Do you read the manual when you get a new car?

chipperhead · 27 Jul 2010 at 11:49

Whenever I get a new car one of the first things I do is read the manual practically cover to cover. I enjoy reading it, for me it's part of the enjoyment in getting a new car.
I seem to always find a couple of little things that I'd have never discovered unless I've read the manual.

Do you read the manual or does it just stay in the glove box until you need some info like tyre pressures?

peterattheboro · 27 Jul 2010 at 11:52

Don't think i've ever opened mine

Relentless81 · 27 Jul 2010 at 11:52

Yes, you always find things out that come in handy, like I was going to remove the whole headlight unit to replace indicator bulbs when all I had to do was put on full lock and remove the plastic cover

Howard · 27 Jul 2010 at 11:59

Yep. Cover to cover. Even if I know most of it through fiddling, I like to know these things, and any possible tricks

Wicksta · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:00

No, I'm alpha.*

*OK I downloaded the voice control PDF from BMW

peterattheboro · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:07

Howard said:
Yep. Cover to cover. Even if I know most of it through fiddling, I like to know these things, and any possible tricks

Find any?

<----CBA to look!

paradigm · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:18

No.

If I can't work out the functions of the car then I should downgrade to something simpler tbh.

Ev0 · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:21

Only when I was bored just after picking it up. It didn't help my boredom.

[TW]Fox · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:21

paradigm said:
No.

If I can't work out the functions of the car then I should downgrade to something simpler tbh.

A car is probably the most complicated thing you'll buy, especially more modern ones. I always read the manual, it's part of the enjoyable car buying process, and you tend to find out little bits and bobs you'd otherwise not have known. Not everything is obvious, especially if you don't even know to look for it.

DB_SamX · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:23

Yes, always. Read the manual sitting in the car and fiddle with all the buttons as I go through the it.

paradigm · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:24

[TW]Fox;17030964 said:
it's part of the enjoyable car buying process

No. That is crossing the line between an enthusiast and the car equivalent of a train spotter.

stulid · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:26

I let the otherhalf read the manual, while I go off driving

[TW]Fox · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:27

paradigm said:
No. That is crossing the line between an enthusiast and the car equivalent of a train spotter.

One of the features of my car is that the button marked 'Max', which blows max air out of the blowers, turns into a Rest function when the engine is off, where it will continue to heat the car using residual heat. Nowhere on this button is its function marked, and it's not advertised as a key feature in the brochure.

Without first reading about it online or in the manual, how would you ever know the car does that?

But I forgot, its macho-cool to not read manuals.

markweatherill · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:27

I got a user manual with my first Japanese import. It was in Japanese but there were pictures.

Steedie · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:29

I've learnt loads of little features of my car from reading the manual that I had no idea existed until then.

Pressing buttons at certain times, or certain things accesible from the OBC.

Plus, I actually quite enjoy reading the manual when you first get a car

BigglesPiP · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:33

Howard said:
Yep. Cover to cover. Even if I know most of it through fiddling, I like to know these things, and any possible tricks

MSN convo. full of "OMG it does this too!"

paradigm · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:33

[TW]Fox;17030998 said:
One of the features of my car is that the button marked 'Max', which blows max air out of the blowers, turns into a Rest function when the engine is off, where it will continue to heat the car using residual heat. Nowhere on this button is its function marked, and it's not advertised as a key feature in the brochure.

Without first reading about it online or in the manual, how would you ever know the car does that?

But I forgot, its macho-cool to not read manuals.

It's one thing to admit that you can find out hidden or not so obvious features by reading the manual. But to describe it as "an enjoyable part of the purchasing experience" is, in my eyes, the car equivalent to train spotting.

Necessary != Enjoyable

BigglesPiP · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:38

paradigm said:
No.

If I can't work out the functions of the car then I should downgrade to something simpler tbh.

What if your car has a fully stocked drinks cabinet and nobody has ever opened it because they don't know where to look?

paradigm · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:45

BigglesPiP said:
What if your car has a fully stocked drinks cabinet and nobody has ever opened it because they don't know where to look?

Yes, and what if you were to buy a good car one day?

Some things aren't ever going to happen.

Street · 27 Jul 2010 at 12:49

I'd read my manual within the first week of owning my car.. Found out a few useful little things, like holding the auto button on the climate control links both zones so they can be controlled on the drivers side only.