[lucid]

I have been disappointed with the recent trends in instrument layout, not just in BMWs, but in many other cars as well. I have two main issues with the trends:

1. There is a push toward displaying too much information all at once. As the cars are getting more instrumented via sensors, and hence becoming more intelligent, it is natural that the designers end up with a much broader range of information they can display to the driver. The mistake that is being made by many designers is not to layer that information and try to display most of it at the same time, which ends up in a cluttered instrument layout on the dash.

2. I HATE seeing stuff in between the speedometer and the rpm display. I really like my '04 325ci's layout for this reason: two large dials with nothing in between them. However, recently designers have been sticking fairly large size digital displays in between the two as if the information being displayed digitally at the very center is what the driver should be paying attention to the most while driving.

Which brings me to the following question: what do you think should be displayed on the instrument panel, and how much of it should be visible at the same time?

Here are some examples of current layouts (I like the Vantage layout the best):