surprises me that there appears to be so many that don't

 

Since we bought the new FIT sports A/T since Aug, 2010, we read only selected sections of the manual to find answers to questions that pop up now and then.

 

For those who can read, the OEM manuals can be gotten here for cheap...
Helm Incorporated: Choose Product Category

 

Same here-I bought mine end of May and have read the parts about how to use the usb interface & program the locks.

 

The first few months I owned the car I took the manual places that I knew I'd have to wait. Not intriguing but the information has come in handy.

 

Why would I read it? Ergonomics are always the same now. Not like in my father's Porsche 911 1989, where everything is oddly placed.

 

Somebody should take the manuals and strip out all the lawyer warnings. Just tell us how the stuff works.

Look at the navi manual. Half of it is warnings like "if navi woman tells you to turn left and there is no street there, don't do it." Or "If your street isn't here, send $179 and we'll send you an update. If your street still isn't on the update, too bad."

 

^^

tossing the manual out is part of the FIT Weight Loss Program

 

I've gone through mine several times, but that doesn't mean I read it word-for-word.

 

ive read it like 3yrs ago and so i dont remember wat it said.

 

Cover to cover. Having been a licensed driver for 28 years, 15 of that professionally, I still found some things of interest.

 

[quote=E = Mc2;933391]"Cover to cover". Ditto! I still refer to it from time to time just to refresh my memory. I am reminded of a co-worker who bought a new car, and drove it for a YEAR all the while bemoaning the fact that it didn't have a CD player......then discovering that it DID!!!!
'07 VBP Sport 5MT w/minor appearance & comfort mods!!

 

It may be a generational thing. People born into what I will call the ubiquitous computer age generally seem to learn by poking and doing; those of us from an earlier generation read the manual cover to cover. I got an iPod a few years ago, and the first thing I did was find a PDF of the manual (since nothing useful was packaged with the iPod). My daughter would just turn the thing on and start pressing buttons to see what happens.

Having read the manual once, I've never felt any need to go back, although it still resides in the "secret" compartment under the left rear seat. If only that compartment were just a little bigger, I could fit a netbook into it.

 

I've read bits and pieces of the manual. My thing is, some parts are obvious, some, not so much.

If it's something that isn't obvious (power button for radio, plugging in ipod) or setup the way most cars are (changing clock), then I'll refer to the manual. If the manual doesnt have the answer, internet.

How many of you, that have read the manual "cover to cover" felt that you couldn't have changed a flat tire without the manual?

 

The most important part is never covered in the manual: Stand on the wrench, if you can't budge the lug nut.

 

I had to find out that it doesn't always work either. You pull out a long pipe slide it over the wrench handle and then stand the other end of that!

Had to do it when I was rotating the tires on a Nissan Pathfinder. What made it worse, was after all that trouble with the nut... the wheels themselves were also stuck to the hub... had to kick it hard a few times.

 

I pretty much just read the part about the iPod hookup Haha. Otherwise everything else was pretty much self explanatory, although I did skim the manual just in case. yAy!

 

I wonder about that. The first computer I ever played with was a TRS-80 'Color Computer'. I've had a computer of mine own in the house since 1995, and I just took it out of ht ebox and started playing with it. The box that I use at home is one that I built (and rebuilt; and rebuilt again as the technology got better). I found several useful things about the car that I wasn't going to find out by poking and prodding, though.


Not I. Heck, I could rebuild the engine without reading the book, but I've been turning wrenches since I was 5.

 

Not cover to cover, but I have been going over it a little since buying the car. I did not know about the USB iPod hookup until this afternoon - I had been playing mine through the audio in jack. On;y had the car for three days, so I'll try the correct way when I commute to work tomorrow.

 

It's not immediately obvious, but there is a clip in the upper glove box for a ball point pen or pencil.
Also, depending on the size of your iPod, you may find it more useful (and less worrisome), to copy all the tracks in your iTunes library to a USB flash drive, and use it instead of the iPod. If you have an Apple computer, be aware that the OS may create hidden files whose names begin with a period (.). These files will show up as unplayable, and can be deleted from the USB flash drive.