Our first brand new car. Anything I should know?

jetta_wales

emmell wrote: »

I'm glad you're pleased with your car, I don't use mine very much because it's our 2nd car but I love to have a reason to take it out, mine's phantom black as well by the way. I let my friend drive it today and she absolutely loved it but I can't get used to the phone set up, I keep cutting my hubby off mid conversation. I'm gonna have to find more excuses to go out and get more used to it.
ML.

We have no idea how to link the phone to it yet but I charged my handheld CCTV this morning (video magnifier) so I can go through the manual tonight and figure all this stuff out. I'm better with geeky stuff than my OH so I'll do all the leg work and just give him the cliff notes of what he wants to know about.

mollycat

Congratulations on your new car OP.

Just read this thread from start to finish; theres a real "feelgood factor" about it.

Well done to everybody who has contributed, this is exactly what MSE should be about!!

emmell

jetta_wales wrote: »

We have no idea how to link the phone to it yet but I charged my handheld CCTV this morning (video magnifier) so I can go through the manual tonight and figure all this stuff out. I'm better with geeky stuff than my OH so I'll do all the leg work and just give him the cliff notes of what he wants to know about.

Our salesman set my phone up to work through the media system but when my hubby rings I cut him off.
I must admit I got a bit confused today with Pink blasting out on the stereo, the music went off and a different Pink song came on, then I realised I'd just changed my ring tone to Pink, my friend couldn't stop laughing because I'd thought it was her messing with the controls on the steering wheel. Never mind, new technology may catch up with me sometime.
ML.

jimmo

I'm really pleased it went well for you today and I am sorry that I might put a damper on things now but forewarned is forearmed.
You may, or may not have realised this but whilst the insurance certificate appears to cover your OH for using the car for work, the car tax exemption may be invalid if he does so.
See Using the Vehicle in this link.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/MotoringAndTransport/Yourvehicleandlicence/DG_10028003
I don't even know if he intends to use the car for work but whenever I go out alone in my wife's car I always ask myself what the purpose of the journey is.
I always manage to convince myself that the journey is legitimate and have never been challenged by the authorities but let's face it, a young man driving a brand new Audi is far more likely to attract attention than a grey haired old fogy driving something far less exotic.
By the way, regarding your trip to Bournemouth, the recommended route from South Wales seems to be virtually all motorways. I have "run in" all my wife's Motability cars and a few for work and I would go that way However its up to you. If you want to mix it up a bit I would suggest you go via Bathampton. Its a toll bridge over the River Avon and avoids going through Bath. Its really pretty there. You would then follow the A36 and join the M27 between Southampton and Portsmouth.
It is actually a shorter distance than the recommended route but takes a little bit longer. Oh, and tell your OH not to be tempted by the long downhill stretch on the Warminster by-pass. They certainly used to hide a speed trap behind the bridge towards the bottom when I used to travel that way.

jetta_wales

jimmo wrote: »

I'm really pleased it went well for you today and I am sorry that I might put a damper on things now but forewarned is forearmed.
You may, or may not have realised this but whilst the insurance certificate appears to cover your OH for using the car for work, the car tax exemption may be invalid if he does so.
See Using the Vehicle in this link.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/MotoringAndTransport/Yourvehicleandlicence/DG_10028003
I don't even know if he intends to use the car for work but whenever I go out alone in my wife's car I always ask myself what the purpose of the journey is.
I always manage to convince myself that the journey is legitimate and have never been challenged by the authorities but let's face it, a young man driving a brand new Audi is far more likely to attract attention than a grey haired old fogy driving something far less exotic.
By the way, regarding your trip to Bournemouth, the recommended route from South Wales seems to be virtually all motorways. I have "run in" all my wife's Motability cars and a few for work and I would go that way However its up to you. If you want to mix it up a bit I would suggest you go via Bathampton. Its a toll bridge over the River Avon and avoids going through Bath. Its really pretty there. You would then follow the A36 and join the M27 between Southampton and Portsmouth.
It is actually a shorter distance than the recommended route but takes a little bit longer. Oh, and tell your OH not to be tempted by the long downhill stretch on the Warminster by-pass. They certainly used to hide a speed trap behind the bridge towards the bottom when I used to travel that way.

Yes he will use it for work too as he is the main and only breadwinner so his work is viewed as to my benefit as he is financially supporting me. I know the tax disc rules are tight but Motability have reassured me half a dozen times (I wanted to really make sure) that this use is fine with a Motability vehicle as you can not have the Motability cars without the tax exempt disc. I also called the DVLA who said (and double checked too because I insisted lol) that if Motability are fine with that use then that's ok. No parent of a dissabled child would have much point in using the scheme if they didn't allow this as they'd only be able to use the car to take the child to school then would have to use another car for work so there'd be no point in having two cars.

With the trip it's Eastbourne we're going to and we take the M4 till Heathrow and then the M25 then M23. So yes it is mostly the same road type and same speed all the way. We'll borrow my ex's sat nav (he's my kids Dad and we're still good friends, plus he never goes anywhere so we use it more than him ) and plan a rout with some detours if it would be best to do so.

I really had underestimated the length of the cars manual, I got barely a 5th of the way through it before my eyes gave up, will get through some more of it tomorrow though.

jimmo

Why on earth did I type Bournemouth? I knew it was Eastbourne and I actually checked Eastbourne on the autoroute. Despite my blunder, Bathampton is still a viable alternative and the A36 is much more fun than a motorway but its only a suggestion

cyclonebri1

jetta_wales wrote: »

we stopped at home to pick up the kids car seats and got back in the car but it wouldn't reverse. It wouldn't go in either direction in fact, then I remembered the dealer briefly mentioning that after you've put your belt on then release the brake. Turns out it won't release at all if you haven't done your belt up first and he hadn't done it yet.

.

Just as an aside is there not a way to overide that?

There must be actually, as there are some drivers, probably more in the motability bracket that are exempt seat belts, and for reversing and garage work etc etc it would be unusable.

Guess you need to wade through that manual:T:T

jetta_wales

jimmo wrote: »

Why on earth did I type Bournemouth? I knew it was Eastbourne and I actually checked Eastbourne on the autoroute. Despite my blunder, Bathampton is still a viable alternative and the A36 is much more fun than a motorway but its only a suggestion

I don't really have any idea where anywhere is in relation to anywhere else, I only knew which roads came after the M4 in our route because I asked my other half so when he gets home later I'll get him to read your post with the suggested alternate route as it'll make some sense to him I'm sure

Thanks again.