Auto Wipers & Lights

5,000 miles, 21st August 2004

Well over 5000 miles are on the clock now and I still love the car and, barring an unexpected puncture, there have been no faults or disappointments. The only rattle I occasionally here is from my sunglasses in the overhead storage compartment.

The engine appears to have freed up a little because in the early days, on cold mornings, it felt a bit sluggish for the first few miles. All to be expected I imagine from a new engine. Average fuel consumption now is a pleasing 55mpg.

Of all the features in the new Mk5, the ones which I really find useful are, the automatically dimming rear-view mirror and the automatic windscreen wipers. When driving at night, I am still surprised how often I notice the rear view mirror automatically cutting out the brightness from vehicles behind. The following car's headlights do not need to be misaligned, the mirror still dims just to allow a comfortable amount of light through. I now wish I had paid £70 more and got the door mirrors to automatically dim as well!

The automatic windscreen wipers are a godsend in England with our typical "Sunshine and Showers" type of weather. I find that it is usually sufficient to leave the wiper control in the automatic setting. It appears to react sufficiently to variable amounts of rain in nearly all situations. Only occasionally do you need to force a wipe or override the systems desire to wipe.