Baby I can drive my car
Gosh — Who knew that a car manual could be so fascinating? I’ve had Mut since late 1999, and I’m finally learning about all sorts of its cool little features.
For ex, I’ve discovered that the steering wheel’s totally adjustable! I have duly moved it up a bit. This, combined with the fact I got a spiffy new window and new, properly aligned tires, has me feeling like I’m driving a totally new car.
Some newly-discovered features seem totally unnecessary. For ex: I can control the brightness of the control panel when it’s dark. My rearview mirror has a day AND night position. Both of these have me wondering whether I actually NEED to adjust these things frequently, depending on the weather and time of day — when for the last 5+ years, I’ve done quite well without any adjustment….
Also, I don’t drive much these days. But I do have a few friends coming into town from Chicago tonight, so I’ll prolly be showing them around a bit — Maybe these “new” features will come in handy?
Update, 2/24/06: Mut got broken into! Update here.
Frankly, I use my control panel brightness dial quite a bit. My father, who was a pilot in WWII, showed me that the dimmer you get it, the better you can see what’s going on outside your spiffy windows.
By the way, I went to Starbucks at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri, and didn’t get to do the “french press” request because, amazingly, Cafe Estima was the featured brew of the day.
Harry
Comment by Harry — January 13, 2006 @ 11:38 am
The two settings on your rear view mirror come in handy when you’re trying to conserve fuel and lives by doing a reasonable speed on the freeway, and some big-truck-small-penis moron is riding your bumper in his SUV with the high beams blazing through your rear window.
Then you can calmly flip the switch on your rearview mirror and continue contentedly at a safe and reasonable speed without the blinding glare reflecting into your eyes.
I know I’ll probably get gunned down in a fit of road rage one of these days, but at least I’ll pass on with a zen-like calm …
Comment by Brian — January 13, 2006 @ 12:02 pm
I use both of those features frequently for exactly the same reasons as the posters above. Also, my 40 year old eyes don’t see the way they used to at night and are more sensitive to bright lights for aforementioned small anatomy compensating fools (women in SUVs compensating for lack of something a little further north are just as bad as the neanderthal knuckle draggers). The “night” mirror function is my favourite feature of our car.
Drive safe, slow, and sanely!
Comment by breadchick — January 13, 2006 @ 3:22 pm
I just went to the car and tried switching to the night setting on the rear view — Wow — there’s a difference! I’ll have to try it on the road when it’s dark though to test it out for real — Have I been unknowingly putting myself in danger all these driving years?
Harry — Cool about the Kansas City Starbucks! Was this last week? Cafe Estima was supposed to be the featured brew everywhere, but not every mermaid store’s as coolas the KC mermaid store…
Comment by Siel — January 13, 2006 @ 5:04 pm
Yeah, have fun with your newly made-over car :-) Isn’t it amazing to feel very good about yourself for doing goods for your car and for yourself ;-) Have fun driving it to SF soon…I can’t wait to hear some fun stories there. Miss SF terribly…
Comment by Maya — January 14, 2006 @ 1:52 am
Siel: I visited the *$ on January 7. I had the Estima and, sorry to report, it was just average. I’m spoiled though…I roast my own coffee at home, to my own exacting specifications. (The beans are almost all coop/organic/shade).
Comment by Harry — January 17, 2006 @ 5:23 am
both those features are also ones I use a lot. I’m really sensitive to light (as in, I wear sunglasses on cloudy Seattle days when driving). Being able to turn down the brightness in my car is great.
now, if they’d just come out with side mirrors that had the same night/day settings, I’d be so excited. I always have to hold my hand up to block that light. People follow way too close in these parts.
Comment by Leah — January 17, 2006 @ 7:07 pm
Ok — I took an informal poll — Meaning I asked the two friends visiting me over the weekend about this — and both said that they most def do NOT use above mentioned features…
So I don’t feel so ignorant deeming those features useless… ;)
Comment by Siel — January 17, 2006 @ 10:54 pm