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Golf R 7.5 - how do you turn on heated mirrors

A

arvidj

New member
Location
MN
Ok, the dumb question of the day (someone has to do it)

We have a new-in-August 2018 Golf R 7.5. We thought it had heated mirrors but that could be a bad assumption.

Live in Minnesota so the 'needs to be less than 68F (20C) degrees outside' requirement was easily met.

What we have tried ...

With the car running ...
With rear window heater off ...
Turn mirror control knob to the right, push down.
Turn mirror control knob to the left, push down.
Turn mirror control knob to the center, push down.

With rear window heater on ...
Turn mirror control knob to the right, push down.
Turn mirror control knob to the left, push down.
Turn mirror control knob to the center, push down.

None of these have stimulated the mirrors to defrost.

Incantations involving the sacrifice of live chickens were not attempted.

What are we missing?

Venting on ...

On another topic, I am wondering if anyone at Volkswagen actually tested the car in a snowy climate. I'm not talking about driving it on slippery roads but 'cleaning snow off the car in the morning'. I got my first car when I was 15 and in the following 55 years I have always been able to lift up the wiper arms almost perpendicular to the windshield allowing access under them to clean out the snow and ice. On the Golf the wiper arms hit the hood if the wiper is pulled more that a few inches from the windshield. It is a PITA to get the snow out from under them.

Venting off ...

Don't take this the wrong way. For the most part both my wife (it is actually her car) and I love the car. Just a little thing that seem so suggest that real world testing was not performed because 'it looks good-to-go on the CAD screen' ;).

Thanks for the mirror heater guidance,
Arvid
 
A

arvidj

New member
Location
MN
Wow, thanks for the quick responses. I did not think the knob would turn past the 'R' or the 'L' position.

Given that this is Minnesota the temperature will allow me to go out and try it over lunch.
 
njswider

njswider

Ready to race!
Location
South Jersey
Car(s)
MK7 Golf R
For the wipers, you need to put them in "service position" in order to lift them up. Just turn the accessories on (not the ignition) and pull the wiper stalk down, the wipers will wipe up and stay perpendicular/vertical for you to lift them away from the windshield. They will stay in that position until you hit the wiper stalk down again. Its a PIA if you dont remember to do it the night before snow.
 
A

arvidj

New member
Location
MN
arvidj said:
Wow, thanks for the quick responses. I did not think the knob would turn past the 'R' or the 'L' position.

Given that this is Minnesota the temperature will allow me to go out and try it over lunch.
Click to expand...

As my drill sergeant use to say "Out G..D... Standing". It worked. Thinking back I do remember considering "the full turn" option. However I got that squeamish "you're going to break something" when I started to turn it and therefore passed on the correct solution.

Follow on question is "after I have stimulated the mirrors to heat, what happens if I move the knob back to L-0-R?" Did the stimulus start a timer and will continue no matter what I do with the knob? I need to leave the knob on the heater and it will turn of as soon as I move it back to L-0-R?

Thanks again for the additional information,
Arvid
 
A

arvidj

New member
Location
MN
njswider said:
For the wipers, you need to put them in "service position" in order to lift them up. Just turn the accessories on (not the ignition) and pull the wiper stalk down, the wipers will wipe up and stay perpendicular/vertical for you to lift them away from the windshield. They will stay in that position until you hit the wiper stalk down again. Its a PIA if you don't remember to do it the night before snow.
Click to expand...

Well that explains why I've been seeing the wipers-in-the-air so much lately. The Golf must not be the only one with the 'service position' requirement.

Yet another thing I need to try, but will be after work. As the follow on stupid question ... how do you "just turn on the accessories?". If I had a key I would know exactly what to do but the mono-button is new to me. Is "accessories" the state of the vehicle when you get in the car and the dash comes alive but you have not pushed the mono-button to start it?

Which bring me to venting #2 ...

When I start the FRS on a cold morning I unlock the door, reach in and put the key in the ignition, turn the ignition to start the car, set the heater and then brush off the car. I never bothered to get into the car as I can do all of that while simply reaching into the car.

With the Golf I need to actually get into the car to make it come alive, step on the brake, then push the mono-button to start it, set the heater and then get back out of the car to brush it off.

Getting in and out is another 'not a cold climate car' annoyance. Or maybe they assume anyone that can afford the car will keep it in a garage at all times and not need to clean the ice and snow off the vehicle.

Venting #2 off.

I though about just throwing the key-fob on the seat. That may be enough to get its attention and allow me to move the wipers to the service position but it will not allow me to start and heat the car as the "must step on the brake" part foils that plan.

Anyway, thanks for the advice and any additional information you might want to pass on.

Arvid
 
njswider

njswider

Ready to race!
Location
South Jersey
Car(s)
MK7 Golf R
arvidj said:
Well that explains why I've been seeing the wipers-in-the-air so much lately. The Golf must not be the only one with the 'service position' requirement.

Yet another thing I need to try, but will be after work. As the follow on stupid question ... how do you "just turn on the accessories?". If I had a key I would know exactly what to do but the mono-button is new to me. Is "accessories" the state of the vehicle when you get in the car and the dash comes alive but you have not pushed the mono-button to start it?

Which bring me to venting #2 ...

When I start the FRS on a cold morning I unlock the door, reach in and put the key in the ignition, turn the ignition to start the car, set the heater and then brush off the car. I never bothered to get into the car as I can do all of that while simply reaching into the car.

With the Golf I need to actually get into the car to make it come alive, step on the brake, then push the mono-button to start it, set the heater and then get back out of the car to brush it off.

Getting in and out is another 'not a cold climate car' annoyance. Or maybe they assume anyone that can afford the car will keep it in a garage at all times and not need to clean the ice and snow off the vehicle.

Venting #2 off.

I though about just throwing the key-fob on the seat. That may be enough to get its attention and allow me to move the wipers to the service position but it will not allow me to start and heat the car as the "must step on the brake" part foils that plan.

Anyway, thanks for the advice and any additional information you might want to pass on.

Arvid
Click to expand...

Yeah for accessories just push the start button but no brake which you most likely dont need to get in the car for. If i need to start the ignition I just reach down and push the brake with my left hand and the ignition with right hand at the same time, used to do that when i had a clutch too, that way i dont need to get in and out of the car. The keys dont need to be in the car 100% of the time, just when actually driving. You can start the car, get out and clean off the car if you want, itll just beep inside the cabin until you get the key back inside. Nbd unless you have a passenger sitting inside.

You can even code your car through VCDS/OBDeleven so you can lock/unlock your doors while the ignition is on.
 
D

Danosaurus

Ready to race!
Location
Canada
This is funny because I too was googling how to turn on the heated mirrors this week (but found the answer).


When I got the car (in July), I turned the knob clockwise past the mark and thought I had broken it, and turned it back. Didn't realize you had to keep going to make it point at the heated symbol.
 
V

Varinn

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Vancouver, BC
I read somewhere, something about being able to code through OBD11 to have the mirror defrost function with the rear window defrost button as well.

I'm not sure if it was correct or if it even applies to the MK7/MK7.5 but it's something I'm interested in. Wouldn't mind the option to simplify the setup to work the way many other cars do it.
 
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