[evRJ]

So..... after a weeks EV ownership I am so glad I made the transition from ICE.

I do not benefit from a home charger due to living in a flat, but I have a Polar station at my gym and use the membership so it is not to bad. (A few times this has been out of use but my local Morrisons and also local council car park has charging capabilities)

I took the EV into London for the first time Thursday and what a great position to be in by having 4hrs free parking and a pod point charger which was working.

My only niggle with the Kia is the annoying need to turn Auto Hold on at the beginning of each journey.

A Trip Into London

 

[Marksla]

I've driven 3000 miles and haven't yet used auto hold. Is it really needed? I live in Cambridge which is flat but I drove to North Yorkshire which is very hilly and was fine there too.

 

[finchlean]

Same here, auto hold only makes sense on a manual transmission car with a clutch. It helps prevent the car sliding backwards when moving away. In an EV or ICE automatic that is rarely an issue.
If it was on by default I would need to turn it off!

 

[Todor]

Congrats and enjoy the EV life!

 

[biogoo]

Same here, auto hold only makes sense on a manual transmission car with a clutch. It helps prevent the car sliding backwards when moving away. In an EV or ICE automatic that is rarely an issue.
If it was on by default I would need to turn it off!

Interesting, my use of it in an auto ICE was mainly to prevent any movement in stationary traffic, whether forward or backward. Come to a halt on the brakes, auto-hold kicks in, foot off the brake and no need for handbrake. Press the throttle, auto-hold disengages and I move forwards. Stopping the car sliding backwards when moving away sounds more like a job for the hill start assist.

Ultimately, the car should just persist the setting of auto-hold, whether you choose to switch it on or off. That would work for everyone, I'd have thought.

 

[charleschas]

I prefer it to default to off - I park on a slope and setting off from the bay with it off I avoid the little jerk which is there when its on. I then pop it on and keep it on until manoeuvering to park when again I knock it off to avoid the fractional jerk when alternating forward/reverse.

In normal driving i leave it on because in traffic/at lights after stopping with the left paddle (or brake) a slightly harder dab puts the brake on - stops crawling forward on a downslope.

My description is far more complex than the reality - it just boils down to simplifying driving.

 

[Phil Himsworth]

There are settings for a million other things in the menus, I'm surprised there isn't a setting for the state in which the auto hold should start. I use it all the time; the other day we went round a safari park where auto hold is fantastic when you're starting and stopping all the time

 

[finchlean]

I've not used this feature. What does it do that the foot brake cannot?
I'm used to driving in start-stop London traffic and have always used the brakes to stop & hold the car.
Most of my driving in the last 40+ years has been in automatic cars so maybe I'm used to this behaviour

 

[DSLRed]

I too have come from an automatic, so am used to just idling at the lights with my foot on the brake. However, I suppose it could be argued that it is a nicer courtesy to the driver behind to not sit there blinding him / her with your brake light.

I have had a go with the auto hold, and potentially will use it in certain circumstances, such as when I am conscious that we may be sat a while and I should get off the brake. But I am not too keen on the little jerk that you get when you move away that @charleschas referred to. It is almost imperceptible, but it is definitely there.

In addition, such a feature worries me in that if you are sat there not fully concentrating whilst the lights change and accidently touch the accelerator, because your foot is not otherwise occupied standing on the brake, then you are away and rolling into the car in front.

Most of the time, I envisage myself just being lazy and using the 'foot on brake' approach that I am used to.

 

[KingKitega]

if you are sat there not fully concentrating whilst the lights change and accidently touch the accelerator, because your foot is not otherwise occupied standing on the brake, then you are away and rolling into the car in front.

Is the collision avoidance system smart enough to stop the car before it hits anything in that scenario? Must be brave for someone to even try it though.

Sent from my EVR-L29 using Tapatalk

 

[MDave]

Auto-hold is great to stop creep when you don't want it to creep.

 

[charleschas]

if you are sat there not fully concentrating whilst the lights change and accidently touch the accelerator, because your foot
is not otherwise occupied standing on the brake, then you are away and rolling into the car in front

Definitely a thing! - am not sure if the benefits outweigh this - I'm keeping it on for now though

Is the collision avoidance system smart enough to stop the car before it hits anything in that scenario?

I don't think the FCAS works at low speed - otherwise it would kick in when you're parking and I've not felt it yet.

 

[IanL]

In addition, such a feature worries me in that if you are sat there not fully concentrating whilst the lights change and accidently touch the accelerator, because your foot is not otherwise occupied standing on the brake, then you are away and rolling into the car in front.

Most of the time, I envisage myself just being lazy and using the 'foot on brake' approach that I am used to.

That has its problem, as well. If you are in the queue and are hit from behind, your foot will likely come off the brake and that will "exacerbate your interaction" with the car in front. I prefer to put the shifter to P if there's no manual handbrake, but my daughter was criticised for that in a driving test in Canada - "Why are you parking?".

 

[finchlean]

That has its problem, as well. If you are in the queue and are hit from behind, your foot will likely come off the brake and that will "exacerbate your interaction" with the car in front. I prefer to put the shifter to P if there's no manual handbrake, but my daughter was criticised for that in a driving test in Canada - "Why are you parking?".

In stopped traffic the parking brake may be used.
Using the parking lock, position <P>, could result in a small bump doing significant damage to the transmission!
More expensive than repairing a scuff on the plastic bumper...