I've gotten pretty good at shifting according to engine noise in my 94 Escort. Can't help wondering why it was ever a thing back in the day to make a car with a stick and no rev needle. Did it save that much trouble and $$ to make them without the tach?
Because they were out-the-door cheapies and it was going to cost $0.25 to put a tach in it.
NGTD wrote: Because they were out-the-door cheapies and it was going to cost $0.25 to put a tach in it.
Hungarian friend of mine swears Trabants are so sophisticated because they don't need tachs. "You'll naturally shift before the redline" 
Cost, cost, and oh, by the way, cost. They used to make cars that only had one side mirror to save cost as well.
At one point, Toyota's option packages were set up such that the only way to get a tach in the Corolla was to buy the one with the automatic...
my truck has no tach with a 5 speed, yet my buick roadmaster, that was never offered with anything but an automatic, has factory tach and full gauges.
I think it is the Nissan Versa sedan but only the most-stripped model can be had with a manual. If you choose this price leader model, it has not tach.
Add the auto trans option to any trim level and you get a tach.
So, all the autos get tach but manual gets none.
I used to feel this way. But honestly, I can't really remember the last time I looked at my tach except out of mere curiosity. My ears tell me when to shift.
Ditto, I learned on a ford escort that didn't have a tach. Had to learn to shift by the sound.
I also recall a lot of cars having that obnoxious upshift light on the dash as well. My memory -- which may be incorrect -- is that some cars had that light instead of the tach, although I know my 97 Saturn had both the tach and the goofy light. Did that light finally go away, or are there still some cars out there so equipped?
codrus wrote: Cost, cost, and oh, by the way, cost. They used to make cars that only had one side mirror, one taillight, and zero inside door handles to save cost as well.
My dad's '64 Corvair Monza doesn't have one and there really wasn't one available as a dealer installed option either. Whenever I drive it, it's all by sound.
BlueInGreen44 wrote: I've gotten pretty good at shifting according to engine noise in my 94 Escort. Can't help wondering why it was ever a thing back in the day to make a car with a stick and no rev needle. Did it save that much trouble and $$ to make them without the tach?
It was simply normal from the early 1900s though the '70s that a manual trans car (that wasn't a sports car or fully equipped musclecar) didn't have a tach. No one needed one.
My '03 Saturn has an upshift light along with tach.
My '89 Chevy 1/2 ton with a 5 speed didn't have a tach. Same for my '94 Chevy pickup, which was an automatic (but I added a tach anyway).
my 96 Civic hatch had no tach. Swapped in a new gauge cluster with one in 15 minutes.
Learned how to drive stick on an '81 Datsun 210 that didn't have a tach. I got the hang of shifting by feel, so on most cars I don't use the tach to shift. The BMW has been a bit of an exception - too much sound deadening plus a very smooth engine, and sometimes I miss my shifting cues.
you gotta think, if an auto maker can save $1.00 per car by not putting a tach in it and they make 1 million cars, thats 1 million dollars saved.
I learned on dirt bikes, I don't need a tach to tell me when to shift.
My old wagon doesn't have a tach. Don't really need one. First the power falls off, then the valves float acting as a "soft" rev limiter. The actual numerical rpm's aren't important.
SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: My dad's '64 Corvair Monza doesn't have one and there really wasn't one available as a dealer installed option either. Whenever I drive it, it's all by sound.
In 65 and newer Corvairs you had to get the Corsa model to get a tach.
In all honestly, the only time I look at the tach in my E46 is to find out why the car is suddenly stumbling all over itself. Real easy to find the rev limiter in that thing...
Full instrumentation on a '61 VW (fuel gauge added in '62)
Note the hash marks to indicate when to shift.
I owned close to 20 stick-shift cars, mostly but not all VW's, before I ever had a tachometer.
You shift when the revs won't go any higher, duh. I learned that on an 87 Escort. 
I usually like having the tach for the first run through the gears, but after that, I know what it sounds like and hardly ever look at it. Of course, none of my vehicles are so quiet that you can't hear the engine when you're really going after it, either. I don't really like hitting rev limiters, so the tach is kind of nice. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever hit the limiter on any of my cars, now that I'm thinking about it. I have on the KTM a few times, and that one even has a tach haha.
I'm on my 6th manual car since I turned 19 and I can't say that I look at my tach to much other to know when I'm approaching redline. Once you get a feel for the car it's just as easy to look at your speed when you want to shift and know that range. I could probably live without a tach if I had to.
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