If dial gauges weren’t what you chuckleheads grew up with (I’m 38 so I understand the nostalgia) you’d realize they aren’t really all that well designed. There’s no reason they go as high as they do, especially when they were “capped” at 85, and they display a terrible amount of information for the amount of space they take up.

I dislike many digital dashboards, not because they don’t interface well or they don’t look good, but because I can’t customize them to my own liking. I want my average speed, instantaneous speed, average miles per gallon, instantaneous miles per gallon, range, engine temperature, music track, outside temperature, inside temperature, tire pressure, time, vehicle orientation, all at once. They’re normally all available, but hidden in different menus and screens. Put it all out there, I’ll learn where to look for the info I want. And let people who desire less info have the ability to set up their dashboard for that as well.

A dial gauge can impart certain information that other ways cannot. I can notice a sudden change in movement without looking directly down, or see certain patterns of movement that simple numbers won't. An old example of the loss of that was found in some classic luxury cars (my grandmother had a Cadillac that I noticed it in). The speedometer wasn't a dial, it was an analog bar that would go right to left as your speed increased. It was very hard to judge change of speed by this, much like it's hard to see from a few digital numbers that rapidly change. I've also noticed that even digital dial gauges can suffer from this if their refresh isn't fast enough to simulate an analog accurately.

Doesn't mean you can't get used to a display or find other ways to get the same input, but dials aren't just old nostalgia, they do have advantages. I would bet for some measurements an analog multimeter is preferred over a digital, and vise versa.

Dials and digital displays are like clocks, the position can relay a lot of additional contextual information that doesn’t come from a simple number.

The thing about a digital display is that you can have things display however you want. You want numbers? Fine. You want gauges? No problem. You want sliding bars and thermometer looking things? You got it. You want a time chart of values over time? Can do.

Good luck getting an auto manufacturer to allow you to customise your dash lol

Yeah, it’s mostly aftermarket ones, which is harder to do on modern cars ( I think? I haven’t actually seen anyone try to use aftermarket dash software on a built-in dash screen)