"Secret" car features.

[Ved]

On my MKV R32 the headlights come on when doing autobahn speeds (>90mph)

[talksthetalk]

Try googling easter eggs. That's what the yanks call them.

[Contigo]

That brake feature 'disc wiping' is on most high end German Marques (my B7 RS4 had it too) and has been for some years.

[varsas]

there's a 'hidden' menu on my E36's on board computer, you can get real fuel level data, raw sensor readings, calibrate the fuel computer...stuff like that.

You can also switch the TC into a third mode (i.e. not just on or off), where instead of cutting engine power and then applying the brakes it only applies the brakes to the spinning wheel without also cutting the power. Very handy in the snow. Not a million miles away from how a modern electronic diff works.

On my old Vectra you could short a couple of pins in the ODB socket to read engine fault codes without a reader (they'd flash up on the dash board). Very handy.

None of these are documented in the owners manual.

[Freddy88FM]

My car is an automatic Superleggera... as time progresses, bits fall off. The weight saving thus far is actually quite impressive. Vive la Peugeot!

[rohrl]

There's a button at the botom of the B pillar on my Seat Leon which has something to do with the central locking I think. I don't know what it does.

[Mastodon2]

In my Civic Type R, there is a way to test the HVAC, you press the AC button and the brake pedal in when you turn the car on and it runs an HVAC cycle through different modes and checks everything is working correctly, and changes the lights on the AC button if something is wrong, or goes green at the end of the test to tell you it's working properly.

There is also another test where you press something as you turn the car on and it makes the speed and tacho needles flick over and hit the stops at 5 o clock on the dial like you see when you turn some motorbikes on. I can't remember what that test is for or how to access it either.

[littleredrooster]

Many Audis have "secret" indicator switches that their owners never find.

[spoodler]

Mine currently has a secret immobiliser...

[anonymous-user]

If you press and hold the 'auto' button for 5 seconds on the climate control of any modern Audi that has the left/right temp knobs, it will synchronize the temperature meaning you only have to turn one knob to increase/decrease both L & R temp.

If any once can tell me how to do this in a BMW F30 I will be grateful!

[Tyre Tread]

rohrl said:

There's a button at the botom of the B pillar on my Seat Leon which has something to do with the central locking I think. I don't know what it does.

If its the same as the old Audi A4 it enables/disbales the interior sensors on the alarm

[callmedave]

littleredrooster said:

Many Audis have "secret" indicator switches that their owners never find.

Damn beat me to it! (but would of said BMW)

[molineux1980]

On our mk 5 Golf GTI, if the windows and sun roof are left open, holding down the lock button on the fob shuts them.

Another one is if you turn off the ignition, and tap down on the wiper stalk, it parks the wipers in a vertical position.

[Speed_Demon]

rohrl said:

There's a button at the botom of the B pillar on my Seat Leon which has something to do with the central locking I think. I don't know what it does.

I think in most cars that tuerns off the in car sensors when you lock it.

[rohrl]

Tyre Tread said:

rohrl said:

There's a button at the botom of the B pillar on my Seat Leon which has something to do with the central locking I think. I don't know what it does.

If its the same as the old Audi A4 it enables/disbales the interior sensors on the alarm

Thanks. I don't have a dog to leave in the car so I guess I'll never use it but it's nice to know what it does.

[DKS]

Speed_Demon said:

I think in most cars that tuerns off the in car sensors when you lock it.

In any Mk4 Astra with the alarm, you press and hold both interior map light buttons until the LED flashes on the dash. Quite clever in not needing and extra button I thought, but how many people bother to read the manual to find it out?

Also almost any fuel injected Vauxhall till about 2000 will let you flash the fault codes by shorting two pins in the diag socket. Later ones you just push the throttle and brake and switch the ignition on.

[pincher]

molineux1980 said:

On our mk 5 Golf GTI, if the windows and sun roof are left open, holding down the lock button on the fob shuts them.

Another one is if you turn off the ignition, and tap down on the wiper stalk, it parks the wipers in a vertical position.

My E39 does the same, as have several other cars I have owned over the years. What I didn't know though, was that holding down the unlock button on my E39 key also opens all the windows.

I found this out when crouching down, changing the wheels on my TVR - was a bit puzzled at first when I turned round to get my cup of tea off the boot of the BM

[matrignano]

In my mk4 Golf with auto AC, you could access a secret menu/display by pressing a specific combination of buttons. One of the most useful features was was that the digital display would show the "real" current speed, which was meant to be more accurate than the speedo.

[alangla]

Mastodon2 said:

There is also another test where you press something as you turn the car on and it makes the speed and tacho needles flick over and hit the stops at 5 o clock on the dial like you see when you turn some motorbikes on. I can't remember what that test is for or how to access it either.

On the Mk2 Focus, if you hold in the trip reset button while starting the engine it puts the dash into test mode, IIRC, you get the gauge sweep described above, LED test which turns all the dash lights on, (rest of these all appear on the odometer) digital tacho, speed mph to 0.1mph accuracy, speed kmh to 0.1km/h, external temp, batt voltage, water temp, fuel flow then a series of hexadecimal values from various sensors, then I think it's the firmware level for the ECU then back to the start. There might be more.

[gforceg]

On the Mk2 Golf MFA there are a number of hidden diagnostic and ID menus depending on MFA switch settings.

I was glad I read the manual after buying a secondhand car because it told me there was an allen key attached to the sunroof motor for emergency closure. Which I needed a few weeks later when on holiday!