Topic: Suprise! You have features!

[Stephen M]

I've bought all my cars used, or received them second hand through other means. Which means I generally didn't get an owners manual, or even a dealer's sales pitch. So...occasionally, I discover a feature a few months or even years into ownership. For instance, I owned my MR2 for about three years before I discovered there was an HVAC vent directly under the steering column that the previous owner had closed. Which also explained why the floor heat seamed anemic in mixed mode.

A few years later, I unlocked the passenger side door for a friend by turning the key twice in the driver's side door. He said "I wish my car did that." "Are you sure it doesn't? It's the same make as mine and three years newer." The next day he admitted that yes, his car had that feature and he had no idea.

So, any interesting features you've discovered long after acquisition, by accident or other means? Or has having the sum total knowledge of the world at you fingertips removed the thrill of personal discovery?

[nicanary]

Not completely on-topic, but why are manuals always missing? I can understand a car seller "losing" the service log, especially if he had inadvertantly changed the mileage on the odometer, but I can see nothing to gain by taking away the user's manual. Yet time and again I've come across instances of used cars only a couple of years old, having no manual in the glove locker. No spare key, either.

Is there some sort of parallel universe where these are lying gathering dust?

(Getting more OT - car makers give us detailed instructions about every knob and button, by way of an illustrated booklet, yet computer makers expect us to automatically know how their machine functions. We're not all 8 year-olds. My new HP laptop has a left-click, but no right-click. For the last 2 months I've been saving images by using the "snip" function as an intermediary. Madness. I suppose I could phone HP but I'd probably find I was talking to somebody, however well-meaning they were, to whom English was not a first language.)

[oko94]

Google "HP laptop no right click" and you'll easily find some advice !

[nicanary]

Google "HP laptop no right click" and you'll easily find some advice !

I'm just not used to the modern world. I hadn't even thought of that - I'm not someone who asks for advice, I always just do what I know, and try nothing new. Thank you. It works (you press firmly on the right side of the pad and hold it there for 2 seconds. I've no idea why HP felt it was necessary to go back 20 years in time for this function.)

[Carnut]

Not completely on-topic, but why are manuals always missing? I can understand a car seller "losing" the service log, especially if he had inadvertantly changed the mileage on the odometer, but I can see nothing to gain by taking away the user's manual. Yet time and again I've come across instances of used cars only a couple of years old, having no manual in the glove locker. No spare key, either.

Is there some sort of parallel universe where these are lying gathering dust?

My wife got a new Fiat Panda 2 years ago; after a few months a warning light came on so I brought the Owner's manual into the house to work out what it was.  I'm pretty sure I put it back.  The fault was put right by the dealer under warranty, but a similar thing happened again a few months later.  Guess what?  No Owner's manual in the car...  My wife said I had it, but there was no sign of it in the house whatsoever!  A year on I got so fed up with not having one (you need it just to change the clock when summer and winter times arrive...) that I ordered a new one.  It cost me over £50!  But I can see that most people wouldn't bother, and there would just be no manual.  There is no way I wouldn't have put it back but it just wasn't there and my wife denied touching it..

[Carnut]

So, any interesting features you've discovered long after acquisition, by accident or other means? Or has having the sum total knowledge of the world at you fingertips removed the thrill of personal discovery?

I will have had my car (from new) 2 years next month.
Last week I noticed there was a little sign next to my A/C button that said "Eco" which I had never seen before.  I couldn't work out how it had appeared or how to get rid of it or even what it did.  But by pressing this and that (actually the "Auto" button for the A/C..) it disappeared! So each time you press it it either appears or disappears and now I know the A/C has an Eco mode.. Which actually cuts down the icy blast you get through the vents and whilst it's still cool it doesn't freeze your whatnots off and it improves the fuel economy!  I've had it for nearly 2 years but have only just discovered it; now I use it every day!

My last car was an Audi A5 and it took me 2 years to discover it had an SD card slot.  Hey presto - I could put a tiny little SD card into it and play all my music!  It worked well until iTunes decided it wasn't going to let me record from my computer on to the SD card any more (something to do with copyright) and despite numerous phone conversations with them in the USA to try to get round the problem (which they claimed to know nothing about) we were never able to get round it, so nothing I've added to my iTunes library is on the SD card.  But no matter, I have a new Audi now and I can actually plug my iPlayer directly into it so it not only charges it but also plays everything I have on my iPlayer now!

