Hi everyone,

I'm new here. We just bought a 2010 CX-7 SV as our new-to-us highway-cruiser. It seems like a good vehicle -- nicely designed and probably relatively easy (for a front wheel drive vehicle) to service. At least I think that's true of the 2.5L n/a engine version, which we have. Very happy with it so far. We're busy gathering the accessories we want (hitch, cargo cover), figuring out how to copy the one key, etc.

MY QUESTION: Does the CX-7 have the same type of no-good, lying, idiot temp gauge that my '94 Miata used to have? (It's a wonderful little car except for that guage!) The way my Miata's gauge worked was that it would rise very quickly to a comfortable middle position when the car was somewhat warm. Then it would stay locked in to that position until the engine was very near boiling over, at which time it would rather abruptly shoot into the red. So it functioned very much like an idiot light, except not giving the driver the advantage of something more noticeable like a light. I retrofitted a real VDO temp gauge into the instrument cluster to solve that problem. Now I have an actual temp reading that is accurate.

So does the CX-7 have the same type of gauge? I've tried searching this and have found some reference to this sort of behavior. However, I've not yet found any answers as to whether this is even unusual.

On a related note, does anyone feel compelled to do something so old-school as to add an oil pressure gauge and voltmeter (or ammeter)? There's a nice space right behind the passenger airbag, in that long groove running the length of the dash, where some sort of rectangular digital gauge cluster would fit beautifully. However, I can't find any sort of rectangular gauges. Is there such a thing? Are there any other tidy installation ideas?

Thanks, everyone!

 

I should mention that I did watch the gauge while warming the car up, and the needle rose slowly, with occasional, almost imperceptible drops, as it settled just slightly below the 1/2 mark. This seemed to correspond to the temperature coming out of the heater vents. I just don't know whether the gauge functions like a real temp gauge above the 1/2 mark. I'm reading a lot of stuff that would indicate modern gauges are pretty much just glorified idiot lights.