Traffic Lights - Auto Hold or Neutral?

[Crumlin]

If you listen carefully and are stuck at the lights long enough, you'll notice it uses both anyway. Stop on Autohold and sit there long enough (lots of roadworks round my way) and eventually you'll hear the whirr of the handbrake going on, to take the strain off the brakes. Doesn't mention it on the dash, still in Drive, but it absolutely does this.. brake lights go off at this point too also so I'm told.

 

[Caramaddy]

I also use it for squeal reduction when reversing down my driveway ?.

That is an interesting comment!
My MG5's rear brakes make a noise when reversing (?)

It is so easy in these EV cars to press the P (Parking Brake) and then turn the knob to D when the lights change.
It would be interesting to hear from a driving instructor, what is the correct procedure to pass your automatic test.

 

[Ethernea]

Hi, You don't quote what make or type of car you've got, but obviously you've only changed over to Automatic from Manual by asking this question. Remember that MG comes from China. Some China Manufacturers, the way they quote in English to explain instructions, can become some what confusing. On a MG EV its in D while driving. When stopped on a hill, it has an automatic hold as long as you keep put your foot on your brake all the time you've stopped , and then change over to accelerate off within a FEW seconds. If not the car WILL roll backwards.
Kind Regards

It says right there what car im driving. and ive mentioned somewhere else that i came from a F150 1998 4x4 v8 which is also automatic.

I've driven automatic cars for a while now so i know how they work.

MG4 is a bit different when it comes to "engaging" gears as it feels like it has no clutch in-between "gears".

In fact, i dont think there's any gears in this lol I really feel like this car is like an electric toy car - you know, those mini AC cars with control you played as a kid... but now in a bigger - adult - road-ready size...

And it has 3 phases:

D - go ahead
N - dont do anything
R - go backwards.

And that's it.

I've been testing Auto-Hold and it seems that what it does - it sticks brake signal for you, so once you push it into the threshold level it activates and "keeps pressing" it for you. So rear brake lights stays on. As soon as you press the Go-pedal it disengages and moves you forward.

I've noticed that if i go outside of the car - while delivering my kids to their school - it auto changes to parking when it detects driver without seat belt and door open.

So now i just click the P and wait for the signal in the monitor to show red (P) and then I step out of the car.

Auto-hold is very nice when in traffic, stop lights, etc

 

[Ian 2455]

According to the Highway Code:

In stationary queues of traffic, drivers should apply the parking brake and, once the following traffic has stopped, take their foot off the footbrake to deactivate the vehicle brake lights. This will minimise glare to road users behind until the traffic moves again.
Law RVLR reg 27
Rule 114

Just noticed last night that after stopping in traffic and using the Autohold the brake lights remain illuminated...any idea how to comply with this directive and still use Autohold?

 

[Rolfe]

The car doesn't have any gears other than the fixed reduction gear to step down the rotational force from the motor to a sensible rpm to turn the wheels. Yes, it does work the same way as "toy cars". The torque is there, constantly, over the entire range of speeds the car is capable of. There is no clutch, not even an automatic one.

That's why it goes like shit off a shovel.

It's simple, there's not a lot to go wrong, and it's eye-poppingly efficient compared to ICE cars with gears and clutches and overheating radiators and noisy exhausts. It's always been the best way to propel an automobile, and I think that was recognised well over 100 years ago. However, it wasn't going anywhere until battery storage developed so that the car could carry enough charge for a practical journey at practical speeds. 60 miles range at 15 mph with a bank of lead-acid batteries wasn't going to cut it against the rapidly-evolving ICE.

But here we are, with batteries that can do the job. Hello, quiet, reliable, bat-out-of-hell motoring.