[DannMadness]

I just got my BRZ the other day and I am more than excited to have this car! The first thing I noticed is the hill start assist light is on by default from the dealership.

When I went for a test drive, I took it on a hill and noticed there was significant roll back. The car was in 1st gear and the clutch was depressed and once I let off the brakes, the car began to roll as if it wasn't on. I have driven a friends 2017 WRX with the hill start assist on and when I am on a hill, that thing stays in place like a rock for a couple of seconds.

Now I know how to properly hill start with the hand brake and a "true enthusiast" disables it haha. I will be disabling the hill start assist once I get a better feel for the car. I'm just curious if other people have experienced it as well as it kinda caught me off guard. I'll also study the manual a bit more, maybe there was something I did incorrectly lol

Here is a photo as thanks for reading.

 

[GTAMarc]

I just got my BRZ the other day and I am more than excited to have this car! The first thing I noticed is the hill start assist light is on by default from the dealership.

When I went for a test drive, I took it on a hill and noticed there was significant roll back. The car was in 1st gear and the clutch was depressed and once I let off the brakes, the car began to roll as if it wasn't on. I have driven a friends 2017 WRX with the hill start assist on and when I am on a hill, that thing stays in place like a rock for a couple of seconds.

Now I know how to properly hill start with the hand brake and a "true enthusiast" disables it haha. I will be disabling the hill start assist once I get a better feel for the car. I'm just curious if other people have experienced it as well as it kinda caught me off guard. I'll also study the manual a bit more, maybe there was something I did incorrectly lol

Here is a photo as thanks for reading. View attachment 3033

I got mine yesterday and yes, it was also on, but mine actually caught me in my driveway. I was trying to back in and I didn't get the momentum right. Started rolling forward again and I smacked the brakes to stop the forward roll. Trying to feather the clutch to back up some more, I noticed the hill assist had engaged.

There is a secret "konami code" in the manual to disable it. I RTFM'd last night before bed and came across the sequence to disable it.

I might disable after my muscle memory comes back. It's been a bit over 5 years since I drove a manual, my starts from stopped are a little rough.

 

[Midnightsky]

I got mine yesterday and yes, it was also on, but mine actually caught me in my driveway. I was trying to back in and I didn't get the momentum right. Started rolling forward again and I smacked the brakes to stop the forward roll. Trying to feather the clutch to back up some more, I noticed the hill assist had engaged.

There is a secret "konami code" in the manual to disable it. I RTFM'd last night before bed and came across the sequence to disable it.

I might disable after my muscle memory comes back. It's been a bit over 5 years since I drove a manual, my starts from stopped are a little rough.

Best way to learn a clutch is on flat level ground and starting in 1st gear with just the clutch, no gas until you are fully off the clutch. Do that a few times and you will get a much better feel for it.

I have hill assist in my Mazda 3 but there is no light for it, it engages automatically when you are on a specific percent incline. I find it very helpful.

 

[Perzeus]

I don't get it - why would you want to disable it? It does not interfere with anything. Took me half a year to notice one of my current cars had it, but find it pretty useful.

 

[DannMadness]

I figured it out! So how it works is you have to press down the brake a bit harder than you usually would and then the car will take that brake force and hold the car on an incline once you let go of the break to press the clutch in. It holds it for about 2 seconds before letting go giving you enough time to catch the bite point.

I wasn't pressing down on the brake hard enough so the brake force wasn't transferring over.

 

[DannMadness]

I don't get it - why would you want to disable it? It does not interfere with anything. Took me half a year to notice one of my current cars had it, but find it pretty useful.

Haha honestly I don't get it either. It's an enthusiast thing I think. Demonstrating you can effectively start the car on an incline without the assist shows skill I guess haha.

Personally I don't mind the hill assist. It comes in handy with super hilly areas and if you park in an inclined/declined driveway.

 

[Canti]

I didn't mind the system in my wrx, but is it true you get a permanent light on the dash?

 

[DannMadness]

I didn't mind the system in my wrx, but is it true you get a permanent light on the dash?

