“The Funny Detail in Golf R, GTI and Bugatti Counters Explained”

This is a detail where some readers can’t resist the urge to respond with ‘good story, I’ll just read a banana’. But it’s just something we noticed when we were doing the article about the most expensive Golf at the moment. Because we looked at the old list leader, and we noticed another funny detail.

With the Golf R there is something funny about the distribution of the numbers on the counter. This is also the case with the Golf GTI of this generation, by the way. And even with the new Golf 8, this detail has been implemented in the digital counters. Take a good look at the steps the counter makes. Although the distance between the digits remains the same, the steps become larger.

Fast Audis and Volkswagens obviously have a higher top speed, but by adding more digits to the speedometer, this counter may become a bit cluttered. The Germans came up with something for that. As the needle moves to higher speeds, the steppers become larger and larger. This way the distribution remains just as clearly legible at low speeds.

Even with Bugatti it is linear

Above you see the counter of a Bugatti Chiron. He doesn’t have it again. With equal steps of 50 km/h, the counter rises to 500 km/h. And that is actually quite inconvenient if you want to drive 80 km / h. Or 120 km/h. Incidentally, this counter box also indicates the speed digitally at the bottom, so the needle is also more for the beautiful.

Most of the counters at the Golf R from ‘sensible speeds’ and increments of 20 km / h. Just look at the top of the page. But above 120 km/h, the counter suddenly takes steps of 40 km/h. And above 200 even steps of 60 km/h. In the Golf 5 GTI, the last figures towards 300 km/h suddenly change in steps of 30 instead of 20 km/h.

It’s a smart detail that will become less and less common now that most car brands are switching to digital odometers. Fortunately, existing models are not disappearing so quickly, and you can pay attention to them next time you are in a fast Audi or Volkswagen.