<p>Most of were able to own and operate cars for 40 years without every having to use a manual to do it. When I rent a car I’m not reading the frikking manual to drive the thing.</p>
<p>barrons,
I have found on our last two car rentals that the rental company did NOT even leave the manual in the glove box! How ridiculous is that! A make/model car you’ve never driven before, 2,351 buttons and no idea what to do with some of them…:rolleyes:</p>
<p>I don’t know what cars you are renting but I’ve never had to use the manual to drive one. </p>
<p>If you want to know how to use the advanced features of a car use the manual. Or don’t. But it’s not a badge of honor to not be able to do it. </p>
<p>If my mother can figure out how to pair a Bluetooth headset anyone should be able to…</p>
<p>We must have rented from the same company because my rental car also had no manual in the glove box. I was hoping this wasn’t company policy and was just an oversight.</p>
<p>I have seen rental cars with all three situations:</p>
<p>a. No manuals of any kind in the car.
b. Quick reference card only.
c. Full owner’s manual.</p>
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<p>No need for them anymore. Almost every new car comes with and audio system capable of playing MP3 files using a flash drive or a writable CD. A writable CD has the capacity of over 700MBs, which is enough to contain the music from 20 audio CD’s. Just put the albums in different folders and presto! You have a 20 disk CD changer.</p>
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<p>That’s all well and good, but first:</p>
<p>a) You have to figure out the concept of a “Bluetooth headset”.</p>
<p>b) Grasp the further concept that the car itself is a “Bluetooth headset” that can be paired to the cellphone.</p>
<p>DH has download a ton of music onto a flashdrive. So now if we’re in an area that doesn’t get good SiriusXM reception, we switch over to the flashdrive.</p>
<p>Our three months of free Satellite radio (bought the Prius at the end of April) is coming to an end. DH is hooked on it and is certain to subscribe. We travel often to our second home in another part of the state. It’s a long drive. The subscription fee will be worth it. </p>
<p>DH is one of those guys who reads the manual from cover to cover. He even made our sons do it when they got trucks.
He’s spent so long getting the music features set up that he hasn’t had time to tackle the Bluetooth yet. That’s next.</p>
<p>We had a car that could plug the iPod in for years before we had the iPod. (H and I are still on our first shared one.) I figure i can keep down extraneous “learning” time, by keeping things simple. We still have “maps.” It’s a weird technology that totally confuses my students when I tell them about it. And our one (shared) phone is still dumb.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s exactly a points system for “getting” new things faster than other people, in either the acquiring or the figuring out meaning of the word. Nor in not.</p>
<p>But for me, there’s only so much time in the day, and in my mind, and I got too much else I want to do with both.</p>
<p>(Edit: one of these days I will figure out what Bluetooth is, and THEN maybe I’ll get around to making it work, should it turn out I have that capability. Meanwhile, props to your great-aunt, Iron Maiden. I"m sure she’s a better woman than I.)</p>
<p>Downloading music onto writable CDs or flash drives takes time DH doesn’t want to spend (can you tell he’s stubborn), but I’ll pass the info on to him anyway.</p>
<p>LOL about the no manual in the rental car. I rented a car with no manual recently. No problems until I tried to put gas in it and couldn’t figure out how to open the little gas tank access door. It didn’t pull open manually. There was no obvious button on the dash or key fob. I tried pushing the numerous mystery buttons on the dash (goodness knows what damage to the settings was caused!). No luck. I felt really stupid.</p>
<p>Noticing my dilemma, several fellow gas station customers tried to help me. None were successful. I felt a bit less stupid. I ended up having to Google the answer on my phone. It shouldn’t be that hard - lol!</p>
<p>Was the release on the floor, LVKris?</p>
<p>There was no button at all. Instead of pulling the door open, you had to push it in firmly to release the catch. I felt stupid again for not figuring that out on my own.</p>
<p>Thanks, inquiring minds.</p>
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<p>Imagine the plight of gas station attendants AND out-of-state customers in the two remaining states that do not allow (read: in fact, unlawful), self service. It is funny to see, as I have personally observed.</p>
<p>We had an Infiniti with a gas cap like that. The kids borrowed the car and had to call because no one could figure it out.</p>