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My 2010 5 Series didn't and neither does my 2015 5 Series.
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Does anyone nowadays bother using their handbrake when sat at traffic lights?
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My 2010 5 Series didn't and neither does my 2015 5 Series.
Soldato
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Neither did my 2013 3 series.
Powershift here and if it looks like a wait of more than about 15sec then it's just a nudge into neutral and handbrake on- this is to stop stop lights blinding bloke behind and in my mind there is no wear in neutral - Leave it in drive and you can feel it trying to creep.
Wife just keeps foot on brake.
Wife just keeps foot on brake.
Associate
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Auto hold here in the Skoda (DSG) When it's night I manually press the parking brake. I am courteous to the driver behind as the VRS has a big brake light almost the full width of the rear panel, been LED it's mega bright, and kept on unless the parking brake is pressed or in P. It's a shame other road users don't give a monkeys, new LED taillights are stupidly bright!
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Sitting low in the MX-5 is a constant reminder of how annoyingly blinding brake lights are at night when sat in traffic.
I always use the handbrake and press the button so there is no annoying clicking.
Vast majority of brands only relatively recently moved away though, some cheaper vehicles still do use the old style shifter and probably will for awhile yet.
Personally prefer it TBH not a big fan of the electric parking brake either though I can live with it.
I've dismissed a couple of cars I've looked at with the electric parking brakes. Awful things.
Soldato
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Unfortunately I suspect that electronic handbrake will eventually be standard on everything. That said I don't really have any issues with them as they normally Auto engage and disengage, so should be easier for normal use.
I have both a manual and an automatic car and in both I generally tend to base my choice (handbrake vs footbrake) on how long the lights are on Red for. If it's a quick set of lights i.e. a crossing or a simple crossroads etc where it'll be less than 30 seconds before I can go I'll just use the footbrake but it I know it's a more complex set of lights i.e. a four way lights, roadworks etc where I could be sat for 1-2 minutes I drop the car into neutral/parking and use the handbrake instead.
My automatic car has an electronic handbrake which can make things more "complex" with it's auto on/off functions which occassionally conflict with my "I'll do it myself" actions so I spend 2-3 seconds trying to do something with the handbrake whilst the car is also trying to do something and it takes the cars brain a few seconds to stop/complete one action before it can then carry out my action. It's a little annoying at best and bloody frustrating at worst.
My automatic car has an electronic handbrake which can make things more "complex" with it's auto on/off functions which occassionally conflict with my "I'll do it myself" actions so I spend 2-3 seconds trying to do something with the handbrake whilst the car is also trying to do something and it takes the cars brain a few seconds to stop/complete one action before it can then carry out my action. It's a little annoying at best and bloody frustrating at worst.
I think you're misunderstanding here - I'm not referring to the lack of a shifter, which I agree is a reasonably new thing. But it's been many years now since most cars with a shifter had it physically connected to the gearbox. It's just a switch which controls the gearbox electronically. Consequently, you don't pass through reverse to move from Park to Drive like you would in a much older gearbox as Park is selected either by pressing a button or automatically if you switch the engine off. I doubt most people ever select Park themselves anymore.
This isn't new, or even that recent.
The 8 speed gearbox used in various BMW, Audi, even vans has been around for more than 15 years and is fully electronic, even the later versions of the previous 6 speed model had electronic shifters. The same is true of many other manufacturers - I cannot remember the last time I drove an automatic that had a gear shift that was physically connected to the gearbox itself. It certainly wasn't on a car registered this side of 2010. There will doubtless be some, I agree, but they are very much a minority and will be very dated cars.
Why would you do this? I can perhaps understand why you might prefer a manual one (But only just, there is very little reason why you might) but to dismiss an entire car on the basis of it?
A good electronic handbrake is excellent - it just works. Even better than this they are far more reliable than conventional handbrakes and less complicated as well as easier to fix in the unlikely event anything goes wrong with it. It's just a small electric motor that applies the rear brake.
We have two cars - mine has an electronic handbrake, hers has a manual one. There are exactly zero things that are better about the manual one, if anything its just annoying
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Even though not physically connected many still pass through reverse and will briefly illuminate the reverse lights, IIRC all our automatic vans at work have a lever on the steering wheel, like is common in the US, so the middle position is parked rather than reverse.
I might be wrong but fairly sure what you are talking about is more common to premium marques like BMW, many mainstream and lower ones don't have auto park or only on 21 onwards models (EDIT: Stuff like on the slightly older Jaguar where the shifter only has RND and a separate parking button isn't common on contemporary age stuff like Nissan, Kia, Honda, etc. etc.).
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Soldato
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I'm pretty much the same as most here now I think, if its a shortish set of simple lights just allow the auto stuff (manual box) to do its thing.
If its clear I am static for a while, such as slow temp lights I will manually apply the handbrake and override the autobrake
More for my own cars mechanical sympathy than caring that much about the person behinds eyes
There is literally no need to be 10cm off my bumper and staring intently directly at my brake lights waiting for me to pull off.
But on modern cars you don't sit with your foot on the brake. As long as you actually use the brake to stop, like fully stop and not slowly grind to a halt, the brakes are applied automatically.
If its a manual you need to keep your foot on the clutch, as you release the clutch it releases the brake.
Its really useful on bad hills where you would have historically had to have had the handbrake on. Your sitting there, foot on clutch, foot ready for accelerator and both hands available for steering, indication etc.
Basically its made it as close to an auto as you can get with a manual in effect.
If its clear I am static for a while, such as slow temp lights I will manually apply the handbrake and override the autobrake
More for my own cars mechanical sympathy than caring that much about the person behinds eyes
There is literally no need to be 10cm off my bumper and staring intently directly at my brake lights waiting for me to pull off.
But on modern cars you don't sit with your foot on the brake. As long as you actually use the brake to stop, like fully stop and not slowly grind to a halt, the brakes are applied automatically.
If its a manual you need to keep your foot on the clutch, as you release the clutch it releases the brake.
Its really useful on bad hills where you would have historically had to have had the handbrake on. Your sitting there, foot on clutch, foot ready for accelerator and both hands available for steering, indication etc.
Basically its made it as close to an auto as you can get with a manual in effect.
My truck will select neutral after a few minutes of it being stopped, it’s an automated manual transmission rather than a conventional torque converter design mind you, it has no park position as such.automatic car
Never put your car in "park" before it stops completely
Don't put it in "neutral" at stop lights
this is what i heard (looked it up now)
So does this mean putting in "park" is the hand brake on auto boxes ?
Why should you not put in Neutral
Whilst park in a car is pretty much the same as putting on the handbrake, I’ve always preferred to put the handbrake on first rather than have the transmission holding the weight of the car, especially on any kind of slope.
As for the handbrake , I usually apply it myself when stopped both in my car and truck - even though the truck has an automatic “hill hold assist” function where it applies the brakes and keeps them on for a few seconds even after you lift off the brake pedal.
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