USE THOSE BELLS AND WHISTLES!
Do you ever use the cruise control function in your car? Or, more pertinently, do you even know your car has cruise control? I ask only because, during a chat with a friend, I told her I use it all the time matched to the speed limit, because I’m so terrified of penalty points.
‘I wish my car had that,’ she said, and it got me thinking. She drives a two-year-old Peugeot 2008, so I was fairly certain it did. Sure enough, to the bottom left of the steering column, I found it. I took her out for a drive and showed her how to use it and she was absolutely chuffed, but it got me thinking – there must be lots of you out there who simply don’t know all the functions present in the cars for which you have paid a great deal of money.
Some years ago, an older man I know treated himself to a 5 Series BMW and, six months later, finally got round to asking if I would show him how to remotely connect his phone to the infotainment system through Bluetooth. He had been using his phone in his hand, an offence which, as our sister paper the Irish Daly Mail exclusively revealed on Thursday, has seen 50,000 fixed charge notices issued in the last two years.
I set it up for him, and made sure his contacts book was downloaded, and he never had to lift his phone again. Another plaintive cry I often hear is that people don’t know how to use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, systems that allow you to use apps on the go. I have an iPhone and, through CarPlay, digital assistant Siri reads any text or WhatsApp messages that pop up while I’m driving, and allows me dictate replies, such as: ‘I’m driving – call you later’ without lifting my hands off the wheel or taking my eyes off the road. As cars become more sophisticated, don’t be timid. You’re paying a lot of money, so ask the dealer to brief you before you drive away. It could save your life – or even just your licence and your wallet.