Finding it difficult (old age) to see 30mph on speedometer. Am told by dealer (Savilles in Kidderminster ...excellent) that 2nd digital display cannot legally be altered to show mph is this correct.

Apart from better specs any solutions please.

Warden

Edited 17 May, 201115 yr by warden

Finding it difficult (old age) to see 30mph on speedometer. Am told by dealer (Savilles in Kidderminster ...excellent) that 2nd digital display cannot legally be altered to show mph is this correct.

Apart from better specs any solutions please.

Warden

Hi Warden and welcome

This has been discussed many times.

It can be done, but you have to change the country to Austrialia using VCDS then you are able to enable a very large digital display in mph..

search for a post by 900000 along the line of "some things I have done using VCDS"

Sorry don't have time to look it up for you.

Mike

Finding it difficult (old age) to see 30mph on speedometer. Am told by dealer (Savilles in Kidderminster ...excellent) that 2nd digital display cannot legally be altered to show mph is this correct.

Apart from better specs any solutions please.

Warden

To be honest i'm not "that" old and if i have one minor quibble of the yeti speedo it is that the 30, 50 and 70 notches are not obvious.

I spend most of my driving now aiming not to exceed 48-50kph in urban areas.

Ok i have a second quibble.

Why a car that is a greenline 1.6tdi needs a 160mph speedo is beyond my comprehension too.

Other than that the car is fabulous so far.

Edited 17 May, 201115 yr by AlleyCat`

Hi Warden and welcome

This has been discussed many times.

It can be done, but you have to change the country to Austrialia using VCDS then you are able to enable a very large digital display in mph..

search for a post by 900000 along the line of "some things I have done using VCDS"

Sorry don't have time to look it up for you.

Mike

Finding it difficult (old age) to see 30mph on speedometer. Am told by dealer (Savilles in Kidderminster ...excellent) that 2nd digital display cannot legally be altered to show mph is this correct.

Apart from better specs any solutions please.

Warden

No it is not correct, yes it can be changed, I did 900000's Yeti and have done my Superb as well

You need VCDS to do the following:

To change the country go to 17- Instruments and click on "Coding - 07"

Then click on "Long Coding Helper"

Finally under Bit 4 select "70 Country: Australia (AUS)"

Return to previous screen where you will see that the long coding has changed, click on "Do it!" all will then be saved.

HTH

Once you have made the changes with VCDS you then need to go into the maxi-dot menu:

SETTINGS

Units,

"Consu/distance" change this back to mpg (GB), mi (as it defaults to 1/100km, km),

then

SETTINGS

"MFD data" and make sure the box for Digit.speed is ticked

We also went to

SETTINGS

and unticked the "ALT.speed dis." box (this will remove the KPH speed and replace it with the outside temp display)

This is what you will end up with:

(900000 - Johann's Yeti)

To do the above you obviously need a car that has maxidot display.

Yep, Martin did mine and this huge display is now just one of the scroll options you get on the MFD. Very useful!

Thanks for posting that Gizmo

Yep, Martin did mine and this huge display is now just one of the scroll options you get on the MFD. Very useful!

So is everything the same now you have an Australian setup?

So is everything the same now you have an Australian setup?

He has not asked to be filled up with XXXX yet so yes everything is exactly as it was before bar the speedo display. Weird!

So is everything the same now you have an Australian setup?

No, ..... he has more options to choose from!

If you mean do you loose anything, then yes, you 'loose' the tiny KPH display - which is replaced by the outside temperature display.

The KPH can however be selected in the MFD as and when required, so it is not really lost at all, personally I don't see the need for it in the UK, so the temp display is far more useful to me.

He has not asked to be filled up with XXXX yet so yes everything is exactly as it was before bar the speedo display. Weird!

I'm sure my columbus displayed "G'day mate" the other day though

Finding it difficult (old age) to see 30mph on speedometer. Am told by dealer (Savilles in Kidderminster ...excellent) that 2nd digital display cannot legally be altered to show mph is this correct.

Apart from better specs any solutions please.

Warden

Technically the dealer is correct, and they cannot alter this setting using their kit. As per the previous posts it can only be done using a third party tool like VCDS.

He has not asked to be filled up with XXXX yet so yes everything is exactly as it was before bar the speedo display. Weird!

Cheers mate..!

So this mod just allows the MPH to be displayed and changes a few visual things. I was thinking there were different things in Aus than the UK.

