I p;robably wouldn’t have bought a Chrysler anyway.
But one of my pet peeves is that computers no longer come with manuals. I hardly ever find what I am looking for at online help. Online manuals are a reasonable compromise, I suppose, but I like paper manuals best.
I don’t leave the driveway without it. I once tried to change the tire on a rental without the OM. I could have swore that on my personal car at the time, that notch along the siderails was where they wanted you to put the square block with the jack under it. Different brand of car and different design. Oooops, sorry about that and since I did get the extra insurance not much more harm was done that to lose a couple hours out of my life while the mechanic figured out how to describe the damage I did to said insurance company.
I’m going to need the owner’s manual in my Toyota Sienna if I ever get a flat tire. I’ve owned this car for 5 years and I couldn’t tell you where the spare tire is. I’ve never come across it.
I just did a Google search and I still don’t know where the spare is. I’ll have to check the manual tonight. I might even discover that there is no spare tire. It’s certainly not in any of the usual places.
Sure, I read the manual, you learn some things you wouldn’t know otherwise. But the manual of my first new car, a Mazdaspeed3, was so cluttered with safety warnings that it’s really hard to read it. 
For a girl who doesn’t know that much about cars but has always had second-hand cars, that owner’s manual is a must-have. I have used it fairly often over the years. I hate everything going to online only - I don’t have internet access on the road. So I need to print it out and put it in my car?! How much is the cost?
I don’t read it regularly, but there have indeed been occasions when I’ve referred to it. I want it with me in case I’m out and about and have car trouble or a mysterious light comes on on the dashboard or I need to know what kind of fluid to come in. I bought a used car that didn’t have the manual, and I asked the dealer to get one for me (which they did).
If nothing else, when you do your own oil changes you need to know the oil type and capacity. Also good for when a fuse blows, manuals have a diagram/list of fuses and what they belong to.
I voted “regularly,” but I wanted to say “as needed.” I had some warranty work done on my car last week and when I got it back all the radio stations presets had been lost. I knew how to reset those, but what I didn’t know was how to change the temperature controls back to Fahrenheit! When it’s 80 out and my instrument panel says it’s 26, I get a little weirded out. So I got the manual, read the instructions, and changed it back.
(The dealer should have done it for me, but hey. A couple thousand dollars’ worth of work, and all under warranty, I’m not bitching.)
WTH? What kind of car is it and how do you verify the oil level?
There is way to much information in a manual. If anything, manufacturers should put MORE information in them.
Sure, every now and then. As mentioned by some already:
*checking the meaning of strange alert lights on the dashboard
*jump starting–checking to make sure I’ve got it right
*what type of oil for what season
*how to replace the %&( windshield wiper blades (it wasn’t of any help)
Is there a spot under the second row where the carpet lifts up? On the Honda Odyssey there was a Secret Compartment under the second row where the spare lived – might be the same deal with the Sienna. The deep well for the flip-n-fold rear bench made it impossible to put the spare in the usual place.
I’m guessing that car without a dipstick has a sight glass. I’ve occasionally seen them on motorcycles.
My car (2007 Toyota Camry SE) is like the puzzle box in Hellraiser. There’s like 6 steps to set up the automatic locks.
Too bad that probably the most popular answer (“I only refer to it when I need some information”) was not included in the poll.
Cool.
I haven’t voted because my option isn’t available:
I’ve used occasionally, it to solve specific questions: “where the bloody blue blazes does Vauxhall hide the switches for the lights and wipers” and “how do I change the time in the Yaris’ built-in radio” are the two that come to mind.
I’ve used it a couple times in five years of owning the car, once for the fuse map and once to figure out where the solenoid was.
Like others, I didn’t vote; your listed options boil down to Never, Once, Once, Often, and Often, none of which applied.
I think you’re underestimating the amount they’re saving by eliminating the dead-tree version. I’ve actually typeset car manuals, and it was a logistical nightmare (up to five pieces of literature for three different cars, each with various configurations and specifications, in ten languages). If the end-product had been PDFs rather than printed manuals, the whole design process would have been very much simpler and cheaper. And that’s before it even gets to the stage of printing, binding, distribution etc.
Having said that, from an end-user’s point of view, this is a revolting development. The dealerships should at least offer to print and bind the manual for customers, if they want a hard copy.
I just used it yesterday, in an attempt to find the weight limit for my car’s LATCH connectors. I read the Child Restraint section three times, then ended up having to resort to Google to discover that Mazda doesn’t release a LATCH weight limit. It would have been faster with a PDF version which would have let me search for all occurrences of the word “LATCH”. I will be reading it next for the recommended 60,000 mile maintenance. That I could also do on the computer.
I don’t think I’ve ever needed the manual on the road, thank goodness. It’s not bad to have as last-resort reading material when you’re stuck waiting for something, though.