Tag: hidden items

10 Things You Didn’t Know About BMW i3

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BMW i3 was an engineering and a technological show piece for BMW.  The design was never meant to be  long term or reach huge production numbers. It was a showcase and a test bed for many innovations and processes. With production ended in 2022 after 8 years, I’m sure BMW has learned a lot in the process and is now implementing these finding in their new EVs. With that said, let’s talk about 10 things you probably do not know about the BMW i3.

  1. Battery Capacity/Range Anxiety:

A very cool first fact about the BMW i3 is that it was the most efficient EV on the market when it came out beating out even some current Tesla models, needing only 270 watts to go a mile. Even so, range anxiety is a real thing for many people, and I’ve witnessed this myself as my friends were asking me if I’m going to a charger because there are only 30-40 miles left on the guess-o-meter. To battle this, BMW has doubled the battery capacity in 5 years and offered a Range Extender for those needing longer trips. Until 2019, all BMW i3s also came with a heat pump, which means the range wasn’t as affected during the cold months as some other EVs. It’s optional for 2019 and newer cars, so check before buying. There are a couple of limiting factors when it comes to the powertrain as well. If you live in a very cold climate, you will have to pre-condition the battery before taking off or your power will be limited. Pre-conditioning also help in a very hot climate, if you park your car on very hot asphalt, then get in it and drive fast, your AC will prioritize cooling the battery rather than you. If you precondition the battery before leaving, it solves that problem as well. A second limitation is that the Range Extender is just that, a generator for your batteries, it cannot maintain more than 70 mph while on the highway, so there is some planning when going on longer trips. Interestingly, I have found myself strangely obsessed with squeezing as much mileage out of each charge and obsessing with efficiency. I even run my front tires 3 PSI over recommended pressure for better tire wear and better rolling resistance. While I find it fun, not everyone would agree.

  • Built with carbon fiber

Part of the efficiency comes from the way it’s built. More specifically the material the car is made from. BMW i3 uses many composite materials throughout the interior and exterior, of which many are recycled and the entire car was designed to be holistically sustainable, not just electric. Materials, size, weight, the right-size, everything. Efficient without being excessive. Of course, BMW i3 was also the first mass production car with most of its internal structure and body made of carbon-fiber reinforced plastics. There is almost no metal in this car and that includes the body panels which can replaced much easier than on a normal car. All of this results in BMW i3 being the lightest EV on the market that can seat 4 comfortably.

  • The Handling

Small battery and light body results in a car that handles a lot like a go cart. It’s a fun car to drive that’s controlled, but playful if you push it. Rear wheel drive has excellent drive characteristics and allows for an accurate and light front suspension with no torque steer. This small rear wheel drive city car is a real pressure to drive swiftly and other manufacturers are now following this formula as well. Just don’t go on the highway, but if you do, check out this video on how to make it highway worthy!

  • Forged wheels

As you can see this car has a lot of supercar-like features that no one would expect out of a little city run-about and it doesn’t end there. BMW i3 wheels are forged aluminum, which means they are lighter and stronger than a standard cast wheel. Once again, this reduced the weight of the car and improves handling due to less unsprung weight. These aren’t without flaws, of course, as the very thin wheel and tire combination can make the car a little twitchy and good luck finding more than a couple of tire manufacturers in this size.

  • Rear Doors/Windows:

There are also many design features AND even flaws that most people may not know about. Some of these make the car look more modern than anything on the road or at the very least very unique. One of the more obvious ones is that the front doors are frameless just like they would be in a convertible and there is no B pillar thanks to that carbon fiber shell. This gives the car a very unique look with all of the doors opened. While we have the doors open, if you look at the rear door, you will find that there is no power windows in the back.. they are fixed in completely. One of the more unique styling choices here is of course the window drop below the belt line. It’s controversial, but I personally love it for my dog as it gives her an unobstructed view out of the sides. I’m sure it’s great for kids as well.

Last item you may not know about the rear here is that if you want to sit in the rear of the i3 and you are alone, you will not be able to close the doors unless you climb through the front as it’s impossible to reach the front door from the back. It would be cool to have power doors that auto close or open with a button. Might have been a little gimmicky, but definitely a lot more convenient.

On the other hand, the front is very convenient since the floor is flat, so you can easily slide between the two front seats.

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  • Rudimentary Controls:

Knowing that BMW was one of the pioneers when it comes to infortainment systems, I was very surprised how rudimentary the controls and information is for charging. You cannot even select the charging speed or review any information about a previous charge. It’s limited to selecting the limit of charging speed and that’s basically it. I know you can do so much more in a Chevy Volt and it even shows much more information about the battery and other related stats.