[nicanary]

If you read some of the stories on other website forums about people who don't maintain their cars, you realise that manuals may just be taking up unnecessray space. Apparently they're not required. I've seen a photo of the engine oil from a Vauxhall Vectra which had not been changed for 7 years.

It's the "white goods" syndrome. People buy and use cars as if they're just like a fridge - no need to service them, they're bulletproof. It'll get worse now, with the inexorable rise of "renting" a car through PCP schemes. Abuse it for 3 years, swap it for another, and then it's someone else's problem.

Sorry Stephen M - I've taken your thread even more off-piste.

[Allan L]

Even when you have the manual, it usually covers several variations of the model and you need to know which one is being referred to any time you read anything.
My new car (March this year) seems to have a missing feature that I can't understand which is that there is no ventilation system. It has an "air conditioning system" which will blow air in to heat or cool the interior depending on whether the temperature you set is above or below what it measures. On pleasant days such as we have had recently all we wanted was ram air at ambient temperature to pass from outside through the various outlets into the interior, but nothing did that. Reading the manual, I find it only implies that it was as I described, but it is never stated categorically.

[Carnut]

Usually there is a button which switches the compressor on or off so that you can just have 'fresh' air; in the case of automatic A/C you can usually switch off the Auto function which again means its just ambient air...
Clearly yours has neither of these Allan!  What make is it?

[nicanary]

Usually there is a button which switches the compressor on or off so that you can just have 'fresh' air; in the case of automatic A/C you can usually switch off the Auto function which again means its just ambient air...
Clearly yours has neither of these Allan!  What make is it?

It's his Mors!  . Best air-con in the world.

[Allan L]

Usually there is a button which switches the compressor on or off so that you can just have 'fresh' air; in the case of automatic A/C you can usually switch off the Auto function which again means its just ambient air...
Clearly yours has neither of these Allan!  What make is it?

Unlike other cars where "air conditioning" just means cooling the BMW uses the term correctly in that "air conditioning" changes the condition of the air - in this case hotter/cooler. It seems to assume that no temperature change requires no airflow and it turns the fan down - and as I said there seems to be no ram air system available.

As nicanary implies, mon Mors has all the latest gimmicks - keyless entry door, anti-lock front brakes, stop-start (until you learn how not to invoke that) and self-cleaning windscreen. It does indeed have an excellent ventilation system.

[Carnut]

Unlike other cars where "air conditioning" just means cooling the BMW uses the term correctly in that "air conditioning" changes the condition of the air - in this case hotter/cooler. It seems to assume that no temperature change requires no airflow and it turns the fan down - and as I said there seems to be no ram air system available.

There are quite a few threads about this one the Internet but no-one seems to have any solution except "take it to a dealer to sort"...
It strikes me you just have to live with it 'On' all the time, or else completely 'Off' by turning it all the way to Minimum and wait until the fan stops blowing, but then you get no air at all.  There just doesn't seem to be a way to get Air that isn't Conditioned!

[Oguerrerob]

It strikes me you just have to live with it 'On' all the time, or else completely 'Off' by turning it all the way to Minimum and wait until the fan stops blowing, but then you get no air at all.  There just doesn't seem to be a way to get Air that isn't Conditioned!

There's cars like some Chevrolets, that the Air Conditioner can be switch off, just pushing the temperature selector

[Allan L]

That photo shows all the controls that are missing in the super-electronic panel I have. Real knobs and levers perhaps even controlling water and air valves and even a fan speed control that isn't over-ridden by the system which "knows best".

[nicanary]

That photo shows all the controls that are missing in the super-electronic panel I have. Real knobs and levers perhaps even controlling water and air valves and even a fan speed control that isn't over-ridden by the system which "knows best".

I'm also not a fan of these "control centres" in modern cars. Jeremy Clarkson may be an acquired taste, but he's right when he says it takes 5 minutes to set up a car before you can move off. I have owned several cars which had features I never used during my ownership.  They just add weight, complexity and frustration.

