Auto Hold/Parking Brake

[matchboy]

Can anyone confirm how this works?  What I'm after is does the auto hold kick in when you're at a standstill and still in 1st gear, or does it only work if you take the car out of gear?  What I don't want is to, say, be at some lights and then wanting to pull away quickly but there being a delay because the auto hold has kicked in even though I'm in 1st gear.  I suppose the same question applies for the 'Stop/Start' (I know on other cars this only kicks in if you take the car out of gear).

[Bill_the_Bear]

From VW technical site:

When the car is braked to a standstill, Auto Hold retains the last-applied braking pressure. You can take your foot off the brake and all four wheel brakes will stay on. If the ABS wheel speed sensors detect any rolling, the braking force is automatically increased until the car comes to a standstill again. As soon as you press the accelerator again and - in the case of manual gearboxes - release the clutch, Auto Hold reduces the braking pressure.

I think if you are stopped at some lights you could flick it off while you are waiting so you can pull away as fast as you want.  From my test drive I had no problems though.  The stop start activates as soon as you are stopped and will deactivate when you press the clutch.  It was very fast so most of the time I don't think there will be a problem, but you can disable it if you are worried.  Or when at the lights just put it in gear hold it slightly with the clutch when you anticipate the lights are about to change.

[DougL]

It kicks in whenever you are at a standstill regardless of gear position. I had it on a Tiguan 1.4 TSi and never had a problem with delayed release that JC described in The Times.

[Bill_the_Bear]

It kicks in whenever you are at a standstill regardless of gear position. I had it on a Tiguan 1.4 TSi and never had a problem with delayed release that JC described in The Times.

Yeah, JC seems to have a lot of problems with certain features and then makes a big deal out of them when you do tend to think its just him being incompetent.  Ok, a lot of it is for comedic effect I guess.

Not a great example but I always remember his review of an M5 about 10 years ago or something.  He talked about how the car's software would let you customise just about anything and then vilified it for allowing you to set the side lights to stay on after for park for any length of seconds, rather than just offering simple choices like 0, 5 or 10.  What a stupid comment, if you want less choice just dial in 5 and forget it!

[matchboy]

Nice one chaps.  I've no problem with it kicking in as long as it doesn't delay me pulling away!

[JoeGTI]

It's brilliantly simple. A feature I thought I'd hate, it's genius.

Get in car. Put seatbelt on. Foot on clutch, first gear, go to move away and the handbrake/hold disengages seamlessly. You barely feel the sensation of it disengaging.

Stop at traffic lights and put your foot on brake. Now you can actually take your foot off the foot brake pedal and you'll notice that the handbrake on warning light comes on but it's green rather than red. This is the auto hold. Even the rear brake lights remain lit while this is engaged.

Now put car in first gear,go to move off and hold disengages. Smooth as you like.

Park car, unbuckle seatbelt and the handbrake engages.

Basically you set it once when you collect the car and you never need to touch it again.

[Gryzor]

Sounds good, apart from the brake lights being on while it is engaged...  There is nothing more annoying than being sat behind a car at the lights with their brake lights on all the time.  Brake lights don't activate with a normal hand-brake, so why should they with an electronic one with auto-hold?

[monkeyhanger]

My only fear with an electronic handbrake is that it might let it's grip go at some undetermined point after you've left the car parked up and you'll come back to find you car at the bottom of a hill, ploghed into someone's front wall. There's nothing more reassuring than the ratchet of a manual hand brake (unless you are a 2009 Astra owner  )

The new Skoda VRS is going to keep the manual handbrake, so it could be more fun than a GTI if hand-brake turns are your thing.

[Gryzor]

My only fear with an electronic handbrake is that it might let it's grip go at some undetermined point after you've left the car parked up and you'll come back to find you car at the bottom of a hill, ploghed into someone's front wall. There's nothing more reassuring than the ratchet of a manual hand brake (unless you are a 2009 Astra owner  )

The new Skoda VRS is going to keep the manual handbrake, so it could be more fun than a GTI if hand-brake turns are your thing.

Must admit, I think I'd prefer a manual handbrake for the same reasons (not handbrake turns!), with auto-hold as an electronic aid when the car is at lights or in stop-start traffic.

[JoeGTI]

I've also noticed that the stop start is pretty clever. It doesn't work if the car is cold, still warming up. Neither does it work if the air con is on full blast and the cabin is still roasting.... I.e.  it needs the engine power to run the aircon. Then the car may start up again while you are still sitting at the lights, just to keep up with the air con for example. All pretty clever and so quiet and smooth you'd hardly notice.