Under the Setup -> Vehicle -> Maintenance menu, there are three Personal data items that you can list with reminder !! I used one for my Cabin Air Filter to remind me to clean it every 5000 miles.
One of the other surprising stealth features (no one balzie enough to try it on the Gen III yet ) discovered is that when the hardware is hacked, the MG's can actually get the system up to 60mph. Not too long before Toyota anounced their soon-to-be-released PHEV would be doing EV speeds like that, the aftermarkt - kit makers figured out how to make the Prius run 60mph pure ev. It won't be long, I'm sure, before some Gen III owner gets the honor of claiming to be the 1st home brew EV-60mph'er. .
I hope the aftermarketers and hackers have determined that you can safely overspeed MG1 on the standard Gen III to get the higher EV speed. How about the warranty? Disintegrating a MG1 would be very unpleasant and costly. Just because you get away with it for a while is no assurance long term. Maybe it's constructed the same way as in the PHEV and will survive. Getting higher EV speeds in the Gen III HEV will not improve mpg. All the energy comes from gasoline. It's more efficient to drive the wheels with the ICE than drive a generator, charge a battery, discharge a battery and run a motor to drive the wheels. The EV mode allows the ICE to duty-cycle at higher "on" (propelling + charging) loads at lower speeds. It is counter productive at higher speeds.
It is impossible to select the recirculate function while the windshield defroster is enabled. There is no longer a snowflake to warn you of near-freezing temperatures like there was on the Gen II.
Had the front parking sensors installed yesterday. They must have disconnected the battery as I lost my trip history data ( really peeved at losing the last one as I had 3.9l/100km average after 200km) However I did not lose my Nav memory points, phonebook etc. When I picked up the car it had 2.5km on the trip meter for the test drive with an average consumption of 12.8l/100km. Next service I will let them know that I do not appreciate my pride and joy being used as a drag machine on the test drive. David
Most cars that i've been in automaticaly disable recirc during defog/defrost. This is to get rid of the evaporated humidity within the cabin, so it does not recondense on the windshield. My obscure fact: I havnt been able to figure out how to select upper (or mixed upper & lower) blower, and "AUTO" climate control, at the same time. AUTO always just turns on just the lower blower, and pressing MODE, to change the blower mode, switches it out of AUTO.
I think it has to do with the temp. If the thermostat is set to a temp higher than the ambient temp readout, the auto selects the lower blower assuming you'd like to heat the car
there is a little rubber pad in the door handles that you can take out using you fingernails. why couldn't the also put some in the center console?
Ahhh... That's the mistake. They assume I want to heat the car. I really want to heat my exposed face and hands.
Looking into the vent issue while in auto mode from a few posts back I ran into something bizarre: it looks like there's a moving 2 degree overlap temperature at which the auto climate control switches from upper to lower vents. At first I was convinced that it would switch to "lower" if you went UP to 73 degrees, and oddly switches back to lower when you go DOWN to 71 degrees. But I'm finding that this upper and lower limit shifts a few degrees (like I can get it to switch at 74 degrees, and again at 71). Confused.
Depends and it usually happens after the cabin sufficiently warms up. I've even seen it in defrost/lower mode in AUTO. Changing the MODE takes it out of full AUTO, yes but the fan will still be automatically controlled. To take it into full manual, both MODE and FAN must be adjusted. Now that's an obscure fact (at least on Toyota vehicles) No because your feet is cold and given that it's powering the pedals, warm feet helps warm the body. In addition, hot air rises. All automatic climate controls will heat the feet first.
Discovered today that not only can you have separate volume, bass, trable settings for the different audio inputs (CD, Radio, ...) but the CD slot has separate settings for music CD and WMA CD. Just going to rip an MP3 CD and see if that has its own settings too. Also, turning the volume down to zero (or hitting mute) doesn't pause the CD. My previous car CD players did this.
I didn't question the logic, just noted that it was impossible when I was behind an SUV climbing a hill (running rich) - wanted to keep the windows clear but avoid the smell - couldn't get it both ways :-(. In ECO mode, I've found the heat will stay on the feet continuously. In Normal or PWR mode, Face/Foot is possible if the inside temp is warm enough.
I have my heater set on auto 68 on all of the time. Firstly it doesn't turn the heater on until the engine is warmed up and it automatically turns the wind shield defroster on for a short time. I had to look twice when I first saw that happen.
Another obscure (but probably useful) fact. The power window switch illumination stays on as long as the power windows are operatable so they stay on the longest, even after the footwell lighting fades out after the car's switched off.
Don't know if this is already posted. Decided to change the oil today at 2,000 miles (kind of a contortionist challenge). I've never encountered a vehicle where the entire underside of the engine compartment is covered by shields, and the one under the oil pan is insulated to boot.