Why, Kia, why?

[Kiltox]

Why did you bother fitting a "gear change indicator" to my base model Picanto instead of a clock or a rev counter?

I know when to change gear - if I didn't I'd have bought an automatic

[Mafioso]

Hmmmm and you didn't know about this before you bought the car?

[LuS1fer]

They had these on 80's Camaros with 5.0 V8s. The bulb soon got removed.

[ZesPak]

Let me guess, it makes you change gear at 1800rpm

[Kiltox]

I didn't actually notice it on the test drive in all honesty - it's not annoying enough that I'd have bought anything else anyway

ZesPak said:

Let me guess, it makes you change gear at 1800rpm

I don't know, there's no rev counter

[andy-xr]

Kiltox said:

Why did you bother fitting a "gear change indicator"

My old Fiesta had this, but the manual must have got misprinted as it thought it was an oil pressure light or something

[LuS1fer]

Is it an economy meter telling you where to change or a rev limiter to make you change?

[Kiltox]

LuS1fer said:

Is it an economy meter telling you where to change or a rev limiter to make you change?

It's an economy meter telling you the optimal point to change up/down.

[Kiltox]

doogz said:

If you know when to change gear, why do you need a rev counter?

I don't but it'd be nicer to look at than this stupid thing (and the rev counter unit has a clock in it!)

[lowdrag]

Talking of the Picanto, we went to look at one when the GF wanted a new town car. I was a bit doubful as to the quality of construction, so checked the NCAP ratings. We bought a Yaris instead and are very grateful since someone piled into her at about 30mph, shoving her into the car in front. She was uninjured. At least she hasn't got a gear change indicator!

[Kiltox]

lowdrag said:

Talking of the Picanto, we went to look at one when the GF wanted a new town car. I was a bit doubful as to the quality of construction, so checked the NCAP ratings. We bought a Yaris instead and are very grateful since someone piled into her at about 30mph, shoving her into the car in front. She was uninjured. At least she hasn't got a gear change indicator!

You can't really compare it to a Yaris though can you? It's about half the price.

[browno]

They're going to become more and more common on new cars (and we may even need to be thankful of them on performance cars) - in the FE cycle tests, the gearchange points for manuals are defined by the test, and can mean you don't get the best out of the car. By fitting a gearchange indicator, the manufacturer is allowed to use that instead of the fixed points - which could give them some fuel economy credit. As a result, especially in high geared performance motors, this may mean that at least some cars continue to have manual boxes, rather than DCT or Autos - so they can offer performance but keep Brussels happy.

There was an interesting short article about it in Evo about 8-12months back...

[homerjay]

my focus st (admittedly after a remap) and my 123d has a gear change light.

there were for very different reasons though.

dont really see the problem.

[Kiltox]

homerjay said:

dont really see the problem.

See my original post - if I wanted to be told when to change gear I'd have bought an automatic

Also....... anyone else on here got a Picanto 1 ? Steering wheel doesn't lock and I suspect it should.

[Roop]

Kiltox said:

You can't really compare it to a Yaris though can you? It's about half the price.

To be fair the Kia is very reliable and costs less than a Porsche 911 to run, unlike a Yaris...

[DannyVTS]

This what you ended up buying then mate ? Or is it just to fill a gap ?

[Kiltox]

DannyVTS said:

This what you ended up buying then mate ? Or is it just to fill a gap ?

3 years of cheap motoring then I'll decide what I want to do when the final payment is due. Can't insure anything decent on my peasant income at the moment anyway

[lowdrag]

Kiltox said:

You can't really compare it to a Yaris though can you? It's about half the price.

Yes I can compare, because when I opened the bonnet I saw a style of build that went out with the Metro. Safety for me beats price, and I'd rather buy a second hand car with a good NCAP rating that one that is new but dangerous. 3 stars NCAP? That's not exactly what I would want for the GF. If she had been hit from behind in one of those I am sure she would have spent more than one hour in hospital as a precaution.

[Kiltox]

lowdrag said:

Yes I can compare, because when I opened the bonnet I saw a style of build that went out with the Metro. Safety for me beats price, and I'd rather buy a second hand car with a good NCAP rating that one that is new but dangerous. 3 stars NCAP? That's not exactly what I would want for the GF. If she had been hit from behind in one of those I am sure she would have spent more than one hour in hospital as a precaution.

Why didn't you compare the Yaris to a Fiesta, Corsa, Clio, etc?

It is simply not in the same segment as a Picanto.

[Nuttah]

remove it if you dont like it or cover it up so you cant see it other wise just deal with it.