Electronic parking brake /driving query……

[Nessy]

So I test-drove a 2018 Black Edition 2.0 TDI on Friday and have just been reading the handbook for the car online.
Having come from a 2006 A3 with a conventional handbrake lever the electronic parking brake button on the 8V will take me some time getting used to….and this brings me to my question…….
When I started off on my test drive (level surface) I released the EPB on the button whilst holding the brake pedal down and then just released the clutch and drove off.
However on reading the manual , it appears that I could simply have driven away with the EPB engaged and that it would automatically have released?
So no need at all for me to have turned the EPB off manually, or have I misunderstood?
Thanks!

 

[A4AndyK]

Hi, yes that's how it works.

It does take some getting used to.

Also the same for the auto brake if you're stopped at traffic lights.

Andy

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

 

[Nessy]

Hi, yes that's how it works.

It does take some getting used to.

Also the same for the auto brake if you're stopped at traffic lights.

Andy

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

Thanks for confirming.
Yes it’ll take me time to get used to that.
My niece has a manual 2014 Passat with the EPB button too and she always presses the button to release the brake before driving off…..so I copied her example when driving the A3.

 

[Statiker]

So I test-drove a 2018 Black Edition 2.0 TDI on Friday and have just been reading the handbook for the car online.
Having come from a 2006 A3 with a conventional handbrake lever the electronic parking brake button on the 8V will take me some time getting used to….and this brings me to my question…….
When I started off on my test drive (level surface) I released the EPB on the button whilst holding the brake pedal down and then just released the clutch and drove off.
However on reading the manual , it appears that I could simply have driven away with the EPB engaged and that it would automatically have released?
So no need at all for me to have turned the EPB off manually, or have I misunderstood?
Thanks!

Hi, When I first moved to the 8V I also pressed the button to release the brake before moving off but soon realised there is no need to do so. Just let the car do its thing and it will release the brake itself as soon as you move.
The only time you need to press the button yourself is if you do not have your seatbelt on! (There is something in the handbook about this.) For example I usually have to do this when I'm moving the car into the garage from my drive.

 

[A4AndyK]

One other thing which may be useful if you have an auto.
In mine if I pop it in reverse and then release the brake manually, take foot off brake, the car will start to move back without any throttle input.
I find this quite useful

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

 

[AJB]

So I test-drove a 2018 Black Edition 2.0 TDI on Friday and have just been reading the handbook for the car online.
Having come from a 2006 A3 with a conventional handbrake lever the electronic parking brake button on the 8V will take me some time getting used to….and this brings me to my question…….
When I started off on my test drive (level surface) I released the EPB on the button whilst holding the brake pedal down and then just released the clutch and drove off.
However on reading the manual , it appears that I could simply have driven away with the EPB engaged and that it would automatically have released?
So no need at all for me to have turned the EPB off manually, or have I misunderstood?
Thanks!

The car works out how much of a slope you're on too. So on level ground or going downhill, you barely lift the clutch and the handbrake releases. On a steeper hill, you feel the engine start to pull as you lift the clutch into the biting point and it releases the handbrake when it knows the torque is enough that you won't roll back.

One final thing that I only learnt recently, despite having the car for years, is that pushing the accelerator whilst in gear also lets you release the handbrake with the switch, just like pushing the brake does. You need to release with the switch if trying to move the car with the seatbelt off (as seatbelt undone cancels the auto release), but you can also push the switch to release whilst on the biting point (because you're accelerating at that time) which can be useful on steep hills if it's being more cautious than you want to be about when to release the handbrake.

All in all, I'd prefer a normal handbrake with a cable, but the electric one is perfectly liveable with.

 

[Nessy]

Hi, When I first moved to the 8V I also pressed the button to release the brake before moving off but soon realised there is no need to do so. Just let the car do its thing and it will release the brake itself as soon as you move.
The only time you need to press the button yourself is if you do not have your seatbelt on! (There is something in the handbook about this.) For example I usually have to do this when I'm moving the car into the garage from my drive.

One other thing which may be useful if you have an auto.
In mine if I pop it in reverse and then release the brake manually, take foot off brake, the car will start to move back without any throttle input.
I find this quite useful

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

The car works out how much of a slope you're on too. So on level ground or going downhill, you barely lift the clutch and the handbrake releases. On a steeper hill, you feel the engine start to pull as you lift the clutch into the biting point and it releases the handbrake when it knows the torque is enough that you won't roll back.

One final thing that I only learnt recently, despite having the car for years, is that pushing the accelerator whilst in gear also lets you release the handbrake with the switch, just like pushing the brake does. You need to release with the switch if trying to move the car with the seatbelt off (as seatbelt undone cancels the auto release), but you can also push the switch to release whilst on the biting point (because you're accelerating at that time) which can be useful on steep hills if it's being more cautious than you want to be about when to release the handbrake.

All in all, I'd prefer a normal handbrake with a cable, but the electric one is perfectly liveable with.

