Cars are full of small little details that all make up the driving experience. Every year, new technology finds its way into cars, complementing the experience and making it safer, easier, and more enjoyable to travel. One of the small features that has come a long way is the humble trip computer. But what is it and what does it do?
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The trip computer started as a humble tumbler that kept track of the distance your car had covered. Slowly it evolved to being able to show the total distance covered and your trip (provided you reset it before setting off). As the digital age progressed and LCD displays and computers made their way into cars, the simple odometer and trip meter morphed into a handy instrument that could give you a variety of readouts.
Modern Trip Computers
Just about every new car on sale today has a digital trip computer. You'll find it in the gauge cluster as a series of numbers, usually between the tachometer (rev counter) and speedometer. Even the most basic ones will still tell you how far the vehicle has travelled throughout its life and on your most recent trip. The more advanced ones will allow you to select two different trips, Trip A and Trip B (usually), that allow you to reset one when you fill your tank and use the other when you start your trip, allowing you to check how far you've travelled on a tank of fuel.
Step things up a notch and some will calculate your predicted fuel range and give you an average of your vehicle's fuel consumption, usually in litres per 100 km. From here, more advanced ones will allow you to see your instantaneous fuel consumption as well as your average. Some will offer a screen or reading that resets each time you set off on a journey automatically, eliminating the need to reset it yourself. You will even find some that will include the duration of your journey in hours and minutes.
Electric Vehicles (EVs) display similar figures, but most offer a range prediction, allowing you to gauge how far you can still drive on the remaining battery. Some also show the battery percentage, handy if you know how much energy your EV consumes per kilometer.
Spending some time (while parked) getti g to know your trip computer and how to cycle through the different readings will help you avoid scary low fuel situations and give you better understanding of when your car requires attention.
