Electronic handbrake

[Gryzor]

So guys, when I took out a Mk7 for a test drive, it obviously had an electronic handbrake.  I know it's habit, but on starting the car and every time I came to a stop, I found myself reaching across to pull the handbrake up, lol.  Anybody else experience the same?!  I wonder how long it'll take to get used to!

[master_hayabusa]

I'm a lazy arse and have the bad habbit of never using it at at a stop, only when parked.

[mcmaddy]

took me a few weeks when I got the tiguan.

[Hawaii-Five-O]

I'm bad... Never ever use the handbrake, especially since driving DSG with hill-hold function. Turns you right lazy

[Gryzor]

I must admit, I don't always use the handbrake at lights either!  I'm sure it'll take a while to get used to it and trusting the hill hold 

[Andy B]

We hired a car from inverness airport a few weeks back and discovered on getting to the hire parking that it was a new mk7. There were no instructions on how to use this new parking brake thing, and not only was I always reaching for the non-existent lever, but it took me ages to even work out how to use the blooming thing.

After a long while I learned you didn't need to undo it at all - simply drive off. That made things easier. However, even to this day I couldn't tell you how to reverse without the thing staying engaged. It is probably really easy when you know, but it looked like I'd just learned to drive. 

[Gryzor]

Haha, sounds just like me on the test drive, although I'd didn't test it in reverse.  I knew you could just leave it alone going forwards...seems a bit odd that it doesn't auto-disengage when in reverse gear though.

[Andy B]

In reverse, you had to explicitly deselect it. But that wasn't enough. It might have required that you did that *prior* to selecting reverse... or after. I always tried both until it finally gave up and let me go backwards! Does anyone here know the magic rule? I only ask as the chances are that my next car will have this thing, and given that I've been driving for quarter of a century, I'd rather not look like a lemon 

Also, quite how VW have the guts to show that advert of the gti doing handbrake turns in Las Vegas with one of these things... surely that's something for advertising standards. When you engage the electric handbrake, you can hear the electric motor doing its thing. It's all or nothing in our brave new world of rear wheels which are locked at the pull of a lever!

[master_hayabusa]

Also, quite how VW have the guts to show that advert of the gti doing handbrake turns in Las Vegas with one of these things... surely that's something for advertising standards. When you engage the electric handbrake, you can hear the electric motor doing its thing. It's all or nothing in our brave new world of rear wheels which are locked at the pull of a lever!

They could say it is for the American market who are getting the normal hand brake 

[AlanH]

This article suggests you still need to push a button to release the electronic handbrake.
http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/technology/parking-and-manoeuvring/electronic-parking-brake