I wish everyone would just have an option to see the navigation the the gauge cluster.

That's a very common feature nowadays, isn't it? For a rather new models.

E.g. Peugeot 4008 I was driving a few months ago could show CarPlay/Auto maps on main gauge cluster.

My Kia Soul has a version of this, but it doesn't integrate with Carplay, and the maps that came with the car are already outdated enough to bother me.

you actually may be able to update these. it's worth looking into.

The maps? Why would I bother when I can use Carplay instead?

The car's integration with Carplay? Even models that are 4 years newer than mine seem to still not have this. Not sure what's going on there.

I meant if you wanted to update the maps in your gauge cluster.

https://update.kia.com

you said they bothered you, so I suggested a fix. no obligation to do it if you don't care.

It's a non-fix if I have to do that every year (or every however-often-I-notice-an-error, the first error I noticed was within a year). Google Maps is constantly updated. Not to mention that Kia aren't going to be supplying updates in 10 years, while Google probably are (and if they aren't, I can still use Carplay and a different set of maps).

> The maps? Why would I bother when I can use Carplay instead?

Because, I quote: "they bother you". Which would explain why should you bother, right?

(Also, I was specifically talking about having Android Auto/Carplay projected in gauge cluster.)

Carplay's a better fix for the map issue, since then I don't have to update them whenever I find an error. With Carplay, errors instead don't happen.

The directions being shown in the gauge cluster via carplay is still not a thing on later Kias from what I can tell, so that problem is unfixed no matter what.

LOL that errors don’t happen on Apple or Google Maps. I submit updates to fix things every few months.

The only errors I find are opening hours and similarly trivial things; things that my car's built in nav doesn't even have. A road not being there or it having been moved or whatever has never happened to me while using Google Maps, so while it's not perfect when you're browsing, for actual navigation, it's been perfect for me.

I prefer it to the side a little bit. The glance down at my gauges means I completely lose sight of the road at least in my case.

After using a HUD , I don't want to go back to gauge cluster.

We all know driving looking at a phone is bad, starring at your cluster for a few seconds can also be bad.

Weirdly enough, some cars don't even have that cluster any more. Like the Volvo EX30.

It works with Apple Maps and Google Maps, Waze doesn’t pass this information to the car.

> that's why more recent models move the screen higher up.

That's far from optimal, that would be where I have my phone, at eye level just to the left of my head, right in front of the pillar. It's perfect in every way, especially since I'm longsighted.

Slate has the right idea, car makers should get out of the user software/interface business and prioritize choice. The instrument cluster is fine, as are basic controls, but they just tend to screw things up and add complexity.

> it sometimes looks a bit silly (like they glued an ipad on top of the dashboard), but it's a lot more usable

... until there's some child walking right into that visual "dead space".

You really should keep that child strapped into their car seat.

If you are concerned about blocking visibility, none of the screens are high enough to block view of the area in front of the car. They only block the upper part of the dashboard or some of the hood.

> You really should keep that child strapped into their car seat.

I'm talking about kids walking to school. Many cars are already tall enough to be a problem for children [1] and the problem is getting worse, there is no need to add giant ass screens inside cars to make the problem even worse than it already is.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/11/ever-rising-he...