3rd & 4th Generation (1992–1996 & 1997–2001)Toyota Camry Discussion for years: 1992-1996 & 1997-2001
Topics of discussion range from fuel economy, safety, modifications, performance all involving America's favorite family car, the Toyota Camry.
I think I'm going to invest in a Scan Guage II. My fuel economy average is pretty good, but I'm going to raise it even higher. Just a little game against myself...plus saving money along the way ;-) money is no object as it will surely pay for itself in no time.
Happy driving and God bless!
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2001 Toyota Camry 2.2L-I4, automatic transmission with 157,000 miles.
LSS I believe you are making a mistake on not giving the UltraGuage a try.
It comes with a 30 day money back guarantee.
Reading the UG forum there appears to be many happy customers of UG.
ScanGuage II appears to have been designed in the late seventies early eighties. The data output technology is poor, and that is putting it mildly.
Reading the SGII during operation of your vehicle appears hazardous.
Please have a look at this thread from the UG forum, and see the pic of UG mounted in the customer's car. The gauge output is far superior than SGII's output.
Also, I read that the Ultra Guage is inaccurate in reading data, particulary fuel economy, which is my number one objective.
No add-on gauge will give accurate fuel economy. The ONLY way to get even close to accurate MPG figures is to divide miles driven by gallons of fuel used. And even then unless you absolutely know that you filled your tank to the same level every time is a guess at best.
Both the UG or the SGII take the input data from the car's sensors and guesstimates fuel economy based on them. One problem you have right away is that your car's speedo is not a scientific measurement instrument (nor is it required to be - the law allows is to overstate the speed within a certain percentage). Your "reported" speed also changes based on your tire thread wear, as speed calculation takes into account the diameter of the tire and so on and so forth.
Long story short: it cannot possibly be dead accurate. What my speedometer is saying rarely line's up with what my GPS is saying - usually the speed is off by up to 2 mph. And I'm not even talking about the errors car's other sensors could produce.
In other words, if you want a completely accurate mpg reading, you have to measure the EXACT amount of fuel you pour into the tank, and measure the distance traveled with some sort of super-accurate GPS tracking device. Otherwise you're just chasing a Unicorn.
Either one of those gauges are only good for approximating what kind of driving yields you better fuel economy.
I went with UltraGauge because it has bigger, easier to read display that fits more gauges at once. I'm glad to report I'm totally happy with it, especially considering that it cost half as much as SGII.
I understand all of that, but what I do not like about the Ultra Guage is that you can only mount it to a window and you cannot disconnect it without data loss...also, some scum bag will see it and think it is a GPS and break in my car to steal it...that's something I do not want.
The Scan Guage can at least be removed and hidden from view and it can be mounted just about anywhere.
Those are my concerns.
Quote:
Originally Posted by slavie
Both the UG or the SGII take the input data from the car's sensors and guesstimates fuel economy based on them. One problem you have right away is that your car's speedo is not a scientific measurement instrument (nor is it required to be - the law allows is to overstate the speed within a certain percentage). Your "reported" speed also changes based on your tire thread wear, as speed calculation takes into account the diameter of the tire and so on and so forth.
Long story short: it cannot possibly be dead accurate. What my speedometer is saying rarely line's up with what my GPS is saying - usually the speed is off by up to 2 mph. And I'm not even talking about the errors car's other sensors could produce.
In other words, if you want a completely accurate mpg reading, you have to measure the EXACT amount of fuel you pour into the tank, and measure the distance traveled with some sort of super-accurate GPS tracking device. Otherwise you're just chasing a Unicorn.
Either one of those gauges are only good for approximating what kind of driving yields you better fuel economy.
I went with UltraGauge because it has bigger, easier to read display that fits more gauges at once. I'm glad to report I'm totally happy with it, especially considering that it cost half as much as SGII.
Hope this helps!
__________________
2001 Toyota Camry 2.2L-I4, automatic transmission with 157,000 miles.
You could always put the UG in the glovebox, it's not like you need to be watching a movie on it while you're driving. Once you use it a few times, you'll never need it constantly in your sight.
I'd rather not...I want something where I can always keep track of what is going with my vehicle just as what is shown in the dash instrument cluster.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Crash
You could always put the UG in the glovebox, it's not like you need to be watching a movie on it while you're driving. Once you use it a few times, you'll never need it constantly in your sight.
__________________
2001 Toyota Camry 2.2L-I4, automatic transmission with 157,000 miles.
I understand all of that, but what I do not like about the Ultra Guage is that you can only mount it to a window and you cannot disconnect it without data loss...also, some scum bag will see it and think it is a GPS and break in my car to steal it...that's something I do not want.
The Scan Guage can at least be removed and hidden from view and it can be mounted just about anywhere.
You can also mod the UG to accept an network cable setup like the ScangaugeII does. It will take some skill to map the pin out of their cable, unsolder their cable, and solder in the network jack. Or you can wait until UG comes out with a removable cable...when ever (if ever) that will be.
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