Yesterday i was driving my civic and i realised that cars generally have their tachometers to the left of the speedometer, but motorcycles generally have those in reverse.

Not sure if that's always the case, but any ideas on why or the history of these conventions?

Just a thought.

Fascinating!  I even had to run out to my Avalon to check and see if it was on the left, and it is!

Do you think it could have anything to do with the conventions of the country that made the car? Grandmas Ford Taurus had speedo on left, my Accord has it on the Left. 

my subaru's tach is on the right

You're right. Some Subaru's have them on the right.

Maybe the Automotive Engineers did it that way to mess with our minds 

I just did quick and dirty count using google image search.  Out of 38 images where I could determine the location of the tachometer in relation to the speedometer, 23 were on the left, 12 were on the right, one on top, one on the bottom and one around (Lexus LFA).

Maybe if I'm really ambitious I'll try to correlate car vs. motorcycle.  But for what it's worth, the tach on my bike is to the left of the speedometer.

Quote from: Dresnewtoy on November 23, 2011, 06:14:20 AM
Yesterday i was driving my civic and i realised that cars generally have their tachometers to the left of the speedometer, but motorcycles generally have those in reverse.

Not sure if that's always the case, but any ideas on why or the history of these conventions?

Just a thought.

Implying civics are real cars 

I gotta' admit Dresnewtoy, that was a pretty clever observation.
You had a bunch of us running out to the garage to check our cars. 

i aint fallin for it... he could be a personal trainer in disguise and just tryin to raise the general heartrate! 

That is too funny. Got to get our hands off those wrenches, every once in a while.

Our Toyota (built in Japan) and Ford (built in Australia) both have tachs on the right

Yup my Tacoma is on the right as well.  I wounder what the reason is?  There has to be a reason that were missing.  Engineers dont do things just because, its to illogical.

One of the minor differences between the mid 90's Toyota Corollas and the Geo Prizms was the placement of the gauges.  The Corollas have the tach on the left and the Prizms have it on the right. 

And speaking of Civics, I'm always thrown off when we get one traded in because the transmission is on the "wrong" side   

-Jessie