This car also doesn’t have a way of turning off the head unit. The power button here only mutes the car. This wouldn’t be a big issue, but if you have a camera plugged into the power socket, it will stay on the entire time the car is charging.

Another nuance is the horn. Single note, and a noticeable slight delay when pressing the steering wheel button.

  • Blue Strip:

While we are here at the driver’s seat, notice this blue strip on the steering wheel? That’s not just for show, it’s actually a sensor for adaptive cruise control and even if you don’t have that option, you will still have the sensor built in.

  • Reverse Hill Assist

Did you also know that hill assist works in reverse? Meaning if you are facing downhill and put the car in reverse, it will not roll forward. Pretty cool!

  • Expensive Insurance:

Another unexpected item for me was that it costs more to insure than an average car or even BMW. Mostly because of the unique constructions and repair shops not equipped to fix them, if the shell is damaged, in a lot of cases, the car is totaled. An even simpler example would be a windshield. On most cars, it’s as simple as just replacing the glass, but on this car it’s much more involved as many trim pieces have to be removed.

  1. REx Engine:

Lastly, if you love engine specs, here are a few things you may not know about the REx engine in this BMW i3:

  1. This is a   Engine. What does all of that mean? Well, W tells us it’s a third-party engine, 2 is for 2 cylinders, 0 means it’s the basic engine. 06 is the displacement in liters, U means it’s a lower performance class engine and finally 0 tells us it’s a new development.
  2. This scooter engine produces 34HP and 40 lb-ft of torque at 4300 RPMs, but that has zero effect on how the car actually drives. The electric motor is the only thing ever driving the wheels.
  3. The gas engine operates based on how much power is requested from it which allows it to achieve 94% efficiency and it will follow 5 different operating speed strategies based on your speed and state of charge.
  4. Interestingly, this engine has a mechanical coolan pump unlike most BMW engines that rely on an electronic one. This coolant pump is force fitted onto the oil pump shaft and spins at all times. Very unusual as the delivery rate and also the flow rate through the coolant pump is solely defined by the speed of the crankshaft. There is no electrical control here.
  5. If you choose not to go with the Range Extender, make sure your car has DC charger as it is optional on 14-15 models. It’s necessary for longer trips as it allows the car to charge much, much faster.

Summary:

And there you have guys, hope you have learned something new about the awesome creation from BMW and if you have one, why not check out my top 10 coding suggestions to enable longer range and much much more! Very DIY friendly and cheap to do. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.

Top 15 Useful BMW i3 Hidden Features

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  1. Key and Key fob

We’ll start with some simple ones for those newer to BMWs and the I3. This seemingly simple key actually has many hidden features. Everyone knows you can roll down your windows and sun roof on most BMWs by just holding the unlock button for a few seconds, but did you also know there is a physical key that has a couple of features of its own? Not only can it open the driver’s door, it can also lower and raise the windows if you hold it all the way to the right or left. Well, only the front windows, the rears are fixed in.

A couple other fun key features I found is that if you hit the lock button on your key fob when the windows are opened a little, it will go back up inch by inch and if you have a European version , you can just hold the lock button to close them completely. If your car is plugged into a charger and you lock it, you will also see the charge status. Lastly, if you hit the lock button twice within 10 seconds, it will DE-activate the tilt alarm and the interior motion sensor. Great for leaving a dog in the car.

  • Door Handle

Speaking of leaving things in the car, you don’t have to open the rear door to put something in the back. You can use this handy handle on the back of the seat to lean it forward like in a 2-door car. However, if you do open the door and look in the corner here, you fill find that you have some pull tabs behind a cover. There are these manual pulls all over the car. You can open the charging port, the front trunk and fuel filler door.

  • Fuel cap and charge port has a spot to be stored

While we are here at the fuel door, when you fill your car with either gas or electricity, don’t let the cap dangle, there is a built-in spot to keep them off the paint.

Interior:

  1. Telescoping steering column

Switching over to the interior and controls, there are some fun ones here as well! For example, I recently learned that the steering wheel is not only adjustable up and down, but it’s also telescopic!? How cool!

  • Turn Signal Cancel

Some of the features you use daily also have little tricks behind them. For example, when using a turn signal, you don’t have to push it the opposite direction and turn on the other one accidentally, you can simply tap in the same direction to cancel it. I know it solves a problem that BMW has created by changing how their turn signals work, but cool nonetheless.

  • Follow me home and parking lights

You can also use this stalk to turn on follow me home lights by pushing the stalk away from you. Your low beams will stay on for 30 seconds. This is also why I upgraded mine to LEDs.

