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[Jay w]

Who the hell came up with this stupid idea!!!!  

The miggy is in the garage and i have a VW Passat, this this has one of those electronic handbrake jobbies, in order to release it you have to have your foot on the brake pedal and then hit a switch on the dash.....

Not suce a bad idea i hear you say......try doing a hill start   because it releases immediatly trying to get the clutch on the bite without throttle will cause the car to stall, it's a DBW system and so has no feel, hit the throttle and you are bouncing the limiter, find the bite and the front wheels are spinning their nuts off and ESP is trying to control the spin......not well either

A badly thought out system that will give more problems than a cable system when the motors fail or lock up......

As a car i would not recomment the Passat, big car, lots of space, quick engine that is economical, but low spec, expensive, lots of dull drab plastic, and not a particularly exciting car to drive.

[TheBoy]

As a car i would not recomment the Passat, big car, lots of space, quick engine that is economical, but low spec, expensive, lots of dull drab plastic, and not a particularly exciting car to drive.

its a VAG, what do you expect?

[Jay w]

As a car i would not recomment the Passat, big car, lots of space, quick engine that is economical, but low spec, expensive, lots of dull drab plastic, and not a particularly exciting car to drive.

its a VAG, what do you expect?

having had a few Golf and Scirocco GTi's i did expect something that had some driver involvement and some decent materials in it, we had a Skoda Superb on loan a few months back for assessment and i have to say it was a nicer car inside the cabin.
The Passat had a lot of that cheap solid plastic on the door trims and dash, not very tactile at all

VAG have moved on and its not for the better  

[Kevin Wood]

Sounds like engineering for engineering's sake. Cars are full of it these days. Solving problems that never existed.

If you have an electric hand brake what happens when the battery runs flat?  

Kevin

[Admin]

I have a Passat as my company car right now (not through choice I was given it).

Actually the electronic parking brake is very good, once you get used to it.

Just remember it releases automatically when you pull off, you don't need to press it.

As for the car itself....

Yes the interior is a bit drab (it is German after all) and the toy count is very limited.
The 2.0 diesel is ok, the 1.9 is the old engine and is less refined.
Driving excitement is non existant... They are very economical though (45-50mpg average).
Ride is hugely improved over the old Passat and is better than the Alfa 159, the Vectra and the new Laguna (Vectra is the best handling of these though).

It also has a rather good sound system as standard.



Have to say the radio/cd system is excellent

[Marks DTM Calib]

Truely pointless things.....they can no longer be used as an emergency brake.....or to give added pleasure in frosty car parks.

[x25xe]

A lot of the reps have Passats.  Have to say that if I need to go to our other sites in Birmingham, I avoid taking and VW cars and I find them so uncomfortable!  Generally I take the Cavalier or Omega and claim the mileage.  The company does not like doing this though so it is quite difficult.

To the original point raised, I think that electronic handbrakes are an unnecessary complication to be honest.  What indeed happens when the battery is flat?  You can't push the car without the ignition on either which I would find a nuisance.

[mantahatch]

A lot of the reps have Passats.  Have to say that if I need to go to our other sites in Birmingham, I avoid taking and VW cars and I find them so uncomfortable!  Generally I take the Cavalier or Omega and claim the mileage.  The company does not like doing this though so it is quite difficult.

To the original point raised, I think that electronic handbrakes are an unnecessary complication to be honest.  What indeed happens when the battery is flat?  You can't push the car without the ignition on either which I would find a nuisance.

Would be very interesed to no what the "fail safe" on this system is. I mean does it fail in the on or off position ? failing either way must have potential problems, IMHO

Regards

Mike

[STMO123]

I used to hate the foot operated parking brake on my legend.

[Kevin Wood]

The construction and use regulations require an emergency brake to be "maintained in position by purely mechanical means". I would assume this means that the mechanism mechanically locks in the "on" or "off" position and requires a motor to move between them. I would hope there's a manual way of operating it too, otherwise a flat battery or electrical problem leaves you with a completely immobile car.

Can't really see what was wrong with a cable operated handbrake, except the lump of biomass behind the steering wheel could forget to apply it, of course.

Kevin

[raximax]

i agree it is quite good after a while good for hill starts comes of on its own.

[Martin_1962]

I have a Passat as my company car right now (not through choice I was given it).

Now to upset you Dave

I used to have a company car.

Carlton GLi 2.0

[TheBoy]

Truely pointless things.....they can no longer be used as an emergency brake.....or to give added pleasure in frosty car parks.

Why wait for frost

[Paul M]

Yep I think this is one of those things I'd absolutely hate, bloody electronic crap replacing something that worked perfectly well in the past (as long as it was correctly maintained). Oh well that's just another car that I can add to the list of those I refuse to even consider due to a boneheaded "feature".

i agree it is quite good after a while good for hill starts comes of on its own.

I don't see how a hill start is even slightly difficult with a normal handbrake -- as soon as you feel the car starting to pull, release the brake. Anyone who can't accomplish this shouldn't be on the road.

[Jay w]

it is supposed to release once it detects the car in gear, clutch at biting point and revs above idle.......

However i have a duff car and the bloody brakes have locked on, there doesnt seem to a manual way of releasing them either.

So now we know what the default setting is, when these things go belly up you aint going no where.

AA were there for 45 mins and eventually had to drag the car back to Avis with the back wheels suspended, i have another one of these fine German automobiles being delivered this afternoon