It comes from the dealer default and on but there is a certain "Konami code" you can input to disable it. I think its a similar input to your wrx.

 

[TRU-BOOST]

Turn it off. Use the handbrake on steep inclines if needed. Manual driver points + 10..!!

 

[DannMadness]

Turn it off. Use the handbrake on steep inclines if needed. Manual driver points + 10..!!

LOL! Like I mentioned in another thread, I learned how to drive stick in my cousin's evo 10 which has no assists. I also took a manual driving class and learned from that as well. So I'm comfortable with hill starts.

It just caught me off guard because it comes from the dealer with it on by default and It didn't really work when I was messing around with it haha. I figured out how to get it to work which is nothing like how it is in my friend's 2017 wrx.

 

[LanceLane174]

I think it is funny that everyone is complaining about the light. There are all kinds of lights on iny legacy and Forester since I turn off some of the nanny crap. It never seems to bother me.

Maybe it will in the BRZ. We shall see in a few days.

But for someone who hasn't driven a stick in 20 years, I will take any help I can get on a hill. And I never had problems on hills. It seems like a just in case kind of thing for me.

 

[Canti]

I guess it is petty on my part, I just can't stand a light that I have no control over. As far as manual points I often drive my old c3 (1970) around with the e-brake removed (for a bigger sway bar and trailing arms). Gotta be lightning fast catching that one and hill parks are especially fun!

I just want the stupid light off...

 

[Vertigyn]

I live in flat Florida…so don’t need it but more so because the light bothered me - turned it off tonight via the manual instructions.

 

[vervbloem]

Sorry to revive this thread, but quick (possibly dumb) question on hill assist - do you still need to rev higher than when on flat ground to get going/not stall or can I just treat it like a regular start? I've been relying on e brake starts since I got the car but with the heavy uphill traffic around here it sounds like it would be a huge QOL improvement..

 

[s2mikey]

Sorry to revive this thread, but quick (possibly dumb) question on hill assist - do you still need to rev higher than when on flat ground to get going/not stall or can I just treat it like a regular start? I've been relying on e brake starts since I got the car but with the heavy uphill traffic around here it sounds like it would be a huge QOL improvement..

Not a dumb question. I just got my car today and this feature is enabled. I havent noticed any strange behavior when on flat or mostly flat roads to get going. If anything, Im just getting used to the light clutch and very short throws for gear changes. . Im going to leave this feature on. It wont hurt anything. There is a section in the manual describing how to turn it OFF if people want it off.

 

[PhatFreshPrince]

Sorry to revive this thread, but quick (possibly dumb) question on hill assist - do you still need to rev higher than when on flat ground to get going/not stall or can I just treat it like a regular start? I've been relying on e brake starts since I got the car but with the heavy uphill traffic around here it sounds like it would be a huge QOL improvement..

I love the hill start assist feature. The hill assist feature will hold the brakes for 2 seconds unless the clutch is released sooner. Therefore, the hill assist feature should not cause the car to stall, but if you are on a steep incline and your trunk is full of bags of sand, then you will have to rev the engine higher to counteract gravity. The feature frees you up to only concentrate on the revving of the engine and the timing of the clutch.

 

[Stigma]

What's the benefit of turning off Hill Assist?

 

[Vertigyn]

What's the benefit of turning off Hill Assist?

The light goes away

 

[TRU-BOOST]

And your testicles drop and you become a man. LOL
Joking aside that light would have made me nuts. For anyone who has been driving manuals since before they tried to make them all dummy proof is just used to doing it the old fashioned way. Im a firm believer of do it right or dont do it at all.

 

[Duchess]

Hill holder dates to the 1930s, so not really all that new. I'm not going to lament the loss of crash boxes on something I drive daily, either, and synchro boxes are newer.

People commonly use the handbrake to hold on a hill? I thought that was some old person or UK thing (used to read a lot of UK car magazines). Nobody taught me to drive a manual, so I just picked up using my feet either on all 3 pedals at once or just transitioning quickly from brake to throttle on shallower hills and didn't see any reason to change. Made picking up rev-match downshifting a breeze.