Similarly, you can turn on parking lights by pushing the stalk up or down. Left or right side of the car will stay on. Great for street parking or parking in an alley.

  • Put car in neutral/skip neutral

Switching to the other side of the steering wheel, there are a couple of features here as well. You can skip Neutral when selecting Drive or Reverse by pushing the gear change lever past the first click. This one is easy to find after driving the car for a while, but how do you put the car in Neutral? You would think you can just pop it in N and turn it off… but it just goes to Park on its own. To do so, hold the gear lever and the power button for 3 seconds and the release both. Now you are in neutral and car is off.

  • Can turn on radio when car is off

There are a couple of tricks with the entertainment system as well. As an example, you can power on the radio with the car off by simply hitting the volume/power button.

  • Shortcut Buttons

Just to the right of the power button, we have some preset buttons, but what most people don’t know is that you don’t have to use it for radio, you can use it as a shortcut for almost anything in the system. For example, you can make one of them toggle the Hold State of Charge aka turn on the Range Extender or dim the control panel brightness or even switch to different music sources and much more. Fun fact, if you’d like to reset all of them, simply hold 1 and 8 at the same time.

  • Hidden menu

Ok, ok, I hear some of you screaming that you know all of these already, but did you know that this small city car has a drift mode!?

Ok, it’s not actually called a drift mode, but there is a hidden menu that gives you tons of additional information and allows you to enable a roller mode where it will turn off the traction control, stability control, ABS and regenerative braking giving you full control of the rear wheels!

Getting into the hidden menu is fairly simple, you just hold the trip reset button for a few seconds and you are in! Here you can find a few options, including the roller mode which you can press and hold to enable. You can also unlock this menu for a ton more information, like your battery capacity, temperature and other specs not otherwise advertised. To unlock it, enter the sum of the last 5 digits of your VIN and you are in! I will do a full video on this as I think it deserves a deeper dive. We can even check out the CiC iDrive service menu in that video as well. Let me know if that is something you’d be interested in seeing.

  • Coat Hanger
  • Power plug

If you haven’t seen my camera install video, you might not know that there is a power plug right under the air vents, super convenient for charging your phone. Also, there is a hidden coat hanger behind this little cover. All you have to do is flip it around.

Engine/Driving:

The last few items I wanted to mention have to do with the engine, driving and storing the vehicle.

One features that’s hard to figure out yourself as a driver is that when braking really hard, the car will also illuminate the lower lights, giving more of a warning to the cars behind, but not only that, if you open the rear hatch and your lights are no longer visible, the lower set will take over and work as regular lights and brakes! Great thinking on BMW’s part here!

  1. Rex Emissions Mode
  2. You can check oil level unlike other BMWs

Luckily BMW did more thinking around the range extender engine which leads me to the next hidden feature, you can put the car in emissions mode. This will turn on the engine and run it for 20 minutes to bring it up to operating temperatures and prepare systems for emissions testing. Your battery charge has to be under 75% as it will charge the battery as a side effect. Could be useful in an emergency! To turn it on, open the hatch, turn on the ignition and then press the accelerator pedal 3 times and hold on the third. Release and press the brake button followed by the Start and Stop button. The engine will start at this point. Another fun fact about this motorcycle engine is that it actually has an oil dip stick, so you can check the oil level unlike most other BMWs. Nice!

  • Long storage hidden feature, hack:

The very last trick that could be useful for some has to do with storing a BMW i3 over longer time. BMW says not to allow the vehicle to sit idle for extended period of time on low charge, so it must be close to fully charged to be stored. This will work great for the high voltage battery, but you will still be risking killing the 12v battery since simply having the car plugged in will not charge it. So, to circumvent this, what you can do is set up a departure time once a week, this will power on the car and charge your 12v battery at the same time saving you a headache in the future.

Summary:

Wow this turned out to be a pretty long video! So, I hope you have learned something new or interesting about a BMW i3 and if you are a hardcore enthusiast, I’d love to hear some of the things I’ve missed. Also, if you’d like to access some more truly hidden features, check out this video where I show you how to code your car for more range, true control of the range extender and even adding a sport mode! Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next one!

Top 10 Useful Lexus RC Hidden Features

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Top 10 Useful Lexus RC Hidden Features

Intro:

Hi guys and welcome back to the SimpleCarGuy channel. Today we will talk about some hidden features, tips and tricks and things you may not have known about the Lexus RC range!

If you have been driving a Lexus for years, I’m sure you already know most of these and I’d love to hear some I haven’t mentioned in the comments down below. If you are new to the brand, stick around and I hope you enjoy the video.

