Likes:
Every time I drive it, I have a fantastic s**t-eating grin on my face

Dislikes:
I have to work to pay for it...taking time away from driving it more

 

"Are you blind? 2 light flashes tell you the doors are locked without an obnoxious horn sounding. "

Can't go with you there. If the key had a button that was positive for locking and a second button that was for unlocking...I would be happy. As is you don't know if the visual indicator is for locking or unlocking.

Just change the key to have a lock button and an unlock button...like everyone else. No biggie. I don't really care if the thing honks or not...

 

The key button is a toggle, and works just fine. Simplicity is the art of good design. The light I am referring to is NOT the LED in the key. It is the dual flash of the front and rear blinkers. Most german cars do that and it's all its needed, if you know what to look for and you are not blind of course.

 

Maybe I'm missing something here, or maybe the U.S. models with their side visible lights make it easier, but we haven't noticed a problem. The front and rear running lights both flash and I'm having no trouble seeing them even our desert sunlight.

Possibly this is something they already fixed with the 997.2, because I haven't been uncertain once in the eleven days we've owned the car. Personally, I hope they never add an audible indication unless it's defeatable. To me that sounds like a Kia when a car does that. Okay, maybe a VW.

Gary

 

Gary: going back to 996s and perhaps even before, there's no problem spotting the bright blinker flashes. This is why I have been wondering if people are blind. It's all a UI interface issue - people are used to what they are used to. I much prefer the optical feedback to the obnoxious loud horn, especially inside a public parking garage.

 

Ah... the classic problem of human interface design. There's always somebody who *wants* a buggy whip mounted on his Model T.

 

Sorry, I didn't understand your objection at first. I noticed that when we bought the car myself. You can miss the initial light flash and then if you hit it again and see the flashes, you're still not sure if you hit it the first time so you might have just unlocked it.

The trick is the rest of the lights. When you unlock the car, the interior lights go on to welcome you home, so to speak. When you lock the car, any lights that were on will go off.

So you can confirm the car is locked, after seeing the flashes, by looking at the interior lights. If they are off you're fine. If they are on, you just unlocked the car, so you need to hit the button once more.

They should put that in the owner's manual, but I'll bet they figured it was "intuitively obvious". Or however you say that in German. Sehr klar? Sehr deutlich? Whatever. That reaction is a red flag in the engineering business. Things usually are obvious about a design you've just worked on for two years. It's the rest of us who have to scratch our heads.

 

got it done this morning - have to say it is very nice device. installation was a blast - may be about 15 minutes top, instructions were perfectly clear.

only thing that kept me a bit annoyed was tuning of mirror flip down, function 8 - i misunderstood a bit how it has t be pre-tuned, then it took some time to realise that to re-tune it i do not need to activate/deactivate this function #8 , then it just became apparent that it is either a bug or feature but after first normal cycle mirror returns into a bit of higher position compared to what I wanted it to be, so, after some time it settled.

I also turned off completely function of auto-locking car as it locked me in couple of time and then after I moved inside it activated theft alarm.

Opening windows from key remote and passenger window one-touch operation is very nice, I am still not sure if it was smartes way to spend $300 but compared to dreaded $900 plenum I think it was not too bad.

 

I have to say - after installing mods4car this double beep when doors are closed is much more convenient - I just drove to lunch with my wife and leaving car on parking lot in bright sun you cannot see any lights but that audible honk is just perfect. It is exactly what was missing - previously I had to check doors manually to see if I locked her or not.

 

It is the path of least resistance for the activation of certain features when compared to trying to get the PIWIS to do the same end result.

Glad you like it, it a weeks time you forget you even have it. It has been so long since I have played with my settings, that I forgot how to program it