Even before Level 3 automated driving, car manuals are epic – longer than War and Peace
As cars get ever more connected and assisted driving features on the road to conditionally automated driving (see the updated SAE Levels), drivers are ever harder pushed to find all the right buttons.
Peter Stoker, Chief Engineer at Millbrook test track, made the point in our interview last year, saying: “If you buy a new car, you should read the manual, but how many people do? Especially with Covid, more cars are being delivered with minimal interaction – it’s a case of “there’s the key, where’s the station?”
Automated driving capabilities
Just last week, Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, had this to say about changes to The Highway Code related to self-driving: “Vehicle manufacturers and sellers will have a vital role to play in ensuring their customers fully appreciate the capabilities of the cars they buy and the rules that govern them.”
Quite so. Unfortunately, no matter how thorough the handover, settings get forgotten and drivers find themselves reaching for the good old owner’s handbook. Which makes this eye-catching research by Scrap Car Comparison all the more worrying.
The salvage specialist analysed the owner’s manuals for 100 of the UK’s most popular vehicles. It found that Audi has by far the heftiest, with the R8 being longest at 616,064 words, followed by the e-tron at 603,649 words, both, incredibly, three times longer than the Ford F-Series in third at 194,305 words.
To put that into perspective, at an average English silent reading speed of 238 words per minute, both the R8 and e-tron manuals take over 40 hours to complete, comparable to Tolstoy’s titanic tome, War and Peace.
At a mere 76,944 words, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is well under half the size of the 163,225-word Ford Focus manual.
Top 10 longest vehicle manuals
| Rank | Vehicle Make & Model | Manual Word Count | Average Time To Read |
| 1 | Audi R8 | 616,064 | 43 hours 9 minutes |
| 2 | Audi e-tron | 603,649 | 42 hours 16 minutes |
| 3 | Ford F-Series | 194,305 | 13 hours 36 minutes |
| 4 | Ram Pickup 1500 | 177,196 | 12 hours 24 minutes |
| 5 | Audi A3 | 174,181 | 12 hours 11 minutes |
| 6 | Volvo XC40 | 171,457 | 12 hours |
| 7 | Volkswagen ID.4 | 168,060 | 11 hours 46 minutes |
| 8 | Jeep Gladiator | 163,857 | 11 hours 28 minutes |
| 9 | Ford Focus | 163,225 | 11 hours 25 minutes |
| 10 | GMC Sierra | 158,194 | 11 hours 4 minutes |
The shortest manuals list is dominated by two-wheelers, with the Vmoto Super Soco CPX electric scooter taking top spot, with only 2,834 words. Only three cars made the shortest manuals top 10 – the Range Rover Evoque, Nissan Leaf and VW Polo.
Top 10 shortest vehicle manuals
| Rank | Vehicle Make & Model | Manual Word Count | Average Time To Read |
| 1 | Vmoto Super Soco CPX | 2,834 | 11 minutes |
| 2 | Honda NSC 110 Vision | 12,146 | 51 minutes |
| 3 | Honda CB125F | 15,029 | 1 hour 3 minutes |
| 4 | Range Rover Evoque | 16,526 | 1 hour 9 minutes |
| 5 | Honda PCX125 | 21,083 | 1 hour 28 minutes |
| 6 | Nissan Leaf | 21,541 | 1 hour 30 minutes |
| 7 | Yamaha NMAX 125 | 22,152 | 1 hour 33 minutes |
| 8 | Honda SHi 125 | 23,438 | 1 hour 38 minutes |
| 9 | Yamaha Ténéré 700 | 28,685 | 2 hours |
| 10 | VW Polo | 31,897 | 2 hours 14 minutes |
In addition to reading length, the study also used the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease Score to rank the accessibility of each manual.
It found the McLaren 765LT supercar manual to be the most difficult to digest, with a Flesch-Kincaid score of 44.3, requiring the equivalent of a college-level education to understand it.
The Vauxhall Crossland X and BMW 2 Series completed the top three for impenetrability, all with an 18+age suitability rating.
Top 10 hardest to read vehicle manuals
| Rank | Vehicle Make & Model | Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease Score | Age Suitability (years) |
| 1 | McLaren 765LT | 44.3 | 18+ |
| 2 | Vauxhall Crossland X | 44.5 | 18+ |
| 3 | BMW 2 Series | 45.06 | 18+ |
| 4 | Ferrari 812 Superfast | 45.35 | 18+ |
| 5 | Vauxhall Grandland X | 45.64 | 18+ |
| 6 | Range Rover Evoque | 45.65 | 18+ |
| 7 | Ford Ranger | 45.83 | 18+ |
| 8 | Honda Jazz | 46.38 | 18+ |
| 9 | Nissan Frontier | 46.88 | 18+ |
| 10 | Mercedes GLC | 47.89 | 18+ |
At the more accessible end of the spectrum, Tesla’s Model Y was found to be the easiest manual to understand, scoring 76.92 on the Flesch-Kincaid scale, suitable for those aged 12-13 and above.
Toyota also did well, taking second and third spots with its Tacoma and Tundra manuals.
Top 10 easiest to read vehicle manuals
| Rank | Vehicle Make & Model | Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease Score | Age Suitability (years) |
| 1 | Tesla Model Y | 76.92 | 12-13 years |
| 2 | Toyota Tacoma | 76.53 | 12-13 years |
| 3 | Toyota Tundra | 76.42 | 12-13 years |
| 4 | Chevrolet Bolt EV | 74.48 | 12-13 years |
| 5 | Fiat 500 | 73.97 | 12-13 years |
| 6 | Honda NSC 100 Vision | 73.42 | 12-13 years |
| 7 | Porsche 911 Turbo S | 72.55 | 12-13 years |
| 8 | Ford Mustang Mach-E | 72.07 | 12-13 years |
| 9 | Kia Sportage | 69.86 | 13-15 years |
| 10 | Audi Q2 | 69.82 | 13-15 years |
Dan Gick, Managing Director at Scrap Car Comparison, commented: “Vehicle owner manuals are a great resource which can teach you not only how to get the most out of your car, but also how to maintain your vehicle so that you can drive it safely.
“While some seem to get it right in terms of reading length and accessibility, other manufacturers may need to think about whether they’re making their manuals overly complex.”