Things you didn’t know:

Chassis Construction:

The Lexus RC is a little bit of an assortment of parts, but in the best way possible. It borrows it’s front subframe from the larger GS, midsection from the old IS250 convertible and the rear section comes from the 3rd gen IS. This makes for a great handling car that has a shorter wheelbase than the IS, but the body is just as long. To be clear, I know this is a unibody car and there isn’t a chassis as such.

Moving Instrument Cluster:

The first thing you notice on this car as soon as you start it up is how cool the dashboard is. I love mechanical things and this makes me very happy in how it moves so mechanically but yet so modern at the same time.

The Roof Panel:

Next is the roof. The roof panel on the RC range is not traditionally welded or clued on like on many other cars, its actually laser welded using a laser brazing technique to provide better rigidity and eliminate rain channels for a smoother appearance.

Vortex Emulators:

Speaking of smoother appearance, this car has these little fins all over called the vortex emulators that create a spiraling vortex or cone of air to reduce drag. It does this  by lowering the levels of adhesion as air leave the body. Very cool!

RC stands for radical coupe:

[Point to emblem] Now this is something I just learned recently when starting to read about this car. The RC in RC300 stands for Radical Coupe.

Rear Seats:

Actually usable. I can easily go in and out and can be lowered almost flat.

Hidden Features:

Mirror Tilt:

A not so obvious but useful features on the RC is the mirror adjustments. Of course, you can normally adjust your mirrors, but what if you don’t like how they behave when you are in reverse. Luckily, Lexus allows you to change how far the mirror goes down when in reverse. Once in reverse, simply select the mirror you would like to adjust and the next time you put the car in reverse, it will be set to where you want them.

Traction Control:

You can fully disable the traction control and on the F cars put it in track mode by selecting sport plus mode and then holding the traction button until the dash lights up.

MODE button:

Want to turn off the stereo without taking your hands off the steering wheel? Simply hold the MODE button and the radio will turb of fin a few seconds. You can use it to turn it back on again as well.

Extra Tilt:

Tap the steering wheel tilt button 4 times in any direction and it will give you more tilt; it works after the tilt is at its max and gives it more tilt. Hopefully, that makes sense.

When you’re moving your power adjustable steering wheel down and it stops, don’t give up, you can actually lower it farther. After the steering wheel stops, continue holding the down button for six seconds. Push it down again, and the steering wheel should go even lower.

Physical Key:

You can pull out the physical key and open the door behind the handle.

Lower Windows and Sunroof with Key:

Your key can also lower all windows, open the sunroof and start the engine on some cars IF you ask your dealer nicely to unlock that feature for you. Press the lock button 3 times and hold on 3rd  press for 5 seconds to start the engine and if you do the same combo but with the unlock button it will lower all windows open the sunroof.

Rev Matching/Downshift Blip:

Sun visor:

 Telescoping sunvisor

Conclusion:

I’ll be honest, I was surprised that I was able to find any hidden features on a Lexus as these are more known for making awesome daily drivers with the comfort and reliability that’s unmatched in this space. Luckily there were a few interesting ones to mention and I hope you enjoyed learning with me. I’d love to hear from the owners, I know there aren’t that many of you and see what you have to see. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next one!

Mercedes-Benz GLE Hidden Features

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Hi everyone and welcome back to the SimpleCarGuy Channel. Today we have a Mercedes Benz GLE 400, one of the most popular luxury SUVs on the market. This impressive vehicle has many cool features you’d expect from a Mercedes; like the bi-turbo V6 engine, 9 speed automatic transmission, cross stitched leather dashboard and steering wheel, adjustable suspension and excellent steering and handling characteristics, but this video will be simpler. We won’t even talk about the blind spot monitoring, the heated steering wheel, keyless entry, power rear hatch, tons of storage, towing ability or even a full spare tire in the back. What we WILL talk about is some hidden features, tips and tricks and things you may not have known about the Mercedes-Benz GLE 400. We’ll even check out a hidden menu towards the end of the video.

This video should apply to both GLE350 and GLE400 from 2016-2019 model years as the main difference there is mostly just the engine, you get a bi-turbo V6 engine producing 330 horsepower and 354 lb ft of torque in this GLE 400, and before it was discontinued in 2018, you could have had a 300 horse power V6 in the GLE350.

Mercedes GLE400 is considered one of the best highway cruisers based on great comfort, good handling, responsiveness and many different driving modes, but there is one features you probably haven’t realized this car has.

Pre-Safe

Have you even wondered why does the seat belt tighten up a little when you get in and put it on? Well, this is a feature called Pre-Safe and what it does is basically pretension the seat belt and figures out the weight of the occupant inside the car and in an even of an accident, the car knows how tight to pull the seatbelt to keep you as safe as possible. This is what fancy racing cars do!

