My last car was made in 2008 and now I’m looking at the market for the first time in 15 years and it is strange and frightening to me. What’s up with the digital displays on everything? The rentals I’ve been driving don’t even have the option of showing a picture of a normal speedometer - they will only show the speed in digits. I find that while I’m driving, all I notice is “there are two digits, and the one on the right flashes often.” That’s true whether I’m going 15 or 75. Actually reading the speed requires conscious attention and distracts me from watching the road. I hate it. I never had to do that with a normal speedometer - my brain just subconsciously tracked where the arrow was. Is this something I’ll get used to? Or should I buy an older used car without a digital display? Right now it’s annoying enough that I’m thinking of doing that.
I have to imagine you have some anxiety related to the road. Reading a dial should be much harder than the number being directly presented to you. Work on speed control and using cruise control… Whether you’re going x0 or x9 shouldn’t be significant if the speed limit is x0 or 5. There are few scenarios where it’s not appropriate to go with traffic and/or use cruise control… Be predictable.
I’ll be jealous if you get a digital display. I’ve had a car from each of the last 3 decades…all dials. My grandparents 90s Town Car? Bright, digital, multi segment display…