Change of instrumentation equals problem !

[Nigel Worc's]

I wonder if this is just me, or if others feel the same ?

I can switch cars without an issue, but if something is wrong/different about the instrumentation in my own car, I feel "out of balance".

Todays feeling of out of balance was down to losing the speedometer (I think I've lost a wheel sensor), it also means I have no abs, but that doesn't worry me ( I'll sort it tomorrow)

I still had the gps reading from the sat nav, but having the speedo needle on zero was quite offputting

[anonymous-user]

I cam imagine it would be! I think the same would apply for me too

[SVS]

Funny, I can change bikes easily, but changing car sometimes feels "out of balance" until I've done at least one drive in the new car.

Anyone else similar with car changes?

[brillomaster]

thats because some cars are completely different! my daily is an mx5, but had to give my gf a lift to hospital one day in her 206 - that felt very strange at first! biggest shock was from my mazda to a 7 seater Grand Picasson, left hand drive hire car in spain - its the same controls, only massively different!

[RobM77]

I think it's something that one just gets used to. I used to find switching cars really strange; it wasn't just the instruments, but the steering ratio and weighting, pedal weighting, size of the car, balance of the car etc. Even a week in a hire car made my own car feel very odd getting back into it (I used to have hire cars all week and drive my own car at weekends, and despite this regular switch I never quite adapted to each new hire car on Monday mornings). However, for the last few years I've owned two or three cars at any one point and crucially I've switched between them very regularly; some days I might drive all three. Strangely, I now seemed to have learnt to adapt to the point where I can jump in anything and feel comfortable straight away. It's obviously how often you drive multiple cars and switch between them, rather than just whether you do or not. Needless to say, one needs to adapt to particular differences, like a central instrument panel (as the Yaris has, which is a big difference especially at night, with just blackness up ahead of you), or perhaps servo brakes if none of your cars have them.

[havoc]

Displays I don't find a problem with - it's all just information to assimilate, and I tend to use hearing for revs and visual perception for speed more than the two main dials. (It does mess up 'scanning' the aux dials a little though, but they're infrequent enough)

My biggest problem currently is the indicator and wiper stalks - on the NSX they're reversed vs the other two cars, so when first switching either to or from the NSX I find myself 'window wiping' left (in the NSX) or right (in the others) before a junction! Not very helpful...

[Nigel Worc's]

havoc said:

Displays I don't find a problem with - it's all just information to assimilate, and I tend to use hearing for revs and visual perception for speed more than the two main dials. (It does mess up 'scanning' the aux dials a little though, but they're infrequent enough)

My biggest problem currently is the indicator and wiper stalks - on the NSX they're reversed vs the other two cars, so when first switching either to or from the NSX I find myself 'window wiping' left (in the NSX) or right (in the others) before a junction! Not very helpful...

I do the same with the wife's kia ceed !

[Evangelion]

You'll find the more you switch between cars the less it will bother you until eventually you hardly notice.

Although I still have trouble with the indicator and wiper stalks for the first few miles!