Heated Wing Mirrors?

[Little Red Monster]

I am the proud owner of an Audi A3 1.8 TFSI Quattro. I have noticed that the heated wing mirrors do not appear to come on when I switch the rear screen heater on? Do the wing mirrors work independently?
When it is damp/wet in the mornings there is often a coating of condensation on the wing mirrors. My previous vehicles would allow me to get rid of this by turning the rear screen heater on? Am I missing something?

 

[snakehips]

The switch on the door that controls the mirrors has a setting far right to set them to heat.

 

[andywil13]

i much preferred it on the same button as the rear heater - it keeps getting left on with that knob!

 

[JohnM100]

Firstly, congrats on the purchase.

With the mirror switch set as Snakehips mentions, the mirrors are heated for a pre defined time (~10 mins) and then cycle on very reduced power for the rest of the journey to keep them dry. Very useful in the wet weather when you may only need to use the heated rear window once.

You can check real time power usage in the DIS using the steering wheel buttons - I think it's called efficiency programme to show auxiliaries.

John.

 

[cemerson]

I leave mine permanently in the heated position this time of year. As John says, they turn themselves off after 10 minutes then only cycle for short periods to maintain the heat, so it's not much extra really.

 

[Little Red Monster]

I leave mine permanently in the heated position this time of year. As John says, they turn themselves off after 10 minutes then only cycle for short periods to maintain the heat, so it's not much extra really.

Thank you one and all, good advice all round.

 

[jet_andy]

Some further advice which may prove useful - RTFM!

 

[seadoo180]

So if I want the auto dip feature left on (I.e selector set to left) do I have to switch over to the heat position to get the mirrors to heat up? They don't just come on based on temperature?

 

[Scott]

So if I want the auto dip feature left on (I.e selector set to left) do I have to switch over to the heat position to get the mirrors to heat up? They don't just come on based on temperature?

One would assume so otherwise the 'heat position' is pretty pointless.

 

[cemerson]

Yep, pretty much it. You can have heat, or mirror dipping. I've never used the mirror dip on mine though (reversing camera pretty much removes the need for it).

 

[Rexus]

Sounds a bit bonkers to me. Does that mean that if you have selected your mirrors to heat because it's an icy day, you them have to switch to dip when reversing the car then back to heat each time? Where's the sense in that?

 

[cemerson]

Yep