[richard cuyler]

I owned a second hand Volvo 740 for ten years. The A/C never worked, so I would open the windows and set the face level vents to 'flat out' when the weather was hot. My feet, however, didn't seem to be serviced by any of the dashboard vent controls. After about 5 years (!!), whilst investigating soggy front carpets after a trip in wet weather I discovered there is a neat little vent in each front foot-well, which is opened manually and catches airflow from somewhere near the wheel arch. The leak was caused by neither vent having a rubber seal around its perimeter, so I ordered and fitted the seals. It also turned out that the car always had wet carpets after a spell of wet weather, I just hadn't noticed it.

There was no mention of these ducts in the owners manual, as far as I could see.

I suppose five years out of ten with cooled feet isn't so bad really. But if the ducts hadn't let water through, I would never have found them at all.

[Allan L]

I suppose five years out of ten with cooled feet isn't so bad really. But if the ducts hadn't let water through, I would never have found them at all.

and water-cooling beats air-cooling, don't you think?

[Carnut]

I suppose five years out of ten with cooled feet isn't so bad really. But if the ducts hadn't let water through, I would never have found them at all.

and water-cooling beats air-cooling, don't you think?

Not when it comes to soggy socks!

[Stephen M]

Usually there is a button which switches the compressor on or off so that you can just have 'fresh' air; in the case of automatic A/C you can usually switch off the Auto function which again means its just ambient air...

An actual conversation I had with my Miata, with automatic climate control:

Me: "I would like outside air, please"
Mi: "Certainly, sir, simply switch from 'recirculate' to 'fresh' on the button"
Me: "Done. But the air is still being heated by the heater core it seems"
Mi: "My apologies, sir. You may reduce the temperature as you see fit"
Me: "Done. But now the AC compressor has switched on"
Mi: "Quite rightly, as you asked for colder air. If you would like warmer air, simply..."
Me: "No, no...I don't want warmer air, or colder air. I don't want you to do anything to the air other than blow it on me."
Mi: "Oh, I believe I see. You want outside air blowing, unadulterated by my climate control?"
Me: "Yes, that's it!"
Mi: "Then might I humbly suggest sir PUT THE BLOODY TOP DOWN ON THE CONVERTIBLE HE BOUGHT"

1) My car's use of "bloody" indicates this little Japanese roadster has a British soul.
2) I would still like to be able to pass through outside air, unheated/uncooled, without having to guess what temperature setting achieves that. It's not 100% clear that's actually what happening. 

[Carnut]

It is a fact that many modern cars simply don't cater for the occupants wanting unadulterated air from outside; the makers seem to feel it has to be heated, cooled, filtered or whatever.

Up until the mid 1960s there was no such thing as through-flow ventilation and the only method of getting air in was either winding down the windows (or sun-roof!) or those little flaps that used to open in the front wings.

I think the first car in the UK to have through-flow ventilation was the Ford Cortina Mk1 face-lift in 1964 (1965 MY) and I thought it was such a brilliant advance and safety feature that I nominated it as my top invention/improvement in a competition in Motor magazine; I came second, missing out on the First Prize, which was a Lotus Elan, but getting £50 with which I bought a VW Beetle (1956 oval rear window model) whilst working in Hamburg.

Ventilation systems went on to develop into sophisticated systems; I remember my Dad's Audi 100 Coupé S had fresh air inlets all over the place, but then things took a turn in the opposite direction and it became completely impossible to have heated air to your feet but independent inlets allowing fresh air on your face, a fault I believe is almost universal on all cars to this day.  50 years of progress, eh?!

[gilescooperuk]

My 26 year old BMW does have that feature not sure about the newer ones, but as it is still going after 187000 miles I'm not planning on replacing it whilst it still goes....

[Carnut]

My 26 year old BMW does have that feature not sure about the newer ones, but as it is still going after 187000 miles I'm not planning on replacing it whilst it still goes....

Maybe the surprise feature there is that it is still going!!

[Arthur Dent]

I briefly owned a Chevy S10 which had a mystery switch that I never did find out what it did. Came with an Astro van owner's manual for the record.

My Mazda 2 has a hold the key in the lock for a second to unlock all the doors. My wife put me onto that after I complained about the locks.