Do you read?

[Rawwr]

Do you read your car's handbook when you get it? This is something I'm a bit OCD with and always read it cover-to-cover when I get a new vehicle and I pretty much learn at least one thing I didn't know about the vehicle. I have friends who have never even thought about reading their handbooks. Am I mental?

[y2blade]

I read them cover to cover too.

[kambites]

I'll generally check the tyre pressures when I first car a car, but that's it unless something goes wrong.

[redtwin]

Only the bits I am unfamiliar with. The areas covering how to put fuel in or which way to turn the ignition key etc usually get ignored.

[yellowjack]

Cover to cover for me, but not in one big hit. First things first, Tyre pressures, Wheelnut torque settings, fluid types, etc, get extracted and put on a laminated card kept in the door pocket. Then read through the principal controls for anything that my previous car didn't have, check there are no 'funnies' regarding wheelchanging and recovery, then, at my leisure, over the next month or so, dip into it to see if I can get any 'extra' from things like the radio and climate control.

Rawwr, you are NOT mental. Carry on.

[JohnnyJones]

I've been tricked!

Voted without reading the thread. Why not make the thread title 'Do you read your cars handbook'?

[RacingBlue]

I always look through most of it whenever I buy a new car - it's part of the pleasure

[Pints]

My MX-5 didn't come with a handbook when I bought it used. EBay to the rescue!
It doesn't feel right to not read through it, especially to find out what all the knobs and gubbinses do. Just because it looks like a light switch, doesn't mean it's not actually a rocket launcher in disguise.

[Asterix]

I've normally downloaded the handbook before I've even got the car

[TheTurbonator]

RacingBlue said:

I always look through most of it whenever I buy a new car - it's part of the pleasure

Agree. I skim the obvious parts but reading the handbook is one of the pleasures of owning a new car. When I bought my last one, I even took it to work with me to read on my dinner and coffee breaks.

[GroundEffect]

Wow there's a lot of anoraks on here...

No surprises, but still.

I don't think I've ever read one. I have a brain - I can work things out.

[Asterix]

GroundEffect said:

Wow there's a lot of anoraks on here...

No surprises, but still.

I don't think I've ever read one. I have a brain - I can work things out.

Alright then smartypants - jump into a Honda S2000 and go and fill it up.

[GroundEffect]

Asterix said:

GroundEffect said:

Wow there's a lot of anoraks on here...

No surprises, but still.

I don't think I've ever read one. I have a brain - I can work things out.

Alright then smartypants - jump into a Honda S2000 and go and fill it up.

I'm sure I'd find it...the cabin in an S2000 isn't exactly big*

• too small for me to comfortably drive, hence not having the chance to own one :/

[thismonkeyhere]

GroundEffect said:

too small for me to comfortably drive, hence not having the chance to own one :/

Same here.

Went for a test drive shortly after they came out. Didn't even take it off the forecourt, no point.

[Asterix]

GroundEffect said:

Asterix said:

GroundEffect said:

Wow there's a lot of anoraks on here...

No surprises, but still.

I don't think I've ever read one. I have a brain - I can work things out.

Alright then smartypants - jump into a Honda S2000 and go and fill it up.

I'm sure I'd find it...the cabin in an S2000 isn't exactly big*

• too small for me to comfortably drive, hence not having the chance to own one :/

You probably would but you'd be sat on the forecourt for at least five minutes feeling like a right plum.

[Big Fat Fatty]

Asterix said:

GroundEffect said:

Wow there's a lot of anoraks on here...

No surprises, but still.

I don't think I've ever read one. I have a brain - I can work things out.

Alright then smartypants - jump into a Honda S2000 and go and fill it up.

Is the system vastly different from other cars? I can handle an embarassing minute or two figuring it out on the forecourt.

I rarely read them either as unless there is something on the car that I haven't seen before there really isn't any need.

[C.A.R.]

No.

Half the fun is prodding and poking around aimlessly to find the features.

However it is usually browsed thoroughly whenever I'm in a hire car stuck in a traffic jam.

[Rich A]

I would have voted No until buying an S2000 and after 5 minutes looking like a lemon on a petrol station forecourt, decided it was a good idea to at least skim for anything unusual.

[Asterix]

Rich A said:

I would have voted No until buying an S2000 and after 5 minutes looking like a lemon on a petrol station forecourt, decided it was a good idea to at least skim for anything unusual.

[Megaflow]

Big Fat Fatty said:

Is the system vastly different from other cars? I can handle an embarassing minute or two figuring it out on the forecourt.

I rarely read them either as unless there is something on the car that I haven't seen before there really isn't any need.

Not vastly different, by that I mean it is something you have to pull. However, it is a lot smaller than normal, is unlabelled, the same colour as the surrounding plastic and is in a daft location, half way up the drivers rear door pillar!

When I picked the wife's up from the dealer, I gave up and had to get the manual out on the forecourt, something which you can't do subtlety in an S2000 as they have no glovebox and the manuals are kept in the boot!