Crosswind Assist

Another safety item that works in the background is Crosswind Assist, this hidden feature intervenes automatically if the direction and intensity of the crosswind affects your vehicle and stabilizes it by lightly braking one side of the car and making sure you are going straight ahead. This function turns on above 50 mph and can only be turned off by turning off ESP completely which also disabled driving stability, allows your tires to spin freely and active brake assist is no longer available.

EDR

Just like Pre-Safe and Crosswind Assist is calculating all this stuff in the background, this car has a black box of sorts called the Event Data Recorder or EDR that records vehicle dynamics and safety systems in an event of a crash or crash like situation. It will also record whether the seatbelts have been fastened, how fast the vehicle was traveling and what driver inputs were present prior to the event.

Key Fob

Enough about the safety stuff, let’s take a look at some fun ones. We use our key fobs less and less, especially with comfort access, but THIS key fob can do much more than you think. For starters, you can roll down windows and open the sunroof by holding the unlock button and even close them with the lock button as well. Don’t want to take the key fob out? You don’t have to, simple hold the door handle on the sensor like this and it will do the same functions.

Want to check if the battery in the key fob is working properly but you’re not next to the car? Simply hold Lock or Unlock button and the little LED will light up. If it does not, you may need to replace your battery, which can be done by using the mechanical key and popping off the back cover.

Physical Key

Speaking of physical key, this little guy has many functions on its own. Not only can you unlock the front doors, you can also lock the glovebox and cargo compartment when valeting your car and even use it to release the tailgate in an emergency or if the battery is dead.

Tailgate limit

Do you park your car in a garage but afraid that the tailgate will hit the garage door when opening? Well, you can limit the opening angle of the tailgate. To do so, pull the handle on the tailgate to open it and stop it at desired position by pressing the close button on the tailgate or pull the handle on the outside one more time. Then to save this position, press and hold the closing button on the tailgate until you hear two beeps. The tailgate will stop at this position from now on. Very useful!

Fuel Filler Cap Holder

While we are here at the back, let’s check out a feature I wish more people would use. I’ve seen way too many drivers let the fuel filler cap just hang there on the paint work. On this car and many others, you have a little fuel filler cap holder just for this purpose. Nice piece of useful engineering.

Fake Exhaust Tips

What isn’t a useful piece of engineering is fake exhaust tips, I’ve seen it on many inexpensive cars and I can’t stand it and I was hoping Mercedes would be better, but no, it’s the same here.

Before we check out hidden items inside the car, you may be wondering why you have seen other Mercedes SUVs that look very similar but sport the ML badging. Well, this general body style has been in productions between 2012 and 2019, but it only became a GLE from 2016 model year. Prior to this, the car was known as the M-Class or ML400 in this case. Now, let’s jump inside and see what kind of hidden features we can find there.

Hidden Power Socket

We’ll start with a very simple one, there is a hidden 115-volt power socket under the rear seat that can supply up to 150 watts of power. It’s not very easy to see, but definitely useful.

Air vent in the glove box

You know what else is useful? Heated and cooled cup holders, but I’m sure you already knew that one, but did you know that the glove box is also ventilated and will keep your contents cool? Fancy!

Sunblind Reversing Feature

Similarly, out of sight, but very useful if you have kids is the sunblind reversing feature. Some cars now have windows that will stop and reserve if someone’s hand is in the way, but this car will even do so for the sunblind and the sunroof! Safety first!

Extendable sun visors

While we are in this area, *not only do you have 2 sun visors but*(if has 2) these sun visors can be extended to block the sun or prevent glare and improve visibility while on the side of the vehicle.

Conclusion:

As you can see, this seemingly standard SUV hides many interesting facts including some of the ones I have talked about today. If you’d like to see more videos on this car, leave a comment down below as I haven’t even started talking about the air suspension and the versatility it gives you as far as driving dynamics or how you have many different ways of doing most functions without a touchscreen in sight. Anyway, that’s all I have for you guys today, I hope you have learned something new or interesting, like the video for more car content and I’ll see you in the next one!

15 Hidden Features – Porsche Boxster 981

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I have always been a fan of the Porsche Boxster and when I had a chance to drive it for a couple of days, I wanted to experience it to the fullest, see what were the hidden features and things I didn’t know about this Porsche 981 Boxster. How many of these quirks did you know and what came as a surprise to you? I was really impressed with the rev matching feature and how quick the roof went up and down. It also came to my surprise that you can’t easily see the engine, even though this car is meant for enthusiasts. I hope you enjoyed learning about the lesser know features and leave a comment with other Porsche fun facts!