UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Anyone else had an issue with the heated door mirrors? The manual says you have to activate it in infortainment but I don’t have the option. I can’t seem to get them working.

I’m sure I’ve only ever had to turn the wing mirror knob round to the heat icon. Don’t remember having to change anything on the infotainment system.

You are right, just turn knob to heated mirror icon

As easy as that...... *facepalm*

Yup, then forget you've turned the knob to that setting and have the heated mirrors on forever more.
It's a pretty archaic method, TBH.
A push button with a warning light would be better, or just link it to the heated rear screen - I can't think of a scenario where I've had them on seperately.

Andy Beats wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 9:34 am Yup, then forget you've turned the knob to that setting and have the heated mirrors on forever more.
It's a pretty archaic method, TBH.
A push button with a warning light would be better, or just link it to the heated rear screen - I can't think of a scenario where I've had them on seperately.

Can confirm, pretty sure mine was on for a good month or two last time I checked Its really stupid implemented, as there is no visual indication on whether or not its enabled.

Andy Beats wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 9:34 am A push button with a warning light would be better, or just link it to the heated rear screen - I can't think of a scenario where I've had them on seperately.

I had a 1988 Astra SRi that worked exactly like that and all Vauxhalls I had since were the same, our i3 switches them on automatically, no idea why VAG stick with this stupid way to control the heated mirrors!

Griff74 wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 10:27 am

Andy Beats wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 9:34 am A push button with a warning light would be better, or just link it to the heated rear screen - I can't think of a scenario where I've had them on seperately.

I had a 1988 Astra SRi that worked exactly like that and all Vauxhalls I had since were the same, our i3 switches them on automatically, no idea why VAG stick with this stupid way to control the heated mirrors!

It seems like madness. Every car I have owned it has been linked to the rear windscreen heat button. When that’s on it does both. Wonder what other quirks I will find with my first VW

phillos wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 9:46 am

Andy Beats wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 9:34 am Yup, then forget you've turned the knob to that setting and have the heated mirrors on forever more.
It's a pretty archaic method, TBH.
A push button with a warning light would be better, or just link it to the heated rear screen - I can't think of a scenario where I've had them on seperately.

Can confirm, pretty sure mine was on for a good month or two last time I checked Its really stupid implemented, as there is no visual indication on whether or not its enabled.

Mine too , only spotted it on the convenience menu.

My previous two Mk7 fiestas automatically activated them when temp was below 3c and the heated rear screen button pressed

Yes, VW’s heated mirror controls aren’t the most intuitive to use. I also had Vauxhalls back in the early 1990’s with heated mirrors and IMO the little push button, along with the small illumination bulb next to the mirror adjustment control was a much better system than that used by VW.

I’ve got electrically folding mirrors on my Polo which I find helps me to not leave the mirror heating on, as I turn the mirror control knob to the ‘folding’ position when I drive into my rather small garage to avoid clipping the mirror housings on the garage door frame.

gareth.collins wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 9:17 pm It seems like madness. Every car I have owned it has been linked to the rear windscreen heat button. When that’s on it does both. Wonder what other quirks I will find with my first VW

If you’ve not found it already, another quirk that many VW owners don’t like is the auto-dimming instrumentation panel lighting in poor ambient lighting conditions to prompt drivers to put their headlights on.

VW Group do seem to be a bit stubborn about the way the mirror heaters operate, I too came from having a VX Cav GSI 4X4 which has a very sensible system where, I think, you could only operate the mirror heaters if the (timed) rear window heater was on. Initially I owned a 2000 VW Passat 4Motion with the standard VW heaters setup, one issue on that car being that the rear window heater did not have a timer, but I got used to that as most people find they switch them off before the timer runs out anyway. One error I did make was to leave the mirror heater switch on - it was only when I started to read about people burning out their mirror heaters did I change my way of working but the heaters had burned out by that time, so I had to buy 2 new heated mirrors, lesson learned!

I have found that some years there will be many times when a garaged cars needs the mirror heaters only - but even that does not justify how VW Group have configured how these mirror heaters work, my Audi S4 "might" have thermostats to protect these mirror heaters, they did it seems in the past, but I'll not deliberately put that to them to the test!

I always thought on my Mii this was some sort of cost cutting thing on a city car but I guess not. It does seem weirdly illogical for a German brand!

Saying that, it doesn't beat my works van for oddness here. That has the heated mirror button on the dashboard on the passenger side with a heated rear window symbol. For 3 years I thought this was a unused button applicable to the minibus version with heated rear window.

Separate heated mirror system to rear screen isn't that baffling.
I switch it on if it has been raining to clear the moisture, which is not related to using the rear heater because there is a rear wiper and the rear screen heater isn't required in such a circumstance.