"Secret" car features.
Discussion
driverrob said:
While first gear crawling in a traffic jam in my old Mitsubishi GTO TT, I discovered that it senses extra demand for the air-con by increasing the idle revs slightly. A handy low speed control: air-con off, economy mode, full auto = 3 diff speeds.
The Nissan Primera mk2 does this too (only 1 speed though) - just switch the heater fan on to position 1 and the idle speed increases a little, handy for slow speeds.On one of my cars the trip meters (2) are not displayed - you have to select them by briefly pressing the reset, and then a long press of the reset sets it back to zero ... and I wonder how many of us have tried a long press whilst the main mileage is displayed 
...
unfortunately it doesn't reset to zero - perhaps someone knows how to do it?!
...
unfortunately it doesn't reset to zero - perhaps someone knows how to do it?!
ModernAndy said:
Had to laugh at the Audi secrets. I worked for Audi a few years ago and there are so many extras that 95% of drivers have no clue about. Here's a new one to the thread; you can open and close the roof on some cabriolet models just by using the key in the door lock. I forget the exact procedure but its something along the lines of turn the key one way for a couple seconds then the other way and hold.
Why would it make you laugh?When the speedo on my old elise started to rest at 20mph instead of 0 some internet searching found that some playing with the trip reset button (I think it was something like 2 short presses and one long one) with the door open and it magically wound its way back down onto the stop. Mad stuff 
I have an E89 Z4 and as with most modern BMW with sat nav it has some pretty cool things I was unaware of such as google street maps view of final destination, and country facts with a picture of country flags and population details, currency etc.
I also only recently found the SOS button which will dial 999
The key fob will drop the roof if you hold down unlock
I also only recently found the SOS button which will dial 999
The key fob will drop the roof if you hold down unlock
threadlock said:
Justin Cyder said:
Couple of my Audis: hold the key fob down & the windows close. Not sure if that is particularly secret though.
Have you tried holding the Unlock button too? On my A6 this opens all the windows. Handy on a hot day when I want to ventilate the car without going outside and faffing with the ignition.On my clio 172 if you hold down the trip computer button and put on the ignition the dials start moving about and on the trip display it shows you how many litres of fuel your using and how many litres are in the tank it also displays some fault codes. Also on start up the display occasionally shows oil level ok and if you press the reset button whilst this is dislayed it will show your oil level.
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
Daft question..but how do you know?
(presumably in the dark they're on anyway, and how do you tell in daylight..do dash lights come on too?
)
Just interested, because they don't come on in mine
This is only in vag cars that have xenons and auto lights, you can tell when you over take other cars and see the reflection in them. The skoda suburb does it and I think BMW do it now unless the x3 driver the other day turned on his lights in the middle of the day on the motorway(presumably in the dark they're on anyway, and how do you tell in daylight..do dash lights come on too?
)Just interested, because they don't come on in mine
On a 206, you can re-program a new key by putting it into the door and doing a series of sequences.
The brochure of my old Mondeo stated that if you went WOT (wide open throttle) it turned off the aircon for 'safer over taking'
It also activated the hazard lights if you braked extremely hard and unlocked the entire car in a bad crash, if the doors were locked to 'aid emergency services to access the car'
The brochure of my old Mondeo stated that if you went WOT (wide open throttle) it turned off the aircon for 'safer over taking'
It also activated the hazard lights if you braked extremely hard and unlocked the entire car in a bad crash, if the doors were locked to 'aid emergency services to access the car'
tted me up when I was overtaking a lorry.On my 2005 Civic Type-S turning the knob that zeros the odometer adjusts the brightness of the instrument and other lighting. What the manual doesn't mention is that there are two illumination levels - one for when the headlights are off and one for when the headlights are on and they can be varied independently. The two levels chosen stay set.
okie592 said:
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
Daft question..but how do you know?
(presumably in the dark they're on anyway, and how do you tell in daylight..do dash lights come on too?)
Just interested, because they don't come on in mine
This is only in vag cars that have xenons and auto lights, you can tell when you over take other cars and see the reflection in them. The skoda suburb does it and I think BMW do it now unless the x3 driver the other day turned on his lights in the middle of the day on the motorway(presumably in the dark they're on anyway, and how do you tell in daylight..do dash lights come on too?
)Just interested, because they don't come on in mine
pincher said:
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.Another one is if you turn off the ignition, and tap down on the wiper stalk, it parks the wipers in a vertical position.
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
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