I never use the parking brake to get going on steep hills.

If you let the clutch out until it starts to bite, you won't roll back when you let off the brake. Do it quickly and it just might wear the clutch less than using the parking brake.

 

And there is upside to not having an emergency brake handle. To quote Tadge, the center console as a place to rest your elbow on is now more ergonomic, and not having an e brake handle allowed for better cup holder design. Also, the emergency brake handle was/is ugly on both my C5 and my C6.

 

 

Never liked the emergency brake on my c5 and 6

 

Well that's the crux of the disagreement then. Emergency brakes aren't required by law anymore and haven't been for some time.

Parking brakes, on the other hand, are.

jas

 

If you can't do it without an ebrake you should be driving an auto IMO. I can nail it the first time everytime.

 

yeah, i never even heard of using the handbrake to hill start til a couple years ago. i started driving with trucks (which have the brake on the floor), so you have to learn how to slip the clutch (which if i could do at 11ys old & teach my brothers when they were 13, it ain't that hard)

 

Yet there have been loads of cars with ergonomic center consoles, and great interiors + handbrake. R8 comes to mind. The handbrake itself can be designed to be stylish, it's a one of a kind handle and designers can get creative.

This is the first 'Vette to feature sissy electronic controls. A step in the wrong direction imo. Not really worth it to attract new costumers that like a long list of gadgets.

 

I personally like the electronic parking brake. I use the parking brake even in my auto Solara. I'm just in the habit of using the parking brake.

But if they could make the p-brake a button/switch rather than a handle, more power to them. I'd rather it not be in the way. With passengers, when I pull the handle, sometimes their arms are in the way. LOL If their arms are in the way of the p-brake switch, I can just push their arm off it real fast. LOL

 

I'd say it's way easier to deploy a button by mistake rather than a leaver that needs muscle.

Have you seen the latest Top Gear? The rally driver had a **** time in that Bentley because it doesn't have a usable handbrake.

Leavers, wheels, pedals are not about cuteness and Texas-sized cupholders, they are about control. The best drivers, or the most enthusiastic drivers love control. With manual you can theoretically grenade the motor, but no true driver will switch to auto to get the extra safety. No risk, no reward.

 

By mistake? That's like saying that you can easily throw an automatic into park while you're driving and something will happen...

If you throw an automatic in park while you're driving, it won't lock the gears like it would when you've stopped. It will remain in drive.

If you really think GM's going to make a button/switch p-brake that engages while the car is in drive, I'd say you're paranoid... Besides, to engage this p-brake, you have to PULL it upward. To disengage it you push it down. (Just like a handle brake.)

 

You missed the point. No matter whether it's safer or not, button is a wussy item. It's about control and the joy of driving. Just because the older manual handbrake didn't work as well as it should it doesn't mean that the design is inherently flawed, just the implementation.

Even so, I've never been in a car where someone hit the ebrake in a way that locked wheels. But I have been in cars where someone threw the transmission in R of the freeway and it did fire back. I've also been hit by a guy who started the car in reverse instead of drive. I think ****** drivers select themselves into autos, not that all auto drivers are ******. I've been nearly hit by another reverse by mistake auto driver but never been in that situation with a manual driven car. Despite the fact that they roll back easily on hills the drivers are much better and compensate for the simplicity of the transmission with skill. How about that.

 

The only thing you probably lose with this setup is any chance of pulling off a nice bank robber's 180. Saved my life once in my 1989 Z51 with that maneuver but that's a long story and was a once in 100 lifetimes situation after being run off the road by a semi at night. Still, 180's are fun.

 

The only time my parking brake is used, is when the state inspection is performed.

 

The instructions on how to use it are in the owners manual.

 

I'm not sure how many times I need to repeat myself in this and other threads, but: the electronic brake in the CTS-V works just fine even when the car is in gear and moving. So unless GM has re-written the controller software for that, it'll activate when you're in motion.

jas

 

Buy an auto if you are scared

 

How is that any different than any other function on the car? The engine will not do what you tell it to do either if the battery goes dead.

 

And I'm willing on betting that exactly zero people on this thread, and maybe you can count on one hand of all forum members who actually could do this maneuver if they tried. Reminds me of motorcycle forums where people don't want ABS because they contend that they can't "put the bike down" in the event of an impending crash. I ask them how many times they have practiced putting a bike down at speed.

 

I bet you're wrong.... I personally know of at least 4 who used to do it regularly, sometimes to parallel park in an entertaining cloud of smoke. Bottom line, who cares. A car should do exactly and only what you tell it to do, every time, the same way, and never do anything at all you don't tell it to.

If I pull the parking brake, try to open the door, turn the lights on or off or any other system, it should do it. if I want to turn the car over in gear on the starter, it should do it. If I regret it, that 's my problem. If I want to drift a car into a corner sideways on the brakes, it should do it.

I don't want some annoying warning popping up all the time.

I can't accept a throttle or brake pedal that argues with my inputs.


I can live with concessions for basic abs (with no vses, no drp stability functions, no edc) but that's it.

A car that won't open the freaking door or use the rear brakes or the e brake when I want it to, or that chimes or dings at me, or changes the volume or temperature on me, or won't turn off the lights, all that is just bullcrap.

but all this is not even as important as the OP - the Parking brake is also an EMERGENCY BRAKE, it should be a powerful and independent mechanical brake that is not dependent upon any other system in the car (especially battery power or brake hydraulics) and works exactly as the user directs, to prevent the rear wheels from moving when and in the amount applied.

anything less is gross negligence and inexcusable.