Read The Manual Of Your New Ride
In days gone by, one could truly hope into a new car, gun the motor, and make tire tracks into the sunset.
However in the modern day and age, even the most basic cars come with some electronics, some form of gadgets and even the most haughty salesman from Toyota will need to spend a few minutes tell you about the basic functions.
( I recall going to the yard to pick up my Corolla myself, the man tossed me my keys, and that was it - good luck and good bye)
However that would be missing out on a significant part of the car driving experience. Yes, you can put the car into auto, press on the pedal and go, but these days there are so many more functions, and you will get a lot more out of the car if you spend a little time to learn some of these functions.
Of course, you could pick up the phone call or text your rep, or ask in a forum and get some replies, but IMO, part of the joy of owning a car is to explore the functions and pick up one nice surprise after another. Perhaps it's because I am new to Merc, so each function is new, and also my last car was from a different era, where the only thing auto was the gearbox. But it has been part of my joy to learn stuff like the different driving modes, try them out and store the settings. Even the budget entry models have learning functions, and a capacity to store your settings under the "I" mode. There are also other surprises like the air filter, which is capable of filtering out PM 2.5 particles, and you can drive in the fresh air mode without sucking in fumes from the nearby cars (of course if there's a huge truck in front of you spewing black fumes, be smart and switch to recirculating air).
On the other hand, a repeat buyer, or a busy businessman buying a three point star could want to go on with his/her new ride and bark orders at his rep whenever he finds something wrong, or just drive into the workshop and demand instant solutions for a car which he/her paid a lot for.
So the answer I feel is somewhere in between. You don't not need to be a geek or techie, and pore over the manual many times, nor do we want to drive 'blind'. If we regard learning the functions as a chore, it will be so. If not it can be a whole lot of fun. I recall the day I got my ride, and we took pics, had a laugh and of course paid scant attention to the rep, who was valiantly trying to explain the functions. So yes, the Merc rep does have a checklist of functions he has to go through, and I have posted about that car collection process before. I am pretty sure the rep would have touched on this "I" mode, but I think I might have lost focus then.
As always YMMV - your mileage may vary. But since it's already our ride, why not enjoy it to the fullest.
I have no financial interest or other interests in any of the items / events I write about.
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