Subarus have a little button on top of the steering column that turns the parking lights on and off. Many owners don't know it is there and only find it when they accidentally turn it on while cleaning their car.
Subarus have a little button on top of the steering column that turns the parking lights on and off. Many owners don't know it is there and only find it when they accidentally turn it on while cleaning their car.
In reply to Brett_Murphy:
Oh yes, the battery killer switch. I never was a fan of that one.
As far as I know, the hill holder is Subaru standard, which is a feature I wish I had in San Francisco.
Before I spend an hour pushing buttons and turning keys, does anyone know any secret codes for the 06 era grand Cherokee?
maschinenbau wrote: El Caminos have a fairly sizable "smuggler's box" under the front part of the truck bed. You can access it by unbolting the panel. You can even buy kits to put hinges and locks on them.
It would be more accurate to say El Caminos HAD a sizable smuggler's box WHEN THEY CAME FROM THE FACTORY. Most filled with water a long time ago when the seals wore out- it is VERY common to find El Caminos with holes in the bottom big enough for a small adult to climb through.
Trivia: know why it's there?
A: because El Caminos are built on the pans of station wagons, and the "smugglers box" is the rear seat footwell in the station wagons. Since Elkys have no rear seat, they got a panel to cover the footwell in the bed (which is guaranteed to leak).
1st generation Honda Ridgeline has an alternate spare tire storage location:
You can turn off ABS in older Hondas by setting the parking brake on the first click (just enough to get the light to come on) and driving a little bit. Was handy in light snow since the ABS essentially kept the tires rolling without building up a snow dam.
My 2006 Jag has a speed limiter that can be set similar to the cruise control. Good for places that have speed nazis around. Also good for doing rolling starts from a particular speed as the car won't accelerate with 90% pedal travel, but the last 10% or so clicks a button that overrides it. Set limiter, use J Gate to shift to lowest gear possible, press accelerator to the stop, then when it's time to go push it just that little bit farther and get ready to shift!
wae wrote:wheelsmithy wrote: 80's Subaru stick shifts had a hill holder. Brilliant. Not sure about subsequent cars.My '86 GL wagon had that and I was fascinated by it. I'm pretty sure that my '96 Legacy wagon had the hill-holder as well.
My '88 had it too. It was neat in that it must have had some sort of pendulum in it. Besides the cable adjustment for the clutch, you also had to adjust its actuation by shimming its angle in the chassis, presumably so it only worked uphill.
I saved it to use as a line lock. Utterly stupid idea, of course, since it was the size of a brick and required a cable, and line-locks even then were like $30.
Vracer111 wrote: Doesn't really pass the 'no one knows about' as most owners do, but for the BRZ & FR-S, completing a sequence of hand brake and brake pedal inputs (called the "pedal dance") within 30 seconds of starting the car (only after it's warmed up though) you can go into a driving mode that actually turns off ALL traction and stability, only leaving ABS active. Basically this is track mode for the BRZ/FR-S...
You move the shifter 1st-2nd-1st-Neutral then turn the steering wheel to the left and to the right twice, apply the brake, accelerator, and clutch in order, then start.
At least, that is the way it should be.
(how to tell if someone had no friends, 80's style: they forget Select when they say the Konami Code)
tedium850 wrote: VW double cab trucks had a storage compartment under the rear seat that went all the way back to the transmission. I imagine the single cabs did too, but not sure how it was accessed?
Compartment opened to the great outdoors on one side.
Bugs float, but everybody knows that.
My MkVI GTI has a number of the secret features already listed on other cars here (free swipe of rear wiper if fronts recently used when put into reverse, a/c ducted to the glovebox with flow adjuster, wipers run continuous while moving but intermittently when stopped when on fastest interrmittent setting, etc.), but also has the really entertaining feature of getting all jiggly in corners when a certain pair of front subframe bolts get loose every ~ 15k miles or so despite repeated torquing and use of loctite blue. 
Hoping the ECS "bigger" subframe bolts recently installed deletes that feature !!
Benzes are great for this.
There's a first aid kit hidden in the rear armrest of every W210 sedan. Just grasp the cupholders, and pull firmly but not quickly while wiggling the unit back and forth a little.
On the W211, press the little chrome strip below the hazard switch, and bam! Either hidden compartment, or CD changer depending on spec.
If you got to the "KM" function on the digital trip computer on a W220, and then hit "reset" 3 times fast, you get into development mode where you can read all kinds of cool metrics (oil level, "dynamometer mode," etc.).
