Re: Manuals/Bentley vs. Haynes

[Brett Dikeman <dikemanb@stu.beloit.edu>]

At 6:55 PM -0500 on 10/23/97, Phil Payne wrote:
> > The Haynes (in the words of Denzel in Philadelphia), "Explains it to you
> > like your a 2 year old."
excellently put.  Sorta like, "The car go VROOOM!"

(ok, well, in our case, more like
V<clicka>R<clicka>O<clicka>O<clicka>M<clicka>.  Sorry for the needed
comment on hydraulic valve lifters, the most infernal noise maker ever
invented.)

>
> Bentley manuals are literal translations of the original German Audi
>manuals.
> You can easily see, looking at a Bentley manual, that they have copious
> authority (from guess who?) to use the 'Audi' name and logo.
>
> Haynes manuals are part of a series produced by the Haynes company by
>carefully
> dismantling new vehicles.  As a series, they have a value of their own.
>
> You will not find, I suspect, an explicit statement of how the camshaft
>gear is
> aligned against the timing cover in a Bentley - it isn't in the original
>German
> manual, because it's a 'given' for I5 engines.  You _will_ find it in the
> Haynes manual.
Yes, but on the other hand, the Haynes tried, in under 200 pages the 5000:
-CIS
-CIS-III
-CIS-Turbo
-Diesel
AND:
-quattro
-fwd
AND:
-5000S
-5000CS
AND:
-auto
-manual(and all variations of both!)
AND:
1983 through 1998

What were they thinking?  The Bently does a _fair_ job at keeping you
straight on what notes are for what models/years, but the Haynes is
horrible.  I remember, before I got my Bently set, looking in the Haynes to
try and find the hydraulic fluid container.  Good luck.  The (ONE!) picture
in the manual showed a 1984(?) 5000-non-turbo-quattro compartment.

I consider my Haynes manual a worthless piece of crap.  Good for
Joe-the-gas-station-guy-who-needs-to-know-where-the-battery-is and that's
about it.
I'm sure the manuals for models they feel are more "popular", ie Chevy
Blazer, are much more specific(and therefore, much better) in terms of
options and model years, but it's obvious they didn't feel like putting
much effort(at all) into the Haynes manual.  At the time, the opinion was
probably "well, you bought a luxury German car.  Drive like a sport, pay
like a sport.  If you can afford to buy it, you can afford to pay someone
to fix it."

You know it's bad when...
...the first few pages contain a
This-is-what-an-Audi-looks-like-in-case-you-didn't-see-the-big-rings-moron
guide :)

I also enjoyed the section on setting stupid Americans straight on what a
"torch" is :)_

"Inspect fuel tank with torch"
<BOOM>
"Nice hairdoo"

Brett

------
Brett Dikeman
dikemanb@stu.beloit.edu dikemanb@edison.ma.ultranet.com
~)-|
Hostes alienigeni me abduxerunt.  Qui annus est?
Te audire non possum.  Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.
------