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      12-12-2012, 02:59 AM   #21
Rodion
First Lieutenant
Finland
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Drives: X3 (F25)
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Helsinki, Finland

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Quote:
Originally Posted by am36 View Post
Thanks for the replies guys.

The bit in the manual says this...."Releasing (the parking brake) With the ignition switched on. Manual gearbox - press the switch with the brake or clutch pressed. Parking brake is released".

From what I can see in the UK 2013 spec's, 'hill start assist' does not exist. The auto hold feature only applies to the auto gearbox models.

Looks like I'll have to nip out with a couple of chocks everytime I need to have a steep hill start!
The Hill start assist exists with manual gearbox. It is just not "behind" a button, it is always on.

I too was sad first when I noticed that my 2.0d manual does not have HSA, but when driving with it a little, I noticed that it DOES have HSA after all, it is just always on.

So when I e.g. stop at traffic lights on a steep hill, I just keep the brake pressed and clutch on. When lights change, I put my foot off the brake and onto the accelerator and the car does not roll back! Only after a second or two, the HSA releases itself. Or when the car moves forward.

Also with manual gearbox there is this "crawling" mode in the engine, this means that e.g. on parking areas when you have to move very slow, all you need to do is lift the clutch slowly and the engine keeps itself running automatically and you crawl like with an automatic gearbox. No need to touch accelerator! I find this feature very good when parking or crawling in traffic. It works on 2nd and 3rd gear as well. And on 1st gear even mild uphills.

And this is really a "mode", as the engine revs itself and does not let itself to shut down.

From my experience: the manual gearbox is very well designed together with all "invisible" functions that are not advertised. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Last edited by Rodion; 12-12-2012 at 03:08 AM.. Reason: edited the terminology
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