markt540i

I really like this feature and I welcome it. It operates seamlessly. When on an incline and you let your foot off the brake, it holds the car in position for two seconds, plenty of time to engage the clutch and drive off without any rollback. dgjk, I will try your permanent hold maneuver.

vnod, I think you would like this feature if you had a manual (you may, I can't see your sig from here) It is not an invasive feature and truely a plus. It seems to engage once you press the brake. I tested it at a red light yesterday on an incline. With clutch down and foot on the brake, released the brake and after 2 seconds it started to roll backwards. So I surmise that it engages once you press the brake. It does not interfere with forward progress in less than 2 seconds from what I can tell. It must disengage upon release of the clutch.

znod

When does it start applying the brakes? When you stop? When you let off to brake to move/forward uphill/downhill?
[/quote]

If I'm stopped on a hill in my 550i and about to accelerate forward, the brakes are automatically applied the instant my foot comes off the brake with the clutch depressed and 1st gear selected. That gives you two seconds to apply the throttle to proceed forward. Once you begin to release the clutch, the brakes are released. Very convenient feature. Beats having to use the parking brake for the same purpose. Real awesome around good ol' San Francisco!

Same thing for the Steptronic: if you're stopped on a hill (foot on brake obviously) and about to accelerate, the moment you take your foot off the brake, the brakes STILL hold (for 2 seconds) to prevent roll-back and to give you enough time to add throttle (which will release the brakes).
[/quote]I doubt it's a problem with the Step as I go from 0 to 60 in idle in 11.3 secs.

znod

Hi markt:

I do understand the value of the feature especailly with a manual in hilly country. And, if the feature intruded on me when I needed it, then I probably would appreciate it. In this regard, can you turn it off?

My problems with such features is that they tend to become invasive sometimes (e.g., what if I want to roll back), sometimes they don't function properly (and, thus, e.g., might impede forward progress), and add significantly to the prices of, and problems with, cars. Actually, with a manual, I'd like for the brakes to keep the car from rolling forward until I accelerate more often than the other way around. And, in general, I don't like for cars to follow the Billy Gate's ways of Windows--i.e., trying to think way to much for me way to often!!!

dgjk

no, there is no way to turn it off. I actually read the manual. There isno light for it or anything. Just a strange sensation when you stop at the top of the same hill that you have been stopping at for years and not having any - even a millisecond of roll back - that you have been used to in every other car you have owned.

When I fisrt got the car and experienced it I thought the clutch just engaged quicker and I was a better driver then on my previous cars.

Turns out that is not true.

I am not sure if it works going forward down a hill, I will try though

And you are right - you have to get a balance between too much help and not enough

znod

Thanks for your help dgjk. And, I see real progress; you read somthing in the manual. I emphasize that I am just kidding. I know that you have been reading it. I read the stuff that seemed of immediate concern when I got my car. Then, I tried to do what I say I am going to do on every new car--read the whole manual. But, no dice. I got incredibly bored almost immediately. And, I did not want to sit in my car and read--which I would have had to do to understand "everything" in it.

JStraw

You are slowing down vnod. 11.3 secs??!!! You should be able to do better than that in your 545

znod

You are slowing down vnod. 11.3 secs??!!! You should be able to do better than that in your 545
[/quote] No, it used to be 12.6 before my mods. I now have the fastest, in idle, 545i in the land.