Dear vendors; please make this boost gauge

[VancouverGTI]

Yeah, it's a shame. It looks good otherwise.

It blows me away that companies don't offer both options; with and without their badge. Strange that they'll sacrifice sure sales because they don't want to miss out on the chance to sell a unit or two if it gets seen somewhere.

 

[MJM Autohaus]

^ I like. Now how about some B6 Passat love in beige.

Passat models will also be included. We've now decided to do them for cars without an upholstered a-pillar (something we weren't going to do since the other side wouldn't match). The fix? We're going to offer them with the option of sending in your passenger side a-pillar to be covered to match. We have *finally* been fortunate enough to add a member to the team (the famous Rich-Z whom we've been scouting for years) that's one of the very best fabricators and custom gauge guys in Texas. All pillars will match your factory headliner (not the a-pillar), as this makes the most sense, being that this is where the pillar meets the headliner. More pics to follow.

Not that I am much of an ECS fan, but they spammed me some news letter the other day touting an OEM look gauge.
Admittedly I haven't checked it out yet, but the newsletter picture looked pretty OEM in terms of dial font and color.
Anyone got better :iono:

If you can, post up a photos of their pod. We haven't seen any on the market like this yet.

It did look good, but... and this is a deal-breaker for me... the logo is huge.

If a customer is paying for the product, why do some companies think they're entitled to make you advertise their product for them?

Completely defeats the OEM look. Pass.

Which logo are you guys referring to?

 

[VancouverGTI]

ECS's. And, in fact, any vendor's if the have a logo on the face. Sometimes you totally want to shout the brand names, but sometimes you don't. Given that a lot of us in the VW crowd aren't shouty, and keep things low-key, I'm surprised there aren't more vendors offering a choice between branded and unbranded.

 

[MJM Autohaus]

Ah, okay. Thanks for the photo. Yeah, we're not looking for that type of flavor. As stated above, we want to present a product that looks like it came from the factory with the pod and gauge integrated into the pillar (like our photo above). That photo you have there screams "aftermarket!" As far as the logo; well, that is totally 100% normal. Your car has the VW logo on it. Your Ralph Lauren has the Polo logo on it. Your iPhone has the Apple logo on it. Your wheels will have the BBS logo on them. Your Recaro seats will have the Recaro logo on it. Your television set has the Sony logo on it. Your kicks have the Adidas logo on it. Your Burger King cup has the BK logo on it. Asking for logo-less products is almost unheard of. In fact, in respect to gauges, I don't thing we've ever seen them without the logo.

 

[VancouverGTI]

I don't thing we've ever seen them without the logo.

Well, now you have...



This isn't my picture, but it's exactly what my gauge looks like, too. The minute you have a logo on something, you can't possibly say it looks OEM; the illusion is shattered before it had a chance to form.

And all of the brand examples you gave were perfectly legitimate, but you skipped over something. All brands are not created equal. It's cool to wear Adidas, but not cool to wear Walmart brand sneakers. VW has earned its place as a top-tier brand, and people buy their cars because of that.

No offense, but a lot of the aftermarket parts manufacturers are so obsessed with building their brand now, they forget that they're not Porsche; I don't want to advertise for them. Their product doesn't buy me cred (if you care about that sort of thing), and they have no right to draw attention to themselves on my dime.

If I'm paying for the product, I have no obligation to pimp it for the manufacturer, especially at the cost of what I'm trying to do with my car, which is keep it a sleeper. The only logo visible anywhere on my car is VW, and it's staying that way.

 

[Elliott]

Just remind me of the different features that gauge has? I remember looking into this years ago but actually forgot all about it.

 

[MJM Autohaus]

Correction: an analog gauge.

 

[VancouverGTI]

It does boost, coolant temp, air intake temp, exhaust gas temp, throttle plate position, speed, RPM and has a 0-60 timer.

A little Googling will show you plenty of analog gauges without logos. Nowadays, they tend to be cheap, but that wasn't always the case. Funnily enough, my old turbo Dodge had aftermarket gauges without logos, but I can't tell you what make they were ...because they didn't have logos.

Nonetheless, I created this thread to give vendors feedback on a niche that's being missed. I stuck by that qualification when I went with the P3cars gauge. I'd still be interested in an analog boost gauge, but won't buy one with a logo.

 

[MJM Autohaus]

It does boost, coolant temp, air intake temp, exhaust gas temp, throttle plate position, speed, RPM and has a 0-60 timer.

A little Googling will show you plenty of analog gauges without logos. Nowadays, they tend to be cheap, but that wasn't always the case. Funnily enough, my old turbo Dodge had aftermarket gauges without logos, but I can't tell you what make they were ...because they didn't have logos.

Nonetheless, I created this thread to give vendors feedback on a niche that's being missed. I stuck by that qualification when I went with the P3cars gauge. I'd still be interested in an analog boost gauge, but won't buy one with a logo.

Well, with our a-pillar pod kits, we are not going to be doing any private label stuff with our logo on the actual gauge, but rather are going to give the customer the choice to choose the gauge they'd like between an Autometer, NewSouth Performance, Stewart Warner or VDO unit. It's usually (not always, but usually) that any product, be it a wrist watch, a pair of sneakers for your feet, a tire for your car, a coffee maker or even a microwave, isn't going to be of much quality if not from a well known name line (i.e. Casio, Toyo, Sony, General Electric), all of which are always going to have their logo on it. Of course, you can always source almost anything in the world from China or eBay without that info, but more times than not it's going to be junk.

 

[MJM Autohaus]

Well, now you have...

View attachment 88934

This isn't my picture, but it's exactly what my gauge looks like, too. The minute you have a logo on something, you can't possibly say it looks OEM.

You might want to let VAG know that, as their gauges from the factory clearly say "VDO" on them! :thumbsup:

 

[VancouverGTI]

You fired up the waaaaay-back machine for those, hey?

If you wanted to match an aftermarket gauge to those, sure, a VDO gauge would be ideal.

Of course, I own a MkV, and the factory gauges do not have a logo; nor has any other recent VW's. And that's what I'm out to match.