Electromagnetic Parking Break - Love It Or Hate It

[dariusk]

I have a manual 2.0TDI sline A6. I am still trying to get my head around the lack of a normal handbrake!

To accelerate away fast from stationairy eg at traffic lights, I have a few options:

1) Don't use the parking break - this means I need to hold down the foot brake the whole time and then pull away hoping that I won't roll backwards when I release the footbreak to hit the clutch and gas.

2) Manually release the parking brake before pulling away. This means trying to fiddle with the little switch trying to remember if I need to pull or press the darn thing. It dosen't react instantly so I have to glance down (away from the road!) to see if the little light is on or off before pulling away.

3) Trust the brake to automagically release as I pull away. There is always a momentary delay before the brake releases and if you try to accelerate away quickly, the brake does not release and you end up stalling (embarrasingly).

Once moving, the A6 is a dream to drive. But from a cold start, the manual version with electromagnetic brake seems fiddly at best. Add to this the fact that you almost instantly have to change from first to second gear and this makes for a pretty poor start from stationary.

I could pull away much faster in my 10 year old honda civic! (and without the risk of stalling or getting confused about the handbrake!)

Any one else find this with the manual versions of the new audis? or am I alone in this?

[quattrings]

I like it but it doesn't get used that often. I really only use it when I have the car off the ground or if the car is parked on a hill. The car launches off the line well in S so I have never had the need to build up load on the torque converter first.