Oh, you haven't started wearing budgie smugglers have you?

Like other people, I also find the km display really irritating and it's hard to keep looking at the dial display to see where 30mph is.

Can someone advise where I would get hold of one of these VCDS gadgets, or is it something only garages use?

Thanks

LizC

LIz,

there is a nice little section elsewhere on the Forum that lists those that have the equipment, here:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/74720-list-of-vag-com-diagnostic-system-vcds-owners/

Personally I don't see the problem with it. If I am that worried about breaking the limit I just drive to 48 kph on the display.

Is it that difficult?

Liz they can be obtained from Gendan- BUT they cost just over £250, a better bet would be to PM someone in the following list and ask them to do it for you, this will probably just cost you 'a few beers'.

List of VAG-COM Diagnostic System (VCDS) Owners

I also regret the backwards move by Skoda a few years ago when they changed the excellent speedo fitted in my 06 Octavia. That has markings every 10 MPH up to about 80 MPH (then every 20). But in practice, remember that speedos typically over-read by 10% (nowadays you can check by comparing them against the speed reading in your sat nav when at a steady speed instead of timing yourself between mototway kilometre posts).

I presume the digital speed reading will over-read just like the needle??

(The reason for this by the way is that speedos have to be accurate to within 10% of the true speed. Now if they under-read and drivers are prosecuted for breaking a speed limit when their speeds say their at the true speed, manufacturers would be blamed. So instead they are set to over-read as few drivers will complain that their car is "faster" than it should be!)

So to drive at a corrected 30mph, the speedo would be showing nearer 33 etc. It does annoy me when a driver in front of me sees a speed camera and promptly slows down to sell under the limit just to be safe!!

Chris

speedos have to be accurate to within 10% of the true speed. Now if they under-read and drivers are prosecuted for breaking a speed limit when their speeds say their at the true speed, manufacturers would be blamed.

Actually, construction and use regs require that a speedo must not under read, but an error of up to 10% the other way is allowed. Hence most speedos are designed towards over-reading to a greater or lesser extent (within the 10% range of error allowed) in order to avoid the risk of under-reading at all (which would be illegal).

As for the Yeti speedo: I need around +2 dioptres of correction for reading but I have no trouble locating the 30, 50 and 70 mph lines on my speedo without glasses. I didn't actually notice that it's only marked in 20mph increments until someone mentioned it on here!

Edited 17 May, 201115 yr by ejstubbs

I really can't see the problem (though maybe that's because I'm short sighted too ).

Whilst there are no 30, 50, 70 labels, the 'mark' is exactly mid way between the 20 and 40 (or the 40/60, 60/80). Since the speedo marginally over reads anyway, you don't have to drive with the needle precisely on the mark to be sure you're 'legal'; as long as you're approximately there you'll be fine.

Personally, I always drive with my Tom Tom (which is hard wired in) turned on. This way I get a more accurate speed reading (confirming the speedo is optimistic), reminders of what the speed limit is on that road, and an audible warning of fixed speed cameras or favourite locations for the police to park up with one of their vans.

I really can't see the problem (though maybe that's because I'm short sighted too ).

Whilst there are no 30, 50, 70 labels, the 'mark' is exactly mid way between the 20 and 40 (or the 40/60, 60/80). Since the speedo marginally over reads anyway, you don't have to drive with the needle precisely on the mark to be sure you're 'legal'; as long as you're approximately there you'll be fine.

Personally, I always drive with my Tom Tom (which is hard wired in) turned on. This way I get a more accurate speed reading (confirming the speedo is optimistic), reminders of what the speed limit is on that road, and an audible warning of fixed speed cameras or favourite locations for the police to park up with one of their vans.

I'm not bothered it doesn't say 30, 50, 70 etc.

I do think they could have notched out the multiples of 10 with a slightly longer line to make it more obviously different to the 5mph notches.

As others have said, it isn't the end of the world but it is something that could be improved.

My old VW had the speedo set out the way i suggested above.

I presume the digital speed reading will over-read just like the needle??

They are EXACTLY the same. When the digital one says 32mph you can see clearly that the needle is exactly 2/5ths between the two markers and thus also showing exactly 32mph. We might think a speedometer roughly shows your speed (I used to!) but within the tolerances specified by other people in this thread, it actually shows your speed with uncanny accuracy. We humans just prefer to see exact markings next to the needle but really you can trust the needle!