Santa Fe newbie questions and 2 really basic simple mods (warning - long)
Hi all
Just picked up my new Santa Fe GLS 2.7 V6 4WD - and I loove it! a color they call "dark navy blue metallic". Looks like black until you're out in the sunlight, then you see it's really deep blue. Cool. And it's full of features which show soomeone put a lot of thought into the car. Example: Last year, I unlocked my old car in the street in front of my office. Before I opened the dorr and got in, my mobile rang and I had to rush back into the office (usual "oh my gaaawd! come quick!"-type of thing). And of course I forgot to re-lock the car. Now, had I had the Santa Fe, it would have re-locked itself after 30 seconds and I'd still have my video camera I had hidden iunder the armrest. This re-locking surprised me the first time. Another thing: I have to confess I am not a fan of automatics. Stick shift it has always been with me and I thought it always would be. I test drove the Santy because a friend threatened to do something to me that I'd regret if I didn't. He knew I was in the market for an all-road SUV. After pointing the test-drive Santy up and down a few hills (we have quite big hills here - you know - "the Alps"?), I found that I could take over when I felt like it to hold third going uphill. So now I'm happily driving a non-manual (or a clutchless manual or whatever you want to call it). By the way - I took a bit of flak from colleagues for getting a "pretend offraoder" instead of a real one (read Landrover Defender). Now, I'm honest with myself that I don't plan on much offroading, except light stuff. I like the term Audi have for their 4x4 station wagen "ALLROAD". That's what I plan on using the Santy for: If it's a road, a dirt track, whatever, I can handle it. If I'm going to do a trans-Africa, then I wouldn't want to wreck my Santy doing it. I'll wreck another car. ;-) But there are a couple of questions you could maybe help me with: a) I have the version without sunroof, so the clock is in the dash, not above the windshield - It reads 12-hour display. Over here in Switzerland, we use 24-hhour times (so 2 pm is 14:00 over here). Is there any way to switch the clock to 24-hour display? The handbook didn't mention it. b) About the remote alarm / door opening thingy: Some posts mention a three-button one with a panic button and so on. My 2003 has only two buttons: A big one with a "lock" icon on it and a smaller unmarked one for opening up again. Repeated pressing only repeats the locking cycle (one long flash) or unlocking cycle. Is this a regional thing? What do you guys' three buttons do exactly? Little mods: 1) Driving last night, the red flare of the third brake light bothered me, so I took soft black foam rubber one sided tape (we use this stuff for sealing windows if they don't close up tight in old houses) and built up the edges of the third light mounting with the rear window flipped up. Now, when I close it, it seals flush with the glass and no more flare. 2) Parking in the city os a bit different with the Santy, which is higher off the ground than what I'm used to (read sports car type thing). Although I find the all-round visibility great, I wanted to see what was happening closer to the rear bumper. I decided against installing a mirror there, and a camera is just too much. So I stuck a Fresnel lens to the rear window and now I see great. Now I would see small kids playing behind the car or cement blocks at bumper height easily. I bought a sticky plastic Fresnel lens from my local car accessory outlet. It's a big help. And I'm gonna put in some better - stronger - headlight bulbs (Philips blue vision 4000 Kelvin, maybe). Cheers, D |
Re: Santa Fe newbie questions and 2 really basic simple mods (warning - long)
"Daniel Schwarz Carigiet" <danis@dplanet.ch> wrote in message news:3f520333$1@news.swissonline.ch... > Hi all > > Just picked up my new Santa Fe GLS 2.7 V6 4WD - and I loove it! a color they > call "dark navy blue metallic". Looks like black until you're out in the > sunlight, then you see it's really deep blue. Cool. And it's full of > features which show soomeone put a lot of thought into the car. Example: > Last year, I unlocked my old car in the street in front of my office. Before > I opened the dorr and got in, my mobile rang and I had to rush back into the > office (usual "oh my gaaawd! come quick!"-type of thing). And of course I > forgot to re-lock the car. Now, had I had the Santa Fe, it would have > re-locked itself after 30 seconds and I'd still have my video camera I had > hidden iunder the armrest. This re-locking surprised me the first time. > Another thing: I have to confess I am not a fan of automatics. Stick shift > it has always been with me and I thought it always would be. I test drove > the Santy because a friend threatened to do something to me that I'd regret > if I didn't. He knew I was in the market for an all-road SUV. After pointing > the test-drive Santy up and down a few hills (we have quite big hills here - > you know - "the Alps"?), I found that I could take over when I felt like it > to hold third going uphill. So now I'm happily driving a non-manual (or a > clutchless manual or whatever you want to call it). > > By the way - I took a bit of flak from colleagues for getting a "pretend > offraoder" instead of a real one (read Landrover Defender). Now, I'm honest > with myself that I don't plan on much offroading, except light stuff. I like > the term Audi have for their 4x4 station wagen "ALLROAD". That's what I plan > on using the Santy for: If it's a road, a dirt track, whatever, I can handle > it. If I'm going to do a trans-Africa, then I wouldn't want to wreck my > Santy doing it. I'll wreck another car. ;-) > > But there are a couple of questions you could maybe help me with: > > a) I have the version without sunroof, so the clock is in the dash, not > above the windshield - It reads 12-hour display. Over here in Switzerland, > we use 24-hhour times (so 2 pm is 14:00 over here). Is there any way to > switch the clock to 24-hour display? The handbook didn't mention it. > b) About the remote alarm / door opening thingy: Some posts mention a > three-button one with a panic button and so on. My 2003 has only two > buttons: A big one with a "lock" icon on it and a smaller unmarked one for > opening up again. Repeated pressing only repeats the locking cycle (one long > flash) or unlocking cycle. Is this a regional thing? What do you guys' three > buttons do exactly? > > Little mods: > > 1) Driving last night, the red flare of the third brake light bothered me, > so I took soft black foam rubber one sided tape (we use this stuff for > sealing windows if they don't close up tight in old houses) and built up the > edges of the third light mounting with the rear window flipped up. Now, when > I close it, it seals flush with the glass and no more flare. > 2) Parking in the city os a bit different with the Santy, which is higher > off the ground than what I'm used to (read sports car type thing). Although > I find the all-round visibility great, I wanted to see what was happening > closer to the rear bumper. I decided against installing a mirror there, and > a camera is just too much. So I stuck a Fresnel lens to the rear window and > now I see great. Now I would see small kids playing behind the car or cement > blocks at bumper height easily. I bought a sticky plastic Fresnel lens from > my local car accessory outlet. It's a big help. Where exactly did you position the lens and what size is it? > And I'm gonna put in some better - stronger - headlight bulbs (Philips blue > vision 4000 Kelvin, maybe). > The cool blue (Sylvania here in Canada) work great on the Santa FE. > Cheers, D > > |
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