Instead of a whole car full of gauges you could get an aftermarket data logger, and hook it up to a laptop. You could go through the whole list of possible variables and set up acceptable limits. When something is not in an ideal range it could alert you. I'm not sure if this way is less expensive but it does take up less space and weight.
I do hook up the lap top and look at different things... The gauges are just there for show.. They work and all but just there to get some looks... No body needs all of them but they just look awesome!