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Collected a new daily this morning. Replacing one Mini Countryman with new model. The weather couldn’t have been much worse. By the time I got home the shiny new car was filthy. Really good to drive but after a two hour handover (with another hour booked in a fortnight) realised I won’t be able to use all the features on the car until I have completed a two year IT course.
The old car had a range of manual switches as well as a screen. The new one has a big round OLED screen and virtually everything is controlled through this plus there are voice controls available through the Mini Voice Assistant or ALEXA. I haven’t tried to set this up yet. I’m not sure how I will get on trying to use this while driving.
Guess we’ll just have to see how things go.

Congratulations Ian.

New car collection day is always exciting. Good luck getting the hang of all that techie stuff!

Enjoy your new wheels.

Oh how I hate all the tech in modern cars. Can't even tune the radio in my Mx5.

buzyg wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2024 10:31 pm Can't even tune the radio in my Mx5.

If it was your old MR you wouldn't want the radio on!

Mr Tidy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2024 10:33 pm

buzyg wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2024 10:31 pm Can't even tune the radio in my Mx5.

If it was your old MR you wouldn't want the radio on!

Correct answer.

Quite spooky, Ian.
My last house was called "Red Roofs" (before I demolished it).

The wheels look like a puzzle from 'The Krypton Factor'.

buzyg wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2024 10:36 pm Mr Tidy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2024 10:33 pm
buzyg wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2024 10:31 pm
Can't even tune the radio in my Mx5.
If it was your old MR you wouldn't want the radio on!
Correct answer.

Yes, it's sort of ironic that my MC has the top spec Carver stereo and I hardly ever turn it on.

I've got to admit I really wouldn't ever want to have to use a screen for it (or anything else really).

Mr Tidy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2024 10:43 pm top spec Carver stereo

Is that made by 'Toby Inns'?
Too Much time reading Martin's puns TBH!

Most excellent ! Congrat's.

The car has many strong points but the level of tech. and consequent distraction is crazy. I read in a motor magazine recently that one of the reasons people buy Dacias (apart from their low price) is that they only have what most consider to be essential technology and as a :consequence are easy to drive with few distractions.
Mind you I’m not planning to buy one.

I don't blame you!

Nice one Ian, I'm looking forward to when you say we can pop over and take a look at it and bring my Z over for you to look at too

At handovers I give the customer as much, or as little info as they want. Dealing with BMW's if the customer is new to the brand I always do essential controls exhaustively. When it comes to the idrive I try to pitch it at the customer's level of tech. However I never go through everything due to time constraints and information overload, but always advise they get a quiet hour when they can sit in the car with a cuppa and play around with the menus and features.

Congrats, looks great

I bet most people never use half the tech on today's cars, I know I don't, it gets a bit tedious but thankfully some manufacturers have the sense to retain manual buttons.

I was reading that some manufacturers are looking to produce electric cars with a manual gearbox as people miss actually driving a car.

I still miss a manual choke, would like to see that fitted to electric cars

Tim.

Scubaregs wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 8:47 am At handovers I give the customer as much, or as little info as they want. Dealing with BMW's if the customer is new to the brand I always do essential controls exhaustively. When it comes to the idrive I try to pitch it at the customer's level of tech. However I never go through everything due to time constraints and information overload, but always advise they get a quiet hour when they can sit in the car with a cuppa and play around with the menus and features.

Sam, the guy who sold us the car is really good and helpful. Hence he has booked us an hour’s session in a couple of weeks to answer questions and to go into a bit more depth where appropriate. I can’t fault the dealership. I don’t know how you guys keep up with all the changes.
The bottom line is, I love the car.