ChehRob
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Rob
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2023
- Threads
- 13
- Messages
- 958
- Reaction score
- 568
- Location
- Seattle WA
- Vehicles
- MME Premium AWD Ext. Range (Job2)
- Occupation
- ret
- Thread starter
- #1
Over five years ago I tried and somewhat succeeded in reading the 500 page Rav4 manual. It was a profitless experience. More than half the manual did not apply to my model, it was poorly written. I did carefully read the 50(?) page quickie. With the window sticker and the quickie in hand I Xed out the multitude of things what weren't on my car. I could more or less make sense of what was left. I am noted for being an excellent reader. It really left a bad taste in my mouth about car manuals.
When I got my MME mid December I realized that whether I like it or not I needed to read that manual. An observation about manuals: The 'car' is in a way in one world, but the 'manuals' live in another. Hence the reader's task is to connect those two worlds. For the first week or two I relied on what the salesman and technician taught me in a couple of demonstration drives. Then I was familiar enough with the car to read the quickie manual. That in hand, I drove the car another couple weeks to better become at home with the car's technology.
Last week I started on the 500 page MME manual expecting the worst. Surprise! It is well written and very readable. The few paragraphs that don't apply to my car are clearly marked. I read about a hundred pages a session, and did three hundred pages so far. I am keeping a Word document up to date with questions and ambiguities I see. I'll visit the dealership and see the technician for those.
First, Kudos to Ford for such a well written manual, it is a difficult job to get that kind of result. If you are really adept at cars and car manuals you can just jump into the manual at the very beginning. If you are more of a "I just want to drive the car" sort of person you may get by just reading the quickie manual, but I really recommend reading that 500 page manual and making notes on what you don''t understand. Ask and expect your salesperson or technicians to answer your questions. My dealership is really good about that, and I think my questions have resulted in them learning more about MMEs that they already did.
When I got my MME mid December I realized that whether I like it or not I needed to read that manual. An observation about manuals: The 'car' is in a way in one world, but the 'manuals' live in another. Hence the reader's task is to connect those two worlds. For the first week or two I relied on what the salesman and technician taught me in a couple of demonstration drives. Then I was familiar enough with the car to read the quickie manual. That in hand, I drove the car another couple weeks to better become at home with the car's technology.
Last week I started on the 500 page MME manual expecting the worst. Surprise! It is well written and very readable. The few paragraphs that don't apply to my car are clearly marked. I read about a hundred pages a session, and did three hundred pages so far. I am keeping a Word document up to date with questions and ambiguities I see. I'll visit the dealership and see the technician for those.
First, Kudos to Ford for such a well written manual, it is a difficult job to get that kind of result. If you are really adept at cars and car manuals you can just jump into the manual at the very beginning. If you are more of a "I just want to drive the car" sort of person you may get by just reading the quickie manual, but I really recommend reading that 500 page manual and making notes on what you don''t understand. Ask and expect your salesperson or technicians to answer your questions. My dealership is really good about that, and I think my questions have resulted in them learning more about MMEs that they already did.
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