABS system. Bilstein shock absorbers and lowered springs have also been fitted, with a heavy-duty tower brace in the front.
http://www.theindian.co.nz/testing/page_pic/Supra3.jpg http://www.theindian.co.nz/testing/page_pic/lge110.jpg http://www.theindian.co.nz/testing/page_pic/Supra_CarbonFibre.jpg http://www.theindian.co.nz/testing/page_pic/Supra2.jpg http://www.theindian.co.nz/testing/page_pic/h_lge113.jpg Bracing duties in the rear are taken care of by the 7-point roll cage, which was custom-built by C-West. This and the two Recaro seats are bright red, contrasting vividly with the black dash and stripped out silver interior. Carpet has been kept in the front of the car, but the rear section is bare, revealing a large surge tank and many braided lines. The actual high pressure pump is mounted under the floor, with the original pump used to fill the surge tank.
In the cockpit the mandatory extra gauges are mounted in a custom panel that replaces the top glovebox/airbag space (depending on spec). Beneath these are an HKS boost controller and an HKS injector controller. The rest of the dash is normal except for an HKS turbo timer and two very traditional Alpine head units. Of course the steering wheel, pedals and gearknob have been replaced too.
Justin Martin
02-08-2005, 06:44 PM
yeah, your avatar looks kinda crappy, what happened to that hard core caprince you had on there, that thing was nice.
Someone decided that VQ should have a Falcon instead. ^_^
Read the end of this thread, it's where VQ discovered that he'd been pranked: http://www.racerplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14091
As far as dashes go, I like the minimalist approach. Lotus Elise for me. -^ The original Porsche 911 was great too.
VQ
02-09-2005, 12:32 AM
Wait, so to show a dashboard, you need to do a WHOLE article on a Supra which makes about double the hp of a commodore which can run the same quarter mile times n/a?
I just needed a name, that's all.
blackice111288
02-11-2005, 03:06 PM
Wait, so to show a dashboard, you need to do a WHOLE article on a Supra which makes about double the hp of a commodore which can run the same quarter mile times n/a?
I just needed a name, that's all.
naw, i copied the whole thing on mistake and didn't have time to go back and deleted what i didn't need, plus i had already closed the window that the site was in and i didn't feel like finding it again. but it was cool tho, so oh well, and is not running the stock 1/4 mile time of a commie, i bet u wish commies run 11.5 stock. i would think this car would run at least high 10's with 700 horses, but i guess all the add ons slow it down considerably, like the giant unnesary drag inducing (instead of down force) wing and the 18s when they very well could have put some lighter 17's and thicker grippier tires. 11.5 aint exactly slow tho, i wouldnt complain if that was my car.
look at a 1991 eclipse dash too if you want to see something wierd, its like a low budget supra dash.
VQ
02-11-2005, 06:50 PM
We never got an eclispe in Australia, and I am after a europeon design as Chris showed, but a ls1 powered commodore with bolt on mods making about 230-250kw at the rear wheels and with slicks with 15' rims on, with front runners on too, they get high 11's, a LS1 with a cam and some head porting with stock stroke, quite literally has run mid 10's, and they only make 300RWkw, which would be 500hp or so. And they are generally street driven cars. Holden powered commodores used to struggle to do that, but the new LS1 can get speed quite well, maybe cos it's only a 10 year old design and the most advanced OHV design ever.
blackice111288
02-12-2005, 08:22 PM
Only North America got eclipses. its got a wierdly designed dash, its just something to look at to compare the diferences in dash boards.