Features you've discovered about your car after a year or more

[01rangerxl]

??? Cars have had turn signals since at least the early 1950s.

Pretty sure he meant there was a warning chime that would come on if the turn signal was left on a while. Not the "click click" noise, but a warning chime.

It seems like auto cancel didn't always work so well, and most cars since the 80s probably don't have such a warning feature. Most of the time when I've seen a car just cruising with the signal on, it's something with an old 80s/early 90s or before GM steering column. I remember seeing Grand Wagoneers doing it. Now if a modern car has the signal on for way too long, it's probably someone trying to get over who thinks their car is the size of an 18 wheeler and has no idea how to merge or change lanes.

 

[350Rocket]

??? Cars have had turn signals since at least the early 1950s.

Guess I wasn't clear. It was a loud dinger (like the headlight warning when you open the door) for if you drive more than a certain distance with the signal light still on.

 

[350Rocket]

Pretty sure he meant there was a warning chime that would come on if the turn signal was left on a while. Not the "click click" noise, but a warning chime.

It seems like auto cancel didn't always work so well, and most cars since the 80s probably don't have such a warning feature. Most of the time when I've seen a car just cruising with the signal on, it's something with an old 80s/early 90s or before GM steering column. I remember seeing Grand Wagoneers doing it. Now if a modern car has the signal on for way too long, it's probably someone trying to get over who thinks their car is the size of an 18 wheeler and has no idea how to merge or change lanes.

Yes the auto cancel on that car broke for left turns. It turned out to be a very cheap part, which I replaced on the 84 Cutlass I now drive.

 

[Red Crow]

My friend bought a 1993 Dodge Caravan new and three years later I discovered the storage drawer beneath the front passenger seat.

 

[Imp4]

One of the things that annoyed me the most about my new car was there was not change holder to the left of the steering wheel. I reached down one day to grab something I dropped and I accidentally hit the button (that I didn't know even existed) and the cup popped opened.

It took me a year and a half to find that little change cup and it made my day when it happened.

 

[CR94]

Guess I wasn't clear. It was a loud dinger (like the headlight warning when you open the door) for if you drive more than a certain distance with the signal light still on.

Ok. I was around in the 80s (and before) and have never heard of that feature, much less encountered it, but then I never made a habit of driving long distances with a turn signal on .

 

[ArPix]

When on a trip to Canada in my 2015 GMC Sierra I found it tiresome converting miles to kilometers. So, being the brainiac that I are, I looked in the menus in the dash display and found a setting to convert to metric measurements. Wow, that sure made the trip better!
We loved Canada!

 

[wemay]

Passat wipers can be locked in upwards position for easy replacement.

 

[pezzy84]

2003 VW Golf - I knew the back seats folded (after removing the 3 headrests and tossing them aside) but it was much later I realized the seat bottom would pop up and swivel forward and had slots to insert the headrest posts so they were held in the seat bottom cushion. This also created a more flat loading floor vs the seat back sitting on top of the seat bottom.

2002.5 VW Passat - glove box was tiny on that thing and the owners manual did not help which was put there by the selling dealer when car was new. Well after perusing the manual found VW put a owners manual storage compartment underneath the steering wheel - now that was clever.

2006 VW Jetta - front passenger seat would fold flat forward for expanded cargo hauling. Found this by accident when I was inquisitive on the extra lever next to the reclining wheel.

All VW sedans - it took actually reading the spare tire section on one of my VW's to realize the plastic handle to lift the spare tire cover also doubled as a hook to hold the cover up for you by hooking it over the top seal of the trunk opening. VW went one extra step and recommended using the cover as a kneeling pad while you work on replacing the flat tire.

 

[IcarusLSC]

I have heated and cooled cup holders that have never been used yet, lol...

 

[CharBaby]

This may sound weird but, I noticed how much of the car and its features that I DID NOT use, need, want nor care about.

 

[Skippy722]

This may sound weird but, I noticed how much of the car and its features that I DID NOT use, need, want nor care about.

I can relate. I went from a fully optioned out 2011 Durango, to a mid spec 300, to my base model truck that has has 3 options... chrome bumpers/cloth seats, 5.7 hemi, and limited slip diff. Don’t miss all the fancy stuff.

I did think of another... on certain Mopars you can roll down the front windows with the key fob.

 

[CharBaby]

We went from a 2001 Lexus RX(which has nothing compared to the basic vehicles today), back to mainstream cars.
My mainstream cars today(after negotiations) cost 1/2 of what that Lexus cost 20 yrs ago.

 

[GON]

I rebuild 2004-2006 Mercedes S-class. Always seems to be something I didn't know the Germans did to the car.

I knew the windshield washer fluid was heated by running a heating wire through the entire fluid hose up to the sprayers. What I recently discovered while replacing the windshield is the wipers blades are heated where they rest on the windshield. No frozen wiper blades to the windshield.

 

[Wolf359]

I liked to read the manual when I got my car so I'm pretty familiar with most of it. I did look specifically for a car that had the folding rear seat option. I guess Mercedes charges around $500 extra for that option instead of it being standard on a lot of other cars. What they do though is that the rear seat cushion also folds up so the rear seat back can fold flat so you have more roof. One of the drawbacks is that the passenger seat will move up and you can't move it back until you fold the seats back up, but if you hit the seat button while it starts to move forward, it will stop. One thing I just found out after 6+ years is that the rear cushion not only folds up but you can actually remove it for a little more room. I just fold them down so never actually used that feature. Never really see that in a sedan.

 

[pezzy84]

I rebuild 2004-2006 Mercedes S-class. Always seems to be something I didn't know the Germans did to the car.

I knew the windshield washer fluid was heated by running a heating wire through the entire fluid hose up to the sprayers. What I recently discovered while replacing the windshield is the wipers blades are heated where they rest on the windshield. No frozen wiper blades to the windshield.

Chrysler was doing this with the 3rd generation Caravan, Voyager, T&C in 1996. They had a 3-4 wire defroster grid (thick wires too) where the wipers parked.

 

[gman2304]

The hill hold assist feature on my 2005 Chevy Avalanche 5.3L 4L60e. When stopped on an incline with transmission in drive with my foot off the brake, it doesn’t roll backward. Same if facing down hill with the transmission in reverse. I owned it for 5 years before reading about it in my owners manual.

 

[350Rocket]

The hill hold assist feature on my 2005 Chevy Avalanche 5.3L 4L60e. When stopped on an incline with transmission in drive with my foot off the brake, it doesn’t roll backward. Same if facing down hill with the transmission in reverse. I owned it for 5 years before reading about it in my owners manual.

How does that work? My 05 Silverado rolls like crazy? Feels like a high stall converter compared to my old 80s GM cars.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

The terrain select specific terrain traction co trol feature allows me to run in Sand mode in 4hi. Which of course is what it should do for that terrain.
lame departure alarms can be turned off.

 

[Nick1994]

I didn’t know my Genesis did this until I walked up to it at night