Ah yes, THAT tachometer! Well, obviously my brain was severely affected by the lack of a volume knob...
what a waste of time having a tach with a CVT. CVTs are dog vomit. as a matter of fact why have a tach with an automatic? just go electric and get it over with.
overall the design is a huge improvement over the last civic but that uni brow chrome in the front keeps reminding me of my grandma's. (my grandma's brow wasn't that big and shiny though. and yes she came from an unnamed part of the old soviet block.)
Helps you drive economically. With the Altima, bring the revs up to 2000rpm up until 10kph to get going, let them drop to 1750rpm up to 20kph, then once the torque converter locks up let the revs drop down to 1250rpm to accelerate to 60kph (city driving). On the highway, bring the revs up to 2500rpm until you hit 60kph, then if the road is clear behind you, let the rpm's drop to 2000rpm to accelerate the rest of the way to 100kph or cruising speed. NOW I can do it by feel and the way the engine sounds, but when I was 'learning' how to drive the Altima economically, the tach was very helpful.
Unlike a conventional automatic where throttle position determines rate of acceleration and RPM varies, with a CVT, throttle position determines RPM, which in turn determines rate of acceleration. I would argue that a tach is more helpful with a CVT than with a conventional automatic.
Granted for people like my spouse who don't drive with an eye to economy at all, the tach is useless. Likewise, when I drove manual vehicles, after getting habituated to them I found I used the tach as little as I do in my current car.