Thanks all.
It’s a manual and I’d rather have a conventional handbrake tbh but it’s an 8V so it isn’t an option!
Am sure I’ll get used to it in time……
I asked my niece about her Passat and it turns out that she’s been driving it the correct way all along i.e. pulling away and letting the EPB release automatically……

 

[AJB]

Thanks all.
It’s a manual and I’d rather have a conventional handbrake tbh but it’s an 8V so it isn’t an option!
Am sure I’ll get used to it in time……
I asked my niece about her Passat and it turns out that she’s been driving it the correct way all along i.e. pulling away and letting the EPB release automatically……

By the way, are you the Nessy who was on Volkszone years ago? I remember the username from when I was doing up my '68 Karmann beetle back in 2004/2005, and wondered if that was the same Nessy!

 

[Nessy]

By the way, are you the Nessy who was on Volkszone years ago? I remember the username from when I was doing up my '68 Karmann beetle back in 2004/2005, and wondered if that was the same Nessy!

I am yes .

 

[AJB]

I am yes .

Small world!!
It wasn't by any chance you who answered my question of how to take Karmann Beetle interior light to bits was it, posting photos of one in bits? That was pretty much my first experience of using a car forum on the internet to get advice. There was a bad contact inside my light and I asked if anyone knew how it came apart, and was amazed to get super-helpful photos in reply! May well not have been you, but your username had stuck in my mind for some reason.

 

[Nessy]

Small world!!
It wasn't by any chance you who answered my question of how to take Karmann Beetle interior light to bits was it, posting photos of one in bits? That was pretty much my first experience of using a car forum on the internet to get advice. There was a bad contact inside my light and I asked if anyone knew how it came apart, and was amazed to get super-helpful photos in reply! May well not have been you, but your username had stuck in my mind for some reason.

It is and yes I think that I can remember that query!
I’d had great trouble getting my own Karmann interior light to work (had only bought the car in 2003) but the late & sadly missed mechanical guru Moby5153 on VZi managed to help me sort it out.
By sheer fluke when you posted a short while later I had a spare non-working unit that I had pictures of and that I think were the pictures I posted……

 

[AJB]

It is and yes I think that I can remember that query!
I’d had great trouble getting my own Karmann interior light to work (had only bought the car in 2003) but the late & sadly missed mechanical guru Moby5153 on VZi managed to help me sort it out.
By sheer fluke when you posted a short while later I had a spare non-working unit that I had pictures of and that I think were the pictures I posted……

Haha! Awesome - well thank you so much! I still really appreciate your help with that. With the help of your photos I got my light sorted without breaking anything, and it worked perfectly until I sold that car 4 or so years later. And yes, Moby5153 was absolutely awesome and is very much missed.
I've got another Beetle now, a 1977 from the last few months of German production. Welcome to the world of 8V ownership - I've had my 8V since 2013!

 

[Nessy]

Haha! Awesome - well thank you so much! I still really appreciate your help with that. With the help of your photos I got my light sorted without breaking anything, and it worked perfectly until I sold that car 4 or so years later. And yes, Moby5153 was absolutely awesome and is very much missed.
I've got another Beetle now, a 1977 from the last few months of German production. Welcome to the world of 8V ownership - I've had my 8V since 2013!

No worries , that’s what forums are for .
Nice to hear that you’ve still got a foot in the air-cooled camp, as much as I adored my 1302LS (still do!) after I bought the TT in 2020 it just sat in the garage very much loved but unused and I decided that it needed someone who would use it , so it went to a new owner in 2021.
It was a wrench after 18 yrs of ownership & many happy memories but life goes on.

 

[Rog_B]

Thanks all.
It’s a manual and I’d rather have a conventional handbrake tbh but it’s an 8V so it isn’t an option!
Am sure I’ll get used to it in time……
I asked my niece about her Passat and it turns out that she’s been driving it the correct way all along i.e. pulling away and letting the EPB release automatically……

I was a bit dubious about EPB but it's working out OK. Keep forgetting that seatbelt thing when doing stuff on the car in the garage.
I'd much prefer a normal handbrake but I can live with it. In traffic it releases seamlessly at least.

 

[Nessy]

I was a bit dubious about EPB but it's working out OK. Keep forgetting that seatbelt thing when doing stuff on the car in the garage.
I'd much prefer a normal handbrake but I can live with it. In traffic it releases seamlessly at least.

Thanks for the info.
I’ll need some time to get used to it I think, I can see my left hand being busy for the foreseeable whenever I come to a halt .

 

[AJB]

I was a bit dubious about EPB but it's working out OK. Keep forgetting that seatbelt thing when doing stuff on the car in the garage.
I'd much prefer a normal handbrake but I can live with it. In traffic it releases seamlessly at least.

Good summary, and completely agree. And yes, the seatbelt thing is really annoying when moving the car a tiny distance - you get so used to it releasing automatically, that it totally throws you when it doesn't (because you haven't done up the seatbelt). Then you go for the switch, and that doesn't work either, as you haven't got your foot on the brake because you've just tried to pull away.

Slight game-changer for me there was when I realised that, although it says "press brake" on the dash when you try to release the handbrake with the switch, it also works to press the accelerator. So if I haven't done up the seatbelt then I can release the handbrake with the switch as I start to pull away.