A car with no handbrake

Nasty_Girl · 16-09-2010 8:12pm #1

My mam has a Reno Laguna with a " semi automatic handbrake", you manually change the gears but instead of a handbrake there is just a big button.

Would it be possible to use that for a test or would it count as an automatic car?

challengemaster · 16-09-2010 8:14pm

Automatic car means one with an automatic gearbox

MascotDec85 · 16-09-2010 8:46pm

It'll be an electronic handbrake. Normally these things hold the car for 2 or 3 seconds to allow you to get the biting point.

Confused the hell out of me the first time I encountered one

DriveSkill · 17-09-2010 8:40am

They are perfectly acceptable to use for the test as they are part of the 'standard equipment' of the car. Does make the hill-start an awful lot easier but they are a bit of nuisance if going up a steep hill in stop/start traffic (e.g. going into a busy multi-story car park) but you probably wont encounter that on the test

jendafer1 · 19-09-2010 4:03pm

My god - it sounds like a magical button!

face1990 · 24-09-2010 7:30pm

My neighbour has a car with one of those. Just remember to put it on when you park the car. My neighbour woke up one morning to find his car at the far end of the road with a trail of debris left behind it.

ILA · 24-09-2010 7:34pm

The VW Passat has the same thing in the Mark 6 models. It's a shock when you're trying to get used to it, and I still wouldn't trust it but there's no alternative! Don't know why they just couldn't leave it alone and put in a normal one!

As for sitting the test, I'd say it'd be ok. Its a standard feature in the car.

Nasty_Girl · 21-10-2010 9:46am

Thanks for the info guys.
My poor car failed it's NCT and it is unlikely it'll be ready for my next test.
So I'm looking at options , I could just use an instructors car too.

seamus · 21-10-2010 10:09am

This kind of car will be fine for the test. Automatic only refers to the gearbox and not to anything else in the car.

Get used to how the mechanism works though. The handbrake on the Passat (and presumably on the Laguna) is supposed to disengage when there's enough power being transmitted to the wheels to drive the car forward (making hill starts a breeze), but it's not 100% reliable. Sometimes it forgets to disengage and you've to hit the button.

The lack of physical lever also makes it easier to remember to stick the car in gear when you've parked on an incline.

A car with no handbrake

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