Do you read your car's owner's manuals?

Do you read your car's owner's manuals?

  • Yes, from cover to cover.

    Votes: 35 36.5%

  • Yes, only to look up a specific section to solve a problem, learn more about a feature, etc.

    Votes: 56 58.3%

  • No, who needs a manual?

    Votes: 12 12.5%
  • Total voters
    96
I normally only read manuals for specific features I'm interested in, but for my car I read it cover to cover.

Found some interesting things that I didn't know about.
For example, if I remember correctly, it says to not shift down to first gear until you have come to a complete stop, otherwise you might damage the transmission.
 
I've flipped through a few parts of it out of interest (mostly the interior creature comfort features and how to use them), and I use it as a reference when something goes wrong or I need some information, but I don't read it cover to cover.
 
Time was an owner's manual told you something useful. Torque settings, oil capacity, maintenance schedule, basic repairs.

Not they are just full of legal warnings that mean nothing. Hell, most owner's manuals tell you to call the dealer to change a headlamp that burned out.

Jay Leno had a video out some time ago where he talked for a few minutes and showed an owner's manual from the 60s and one from today. I can't find it right now but if someone wanted to track it down it pretty much sums up my thoughts.
 
On a recent, simple car? Fuck. No. Maybe a skim of the service sections or how to set the clock on the radio. The rest is all annoying warnings about using your seatbelt and not putting kids into the front seat and lengthy discussions on what the defroster does.

On something more complicated, or with an old-style owner's manual which includes actual useful information? I haven't bought my proposed Jaaaaag and I'm already 300 pages into the 500 page service manual (and then there's like 300 pages of supplements after that) - I'll take the 20 minutes to read the owner's manual when I actually pick one up.
 
Blind_Io said:
Not they are just full of legal warnings that mean nothing. Hell, most owner's manuals tell you to call the dealer to change a headlamp that burned out.
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Ding ding ding! Mine does! Damn you VW. The only actual instruction I've found contained within my manual is how to put on the spare tire. I'm not entirely sure it even tells you how to check the oil.
 
Blind_Io said:
Time was an owner's manual told you something useful. Torque settings, oil capacity, maintenance schedule, basic repairs.

Not they are just full of legal warnings that mean nothing. Hell, most owner's manuals tell you to call the dealer to change a headlamp that burned out.

Jay Leno had a video out some time ago where he talked for a few minutes and showed an owner's manual from the 60s and one from today. I can't find it right now but if someone wanted to track it down it pretty much sums up my thoughts.
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Mine has oil capacity and maintenance schedules (one for daily/winter driving and one for light use) and lots of other useful things but it doesn't go so far as repairs... other than "bring to your authorized Mazda dealer."
 
thevictor390 said:
Mine has oil capacity and maintenance schedules (one for daily/winter driving and one for light use)
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Both my Ford owners manuals have service sections consisting entirely of:
Fluid capacities.
Ford/Motorcraft part numbers for the fluids
A noisy warning to tell you never to use non Ford/Motorcraft brand fluids
A list of mileages at which the car must be taken to an Authorized Ford Dealership for services (the actual services not being listed in detail).
 
Blind_Io said:
Time was an owner's manual told you something useful. Torque settings, oil capacity, maintenance schedule, basic repairs.

Not they are just full of legal warnings that mean nothing. Hell, most owner's manuals tell you to call the dealer to change a headlamp that burned out.
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Despite containing a million warnings that are not found in the Opel manual, and being the same form factor, the Saturn manual is 60 pages shorter.

MXM said:
Once, when I wanted to reset the trip counter but couldn't find a button.

Anyone not familiar with 944s willing to take a guess where is it? :)



(exterior badges on the dash - classic :p)
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Is it the thing above the vent on the left?
 
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I look in the manual to learn how to remove specific parts without braking the plastic brackets that hold the part normally..
 
Seeing as I bought my car off a used car lot, mine didn't come with an owner's manual. Years later I found a genuine shop manual on the interteets that has become quite handy as of late.
 
I don't use owner's manuals much. Handy for fluid capacity and that's about it. Shop manuals however I use. Even the shity BL ones that can't be bothered giving the firing order for the distributor outputs.
 
Spinning on

Spinning on

https://pic.armedcats.net/k/kn/knarkas/2010/01/07/lol1.JPGhttps://pic.armedcats.net/k/kn/knarkas/2010/01/07/lol2_000.JPG
:lol:

The single warning in the same chapter in Opel/Vauxhall manual
 
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My father's Buick manual tells drivers to not park in dark areas. :p
 
Haha! Does it also say the consequences may include (but not be limited to) unforseen buttsex?
 
Heh. I don't think so. I'll go ahead and grab it for scanning later.
 
I always read the owners manuals. If I buy an old car without one, I usually try and get an original one off of Ebay. Manuals for old cars, (1980 and earlier) usually have all sort of neat info.
 
I read bits pertaining to the car that I may not know, while skipping the "How to drive" and "Proper use of seatbelts and headlamps" type sections.
 
first thing when buying the car, and then only to see specific features.

only things is depending on the car, half of the manual is uselss because it explains features from other models/engines
 
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