Things you found on your car, after a period of ownership

[WreckedGecko]

HustleRussell said:

B'stard Child said:

Checkmate said:

About 4 months after buying my first 306 I was driving to the cinema with a friend, him having not been in the car before was fiddling around with all the things, and found there was another glove box type thing on top of the dash where an airbag would be on the higher end ones. I didn't know that was there for all that time! It was filled with goodies too - about a quarter of weed, King size papers, cigarettes, £35 cash, a receipt for £800 2 months ago work the previous owner never mentioned, good times I thought! There was also an official letter from the courts I should not have read. Had the poor car destroyed that weekend.

Why?

Paranoia

Edited by HustleRussell on Monday 8th February 22:13

Yeah why?

[bomma220]

Alex_225 said:

On my Saab 9-3 there's buttons on the keyfob to lock/unlock the car and open the boot. They have symbols and a line on another button, I'd never bothered pressing it until a couple of weeks ago.

Turned out it switches the interior light on and sidelights, I guess so you can either see it in a car park or in the dark. Cool little touch..

I'm glad you've bought this to my attention, it might explain a flat battery problem a mate of mine's been having with his recently bought 9-3...

[BigBen]

romeogolf said:

BigBen said:

Tin Hat said:

C Class

Pressing the brake to stop, then releasing and pressing again 'holds' the brake on- great for a swift start away from the lights.

Took me 3 years to discover that........

My E-class has this and a coast to a halt thing where if you are in a traffic jam it sort of half applies the brakes so you can accelerate when there is a gap and it brings you to a gentle halt. Probably the same on the C-class, something to do with pressing the brake and the cruise lever at the same time iirc

I have a C-class with the hold function. Not heard of the coast to stop function. Can you give any more info?

It may only have been on early W211 e-classes, my colleagues car which is a few years younger has SBC and the hold function but not the coast to stop. I can't recall exactly how it is activated, as I said something to do with the cruise control lever and braking.

[Alex_225]

bomma220 said:

I'm glad you've bought this to my attention, it might explain a flat battery problem a mate of mine's been having with his recently bought 9-3...

Glad I could be of help. It's a funny one as it doesn't go off that quickly although I think it does after a while.

Usually when you lock the 9-3 even if the headlights or interior lights are on, they all go off by default.

[bomma220]

WreckedGecko said:

bomma220 said:

Apologies if we've already had this but the twin sun blind system on my Saab 9-5 Aero - means you can have one sun

blind on the windscreen & another on the side window at the same time

Have that on the Rangie too. Great feature. Still didn't notice it for a solid 4 months, despite it being right in front of me...

It is a great feature, very useful & not too expensive to incorporate? You did better than me, IIRC it was the best part of a year before I found mine

[loafer123]

veccy208 said:

My CherokeeXJ interior lights stayed on permanently and the alarm went off every time I locked the doors. My solution was to pull the fuse and put it down to a dodgy aftermarket alarm. After a few weeks I was cleaning the interior and twisted the headlights toggle.
It went click, I went hmm and put the fuse back in.
Results = interior lights off and a perfectly working alarm!!

If you turn it a different way you get the parking lights on all the time and a flat battery.

Took a few internet searches to find that one.

[bomma220]

Alex_225 said:

bomma220 said:

I'm glad you've bought this to my attention, it might explain a flat battery problem a mate of mine's been having with his recently bought 9-3...

Glad I could be of help. It's a funny one as it doesn't go off that quickly although I think it does after a while.

Usually when you lock the 9-3 even if the headlights or interior lights are on, they all go off by default.

Thanks mate they do that on my 9-5 too. I wondered if he'd locked his 9-3 & activated the interior/sidelight feature afterwards? (I don't have that feature on my 9-5.)

[vtecyo]

Snails said:

I don't know if this is the same on all cars, but all Mk2 Clios have a hook on the inside of the fuel filler flap at the bottom to hang your keys whilst filling,

EP3's have a bracket hook inside the fuel flap, and a little collar on the screw in fuel cap with a ball on it. This ball sits in the fuel flap so that the cap hangs off it, away from the paintwork.

I hope whoever thought of that at Honda got a promotion from the accountant that allowed it.

[veccy208]

Just Found another on my CRV... A picnic table covering the spare wheel well! never seen that before, well chuffed!

[Shakermaker]

Just this week I discovered why the rear mirrors never defrosted on my Superb. On every previous car I have owned with mirror demisters/defrosters, these have been linked to the rear-window defoster.

But no, Skoda have a secret 4th position on the electric mirror control nob to put the demisters on, the icon for which is generally hidden from my view at top left.

[littlebasher]

Alex_225 said:

On my Saab 9-3 there's buttons on the keyfob to lock/unlock the car and open the boot. They have symbols and a line on another button, I'd never bothered pressing it until a couple of weeks ago.

Turned out it switches the interior light on and sidelights, I guess so you can either see it in a car park or in the dark. Cool little touch.

It took 6 months of ownership of my 9-3 convertible to realise that if you held the unlock button down, it opened the roof and pulled down all the windows automatically.

[The_Burg]

Surprising number of folk buy used cars with tape decks, not realising there is a multichanger in the boot, under the seat etc.
When I bought my Passat the dealer had no idea there was one hidden behind a panel in the boot.

[Richardinuk]

I ran a w reg A6 for 3 years and 90K miles.

Day before I sold it I realised that the two black buttons on the steering wheel with + at the top and - at the bottom was NOT the in car volume controls. Rather push the gear selector to the left in D and it's a funny sort gear selector. DOH!

[siremoon]

When I got my BMW E92 I thought that the door pockets were totally useless as they were so narrow. After about 3 years I discovered that they were hinged at the bottom and you could open them out.

[Allanv]

siremoon said:

When I got my BMW E92 I thought that the door pockets were totally useless as they were so narrow. After about 3 years I discovered that they were hinged at the bottom and you could open them out.

You as well I thought it was just me.

Also I never noticed until the nights got darker is that the doors light up just above the interior handles like mood lighting.

Nice touch but might be an add on package.

[speedking31]

After 2 years I found that I don't need to turn on the ignition to read the (electronic digital display) mileometer, a dab on the zeroing button illuminates it briefly to enable me to record the mileage.

[monthefish]

Allanv said:

siremoon said:

When I got my BMW E92 I thought that the door pockets were totally useless as they were so narrow. After about 3 years I discovered that they were hinged at the bottom and you could open them out.

You as well I thought it was just me.

You guys seriously thought those pockets stayed like this??

[monthefish]

Zaxxon said:

However I thought that the rubbish 45 degree design was a French quirk etc.

I thought similar about the centre vent on my first car, a Saxo VTS. Wondered why it pointed to the roof, but after 6 months ownership a passenger showed me how it worked....

[donkmeister]

W211 e class again... I noticed a small silver embellishment below the hazard light button. I pressed it and a panel in the dash opened, followed by a 6-disc changer appearing. After that I decided to have a play with the stereo after that and found I had analogue TV, DVD player and a few aux-ins accessed in the boot.

[Mr E]

I have just discovered (as a result of another thread on PH) that I have two reverse gears.