There are certain Comand system button combos that allow you to enter "Engineering Mode," depending on version.
On certain older Benzes, you can control the interior rear-view using the center setting of the exterior mirror control pad.
By pressing the "rest" button on the climate control of most modern Mercs once you turn the engine off, warm residual air gets pumped through the cabin until either there's none left, or the battery charge reaches the minimum required to start the car.
Most people don't recall that the W163 has a third lever with a lockout button that allows for a second folding position for the second row that puts them completely flush with the cargo floor.
I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting about.
Even Benzes with hood struts instead of twist springs have a feature where you can push here on this side, push there on the other side, and point the hood straight up.
In my '03 focus if you got the lever in just the right spot both the high and low beams came on and the fog lights stayed on.
The E39 M5 has a tape deck. You push an unmarked button on the nav screen and it folds out to reveal the tape portal.
wae wrote:wheelsmithy wrote: 80's Subaru stick shifts had a hill holder. Brilliant. Not sure about subsequent cars. Way ahead of its time!My '86 GL wagon had that and I was fascinated by it. I'm pretty sure that my '96 Legacy wagon had the hill-holder as well.
Early Saturns had a second hole in the hood hinge and firewall/fender area for a shorty service part prop rod to stand the hood straight up.
The B5 audis can display all sorts of engine info on the HVAC screen, coolant temp, oil temp, etc. I dont remember what buttons to hold though!
One burning question I've had since we recently got the wife a RX350 is how do you have an "accessory" setting when you don't turn a key? So, say I leave a window open and turn off the car. Do I have to re-start the car just to put the window up? Can I not do some trick to just get electrical power? Same goes for wanting to, say, listen to the radio with the car off.
I will admit I've been lazy and haven't checked the owners manual, but with so many keyless start-stop there must be some standard way to do this, right?
In reply to CobraSpdRH:
On a lot of cars with push-button start, pushing the button with the brake pedal pressed starts the car. If you don't press the brake pedal, it'll just turn on accessory power.
The S2000 has a "secret compartment" in the center that I'm amazed most owners still don't know about...
failboat wrote: 94 full size chevy van. Drivers side foot well above the tire, there is a handle that opens a vent to let in fresh air. I found it by accident, I am guessing it had never been opened because a bunch of leaves blew in the first time i found it. Having no working AC I used that frequently for air circulation. I would guess it is present in most 70s-90s chevy vans of the same body style. My handle was kind of broken and I asked on the vannin.com forums if anyone had a working replacement they could sell me, no one knew what I was talking about. I think most people dont even know its there.
YES YES YES my uncle's van had this and I remember being super fascinated at this little vent door during a summer vacation road trip. I opened and closed it a bunch of times and wondered how the rain didn't get in or stones. I had forgotten about it until I read this!
^^^ most older cars had fresh-air vents---- wing windows too. This is one area where modern cars fall ridiculously short of the older ones---- ventilation. These days it seems modern cars are designed for drivers who never turn the A/C off, or open the windows. Kinda sucks.
GMT400 and GMT800 trucks with the bucket seats and center console - the cup holders are a press fit. Yank them up and there is a huge hidden storage area.
SVreX wrote:maschinenbau wrote: El Caminos have a fairly sizable "smuggler's box" under the front part of the truck bed. You can access it by unbolting the panel. You can even buy kits to put hinges and locks on them.It would be more accurate to say El Caminos HAD a sizable smuggler's box WHEN THEY CAME FROM THE FACTORY. Most filled with water a long time ago when the seals wore out- it is VERY common to find El Caminos with holes in the bottom big enough for a small adult to climb through. Trivia: know why it's there? A: because El Caminos are built on the pans of station wagons, and the "smugglers box" is the rear seat footwell in the station wagons. Since Elkys have no rear seat, they got a panel to cover the footwell in the bed (which is guaranteed to leak).
removed the back seat.... and my Corolla has a sizable smugglers box
The '14 Impala has a unique feature. When you ask the battery voltage to be included in the "info" list with fuel mileage, DTE, coolant temp, etc. it'll do it...for about a week. Then you have to ask for it again.
The old HT4100 equipped Cadillac Fleetwoods (rwd) have a diagnostic mode built into them. I don't remember anymore how to enter it, but I don't recall it being very hard to do. Pretty cool for mid 80s GM.
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