What is the need in knowing the volts? Ive always wondered why people were so into getting this gauge. Is it related to the power to the ECU ensuring that the fuel mix was consistent or something like this?

 

It's to know the condition of your battery and alternator.

 

That's the part I get, but how is this important in a performance sports car?

 

I think people get it more if they have an aftermarket sound system then as a feature for performance.

 

Well if you start your car with a race starter then you probably don't car, but if you want to know if your car will start in morning it's nice to have!!

 

hmmm thought I was going to be learning something new but it looks like its just the obvious. Thanks guys the reason I asked was that Ive noticed a few people talking about things theyd like to come stock for the car and one that I strongly agreed with was more gauges and someone put the voltmeter 2nd on their priority list and I thought this was very strange.

Thanks again

 

The way I see it, there's various systems that all must operate properly for a car to run well. Oil, coolant, fuel, and electrical are all critical. (Well, unless you have an older 911... ) So things I would like to know about my car on a regular basis are fuel level, coolant temp, oil temp, oil pressure, and volts. Not that I could probably do anything about issues with the above on my own (except fuel) but it'd still be nice to know what's going on, like is my alternator dying?

 

Ive gotta disagree Elista. Coolant temp, oil temp and oil pressure all allow us to monitor important changes in our car which can allow us to prevent real damage. Sure if the car isnt charging properly we'll know and get the alternator fixed but a defective alternator is going to do nothing more than drain the relatively inexpensive battery provided you dont ignore particular symptoms and fry your started too. If we know that our oil temp is high or that we're losing oil pressure we can shut the motor down and prevent serious damage to very expensive engine components.

Is coolant temp necessary if you have oil temp monitored? I seem to remember that the coolant temp usually wont warn you in time whereas oil temp will let you know before you go warping the heads etc

 

True, something going on with the electrical system won't be immediately critical or potentially damaging - but it'd be nice to know about it if you're winging around a race track.

Regarding the temp meters - coolant is effected much more quickly than oil, since it's much closer to the combustion chamber than the oil. While our cars reach three bars on the temp gague (which measures coolant temp) somewhat quickly, oil temps take a good bit longer to get up to normal operational range. (This has been verified by people with seperate oil temp sensors.)

 

So coolant gauge best for monitoring overheating and oil for operation temps.