Can anyone explain this?

[986Jim]

Here is the problem. Most cars have a temperature sensor made so that it never moves. It will sit right in the middle of the gauge for every engine temperature from 160 right upto 200. They do this on purpose because if the needle moves around as the engine gets warm and cooler people think there is something wrong with the car and take it to the dealership. Car companies had to literally had to make the gauge read nothing but in the middle unless the car was really overheating.

Porsche puts a real temperature gauge in the car. If you sit in traffic the car DOES get hotter and it shows that on the guage. WHen you drive away and it's getting cool air blowing in a speed it DOES get cooler. The temperature gauge in your car read acctual temperature of the coolant.

Basically (not to be rude) but it's not an idiot gauge like 99% of cars out there, it's a real temperature gauge that displays in real time the real temperature of the car.

[Adam]

Wouldn't it be better to have a gauge that measures oil temp instead of coolant temp? I know some cars have both which would be ideal but us boxster owners don't have that luxary. I would think that knowing the oil temp is more useful...perhaps not?

[986Jim]

Originally Posted by Adam

Wouldn't it be better to have a gauge that measures oil temp instead of coolant temp? I know some cars have both which would be ideal but us boxster owners don't have that luxary. I would think that knowing the oil temp is more useful...perhaps not?

It would but the gauge would move a lot as oil temps can vary across a pretty large range during different styles of driving. Most cars that have oil temp guages also have them dummied down so that people dont think there is something wrong when the needle moves around.

Somehow people have got it in their head that the engine runs at the same temp when floored on the highway as it does when driving around town. As if the engine warms up and stays at this one particular temperature all the time.

[Shrug] I just don't get it.