I’m unsure if this is as big a discovery as I felt it was... but last night I was getting out of the Panda. Lights were on full beam. I pulled the stalk a few times and got this on the display:

F 30 > F 60 > F 120


The number being the amount of time in seconds the lights will stay on after I locked the car.

It’s brilliant! Did you know about this?!

A feature that has been around for a lot of years now, but I had forgotten the Panda had it. It is supposed to light the way to your front door when you get home in the dark. You have to grope your own way back to it later of course.

Only of use if you drive onto the drive forwards, and the door is ahead. The Highway Code suggests we should reverse onto the drive. Never saw a need to light my way to the opposite neighbour's house, so have never used this feature.

Saw a Kia large people carrier once that did the same with the reverse lights. Now that was a good idea.

At my place, it's much easier to drive in and reverse out so the feature could be handy. I live on a narrow sort of private road (owned by local district council but not maintained by the county Highways dept) so to the highway code.

Use this feature most nights when walking the dog. Love all the little features the panda has that people wouldn't expect such as the rear wiper turning on automatically when you select reverse and the front wipers are on and the little drip wipe that follows etc.
Amazing for the class, age and price of a panda. ?

portland_bill said:

A feature that has been around for a lot of years now, but I had forgotten the Panda had it. It is supposed to light the way to your front door when you get home in the dark. You have to grope your own way back to it later of course.

Only of use if you drive onto the drive forwards, and the door is ahead. The Highway Code suggests we should reverse onto the drive. Never saw a need to light my way to the opposite neighbour's house, so have never used this feature.

Saw a Kia large people carrier once that did the same with the reverse lights. Now that was a good idea.

Click to expand...

I've always preferred to reverse up my modest excuse for a driveway. However had to desist when we moved to our present house (35 years ago) because the garage is built into the bottom of the house. After about a week I noticed that there was a nasty black sooty mark forming on the door but more annoying was the smell of fumes which would, sometimes, find their way into the house. We are in a quiet (except when an exceptionally big funeral is on at the nearby crematorium) street that only has access at one end so reversing out is easy and as safe as any reversing manoeuvre can be.

Talking of garage doors has reminded me that mine, a common up and over cantilever door, has quite large gaps to the side (door to frame, top to bottom) averaging about half an inch. Anyone know of a seal of some sort which might stop the draft? A couple of years ago I "inherited" some polystyrene type insulation panels (black on one side, expanded insulation in the middle, shiney foil on the other side) which fitted perfectly between the outer door panel and the bracing struts. The difference on cold days is remarkable! But only tends to highlight the bitter Scottish wind blowing round the sides on cold winter days!

How about inflatable seals? https://www.par-group.co.uk/rubber-and-polyurethane/silicone-extrusions/silicone-inflatable-seals/

These for the floor https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Garage-Floor-Seal-Threshold-Drought-Seals-Excluders-Adhesive-Door-Gaps-Sealing/132833655792?hash=item1eed80bbf0:g:wfEAAOSwZ1hb0wVY:rk:20f:0

I have a pre-insulated sectional door now (there’s posh!), but the old door had rubber strips riveted to each inner vertical side and the top precisely for this purpose. Looking at them, they seemed to be fairly standard 2” rubber of the sort that Woolies Trim would have, or I suspect you could get them from a decent builders merchant - the kind of stuff that’s used as a damp proof course on some sheds and outbuildings.

Mine has a nasty parasol type door that sort of goes in and up. The outer couple of feet never get inside the frame so draught-proofing is awkward to say the least. The type which slides on rails into the garage is a far better option. A sliding panel or roller type is better still.

I just tried to post here but it's disappeared into the "wherever" so apologies if you come across it somewhere else!

Anyway, it sounds like your door Dave, is very like mine in that when it's open it's horizontal, level with the top of the frame with the bottom third of the door sticking out beyond the frame - like a little mini roof - with the the rest inside the garage. My mind saw the problem as needing a seal fixed to the frame but, now reading all your kind suggestions here, has made me think that a flat "lip type" seal fixed to the door itself would be a better solution.

So thanks folks. There's a big builders merchants and a B&Q superstore within easy reach so I'm off on an adventure!
Regards
Jock

Hi Jock

Our doors need flaps on the lower 1/3 which can be inside the frame. The upper 2/3 need flaps on the door itself as they otherwise restrict it's movement. Anything else snags the door.


I gave up, because it only ever blocked out the light and never stopped the draughts. Inflating seals around the door should work. You would need some switches, electric valve(s) and a low pressure air supply. Shut door inflate seals job done.