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

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


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rickhamilton620

has a fetish for terrible cars
Joined
Nov 28, 2009
Messages
16,962
Location
Mount Wolf, PA
Car(s)
2023 Mazda CX-5 Premium
So, I was looking up something recently in my car's manual, and it got me thinking. I read my manual from cover to cover pretty much when I got the car, and have read manual's for pretty much all cars that my parents have owned. (I guess you can say I like car manuals, odd i know, but i like learning about all the things my car can do, how to use features that people may not realize they have, etc.:p) In any case, it got me wondering as to who else does this, or if they just look in it for a question that needs answering or what not? Thoughts?:)
 
I spent more time perusing the service book, but every now and then something comes up that I do check from the manual.
 
Even though I'm already familiar with all my cars, I still read the manuals from time to time. It's something that I enjoy doing, kind of like a hobby...

But chances are that I probably won't read the manual within the first year of my ownership experience. I'll be too busy driving and learning the new car.
 
Manual gets read when I need to know stuff. Although the humour in the translations also makes itworth a read. Also good for something to read when stuck in traffic or waiting for someone.
 
Seeing as my current vehicles have owner's manuals written in Japanese, no...I don't read them. Although I was able to decipher enough from my bike's manual to know what type of spark plug to get and how much oil I would need to change.

My Land Rover back home had a service manual that was bigger than most big city phone books. I used my Yamaha's service manual so much I could almost recite it completely from memory.
 
I read nearly all manuals front to back (not all the other languages though ;)) that comes with things I buy. Often I will not use the product until I have read the manual unless it's one of those obvious things (like mobile phones and computers). Most recent manual I read was for a kitchen blender, it gave me all sorts of hints and tips on chopping onions I didnt know.

However I found the Saturn version of my owners manual to be page after page of "CAUTION: YOU WILL DIE" and that annoyed and amused me.
In contrast, the blender manual calmly informed me "Be careful, the blades are very sharp."
 
I look it up when I'm having a specific problem, but other than that, I don't read them.

I think I last looked it up in order to help changing a tailgate bulb.
 
There is alot of interesting stuff in there. I learned lotsa things that I wouldn't have randomly discovered on my own about my car and compared to newer cars it's not even that kitted out with all the electronics.
 
Not usually, only when the electronics of the car go bad, then I usually take a look at the manual :p I'm Not good with electrical things and wires and stuff, I'm more into the mechanical stuff :D

Still, sometimes when I'm bored and the manual happens to be close, I tend to read the interesting parts of it, there's always stuff that might be useful in future.
 
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Of course. I don't read it cover to cover, but I do flip through the thing to see what's in it and read about various crap. I go back to it when something goes wrong or something has peeked my curiosity.
 
I live by my Green Bible. I have to.

LR70WH.jpg
 
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)
 
I'm guessing it's one of the switches behind the stalk on the left.
 
Sometimes, mostly i use the Bentley manual
cv_vp93.jpg
 
it's in a little button behind the steering wheel?
 
When I was a kid bored on road trips I would flip through our owner's manual. The GM safety belt lecture is permanently ingrained into my mind.

"Take the simplest vehicle. Suppose it's just a seat on wheels. Put someone on it. Get it up to speed. Then stop the vehicle. The rider doesn't stop. The person keeps going until stopped by something. In a real vehicle, it could be the windshield...or the instrument panel...or the safety belts!"


Incidentally, I found a copy of the 1997 Chevy Lumina Owner's Manual lying around my fraternity parking lot...brings back memories of the '96 we used to have. I'll get around to scanning those pages in soon enough.
 
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