..new feature discovered, or not..

[Ecc0]

..last vehicle i have had, with manual gearbox, was over 10 years ago, so, since then, many things have changed, therefore, please forgive me, if i'm talking/commenting rather common things for hardcore manual gearbox drivers....today i was driving my Z, for some fresh air, as i always do..this time, I have stuck in short traffic, so it is nothing spectacular, except, i stuck on very steep part of the road...so, for auto tranny, thats nothing, and rather trivial situation to deal with, but last time I had car with manual gearbox, it was needed some sort of 'skill' to bring it up and go without loosing engine or moving backwards and eventually slam in to car behind..soo..I was afraid very much as i havent yet 'polished' or 'brought back' skillset i have had..so, finaly I had to make a move on that steep part of the road, and behind me was car, rather close (1 meter approx)...soo..it was...1...2...3...gooooo .. on my surprise, when i have released brake and hit clutch pedal, car was still holding its place even it was very steep..approx, for about 1 second, before started going back, but, I was already engaged 1st gear and clutch back..i dont know is this a feature of car or what ?? It was really piece of cake to move forward in such uncomfortable situation, considering manual gearbox..it was not engaged handbrake or brake pedal..nothing with purpose of stopping car was used and yet car was standing still for about 1 sec, just enough time to switch to 1st gear and move without going downhill...is this normal or ??

 

[B33mEr]

I think if you release the clutch a bit the clutch will engage and the car will move without touching the throttle pedal. When in a steep hill i always use the handbrake as a security measure. Once the clutch engage only then i release the handbrake and apply throttle gently ... works everytime

 

[Ecc0]

..what i mean is, in order to switch gear, I had to press clutch pedal, and during that period, i didnt hold either handbrake or brake pedal..car was literally in 'neutral' so to speak. Yet, it was holding position on very steep road surface, for a time approx 1-1.5 secs. Is that normal??

EDIT:
I found it..its called 'Hill assist', or something like that.. I had no idea car have it. Now question, is it possible to tweak out time of 'hill assist' ? Or even disable it (just curious)??

 

[B33mEr]

..what i mean is, in order to switch gear, I had to press clutch pedal, and during that period, i didnt hold either handbrake or brake pedal..car was literally in 'neutral' so to speak. Yet, it was holding position on very steep road surface, for a time approx 1-1.5 secs. Is that normal??

EDIT:
I found it..its called 'Hill assist', or something like that.. I had no idea car have it. Now question, is it possible to tweak out time of 'hill assist' ? Or even disable it (just curious)??

Apparently it's a standard feature on the Z4M

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31022

 

[3er]

Its a standard feature for newer manual BMWs. Good that you got to experience it. For the rest of us we are still in the lala land of auto box (which can sometimes creep backwards if the slope is quite steep).