It's supposed to let go after 2 seconds.

 

Clutch equipped Studebakers had "Hill Hold" as a standard feature for at least their last twenty years of production.

It was just a simple valve that held brake pressure when clutch was depressed and released when clutch was engaged.

 

Here's another one that surprised me. I went from bright sunshine to under a very dark overpass and the gas gauge and radio panel went suddenly dark. I thought I had lost the electrical system until they got bright again when I came back out into the sun. Turns out these items are actively dimmed based on ambient light level.

 

that one happened to me too. I pulled in my garage and the lights went dim and I thought something bad happened

 

Reading many of the these posts makes me realize that there are a lot of folks out there who could find hundreds of pages of "things they didn't know about their MINIs" if they were to read the owner's manual...

 

Do you have the auto headlights? If so when they switch on in darkened conditions such as going into a tunnel the interior lighting dims. When headlights switch off the interior light goes back brighter. If you have daytime running lights activated you may not notice when the system switches to headlights on as they are on all the time anyways, just not as headlights but as daytime running lights.

 

Nope, don't have the automatic headlights, so I didn't think the interior lights would have any automatic features. I've seen the the gauge and radio dim when I turn on the headlights manually, tho, which was expected.

And yes, I've read the manual, had it as bedside reading for the first two weeks I owned the car. Because it covers all of the various options, it's sometimes tricky to tell what function applies to a specific car, since so many features have multiple interconnections. I've never seen a car before with so many features and options.

 

They dim, esp the gas guage. You can put your finger over the sensor on the tach and do it yourself.

 

I certainly know they dim now!

I had forgotten where the sensor was, but now I seem to remember reading about it in the manual. It's surprisingly responsive.

 

Someone posted this over on the Week 40 forum and I thought this would be a good place for it: http://www.miniusa.com/AboutYourMini/. Most of the videos here are about the nifty things you just sort of learn about...or may not.

 

Absolutely! That, and having a decent MA. So many of the things in this thread should have been part of the delivery orientation. Mine took a good hour on this, even though I've had 3 BMWs in the recent past (still have one), and many of the features are the same. Things like the hill-hold feature, the steering wheel positioning, and the various features of "comfort access" should have been covered then. (Not picking on those who have posted about these--I'm picking at the MA's role in the delivery process.)

As for the manual, I always read mine at least twice after purchasing a car. And still find things I don't know. That's why a thread like this is so valuable.

 

Just to clarify, I think this is a great thread and I've read it from the original post. I don't find a lot that I didn't learn from reading the manual, but for those items I have found, it has definitely been worthwhile.

My only reason for posting was that there seem to be a lot of cases where there's no way someone could have read the manual and not know what they are "discovering". But in the interest of good fellowship, I apologize for overstating my case...

 

I have found this thread helpful. The manual has about every other item with an asterisk meaning you may or may not have it. I never did find in the manual the exact meaning of the asterisk though. So through discovery adn reading the thread then trying it out have discovered many items manual is not real clear on that you may have. Also some of the explanations here are better than what is in the manual.

 

Here is one item that might be of interest to our newer owners. This was discussed over a year ago, but you're not likely to notice the thread. It's NOT in the manual as far as I know. Here 'tis:

If you're a distance from our car and want to unlock it, you'll find better reception distance if you touch the key fob to your cheek as you press the button (regular access). There has been a lot of speculation as to what causes this, and some have said it's an urban legend of the MINI world, but I can personally state that it works. One theory is that our sinus cavities create an antenna of sorts.

Around the time it was first discussed, my husband and I happened to go on a picnic. The park had a lot of trees and hilly ground. I'd gone up to the car for something and realized that I had forgotten my key. I yelled to my husband to "click the car," but he couldn't get it to open. He was a little down hill and far away that I had to shout, but even though he held the key as high as he could reach, it wouldn't unlock. I hollered back that he needed to touch the key to his cheek, and it unlocked immediately. He later told me he'd thought I was nuts, but was amazed that it actually worked the way the thread said it would! Dunno know why it works.

 

Yeah that's been around for years. I've done that with a Viper alarm for about 15 years. I usually hold it to my chin. Works fine with the Mini fob as well.

 

Interesting--didn't know it applied to others. It seemed to be "brand new" when the R56's fob was "brand new." At least, I don't recall anyone mentioning other cars.

 

The Magliozzi boys, Click and Clack from the NPR auto repair show, did a segment on it a few months ago where their impression was that it works because the fob is in a higher position at throat level than when your arm is all the way down.

I tried it against my throat, with mouth open and doubled the range. Then, I tried it with my arm raised above my head and it tripled. No, it also gave me double the original range.

 

Not sure I agree with you. Remember, I said that my husband (6' 2") was holding his fob as far above his head as possible. He LOWERED it about 2 1/2' to hold it against his cheek, yet that was the only way it worked.

 

Well, I locked the car (turn the alarm on), waited a few minutes, then unlocked the car (turned the alarm off), left it over night, but it didn't lock itself. Couldn't find the setting for that either. Only auto-locking feature is for after you turned the car on (after 10 sec or after certain speed or both).

 

This setting should be on the OBC with the auto-locking that turns on when you go. There's an arrow icon (locks when you take off) and a clock icon (locks after a certain amount of time if the doors aren't opened). You should be able to cycle through until one or both of these are on.

 

I've played with the settings to lock the doors, make the alarm blink the lights and arm silently, and 1 or 3 lane change blinking. I noticed another option that looked like a door with an A in a circle- any idea what that one is?

 

I believe that's the auto lock feature I mentioned previously, isn't it?

Along the same lines, I noticed yesterday that there's a setting so that you can have both doors unlock via remote at the same time (as opposed to pressing once opens drivers door and pressing twice opens passenger door). Couldn't find it in the book anywhere and my MA never told me about that. Pretty neat since my wife and I carpool together and I'm always unlocking both doors anyway.

 

That option automatically opens the door to catch motorcyclists who are zipping ahead between cars on the freeway during rush hour. I believe it's only available in California.

 

Nice.

 

I found that with the key/fob "Two Clicks to UnLock the rest of the car" setting; often left me with locked boot and gas door.