Driving Tips - Hill Starts

A lot of the modern cars today come with a hill start assist feature, which prevents the car from sliding back when starting uphill. While in India, only the CBU imports have this feature, namely the M Class, Land Rover etc.

While most of us don’t live in San Francisco, we do encounter a lot of Flyovers, especially here in the capital. Also, automatics are not at the top of the list when buying a car here, since they generally are less fuel efficient than their manual counterparts.

So how does one tackle an uphill start when, let’s say, stuck in a jam on a flyover? BTW these flyovers were meant to reduce the jams, but that is a different story. Anyways, here are two ways to prevent the bumper of your car from having a rather intimate conversation with the bumper of the car behind/front in the middle of a jam.

The first method is the hand brake version. Here’s how it is performed. Let’s say you are stuck in a jam on the Moti Bagh flyover, and are halfway up. You pull the handbrake to prevent the car from sliding back. As soon as the cars ahead start moving, with the hand brake still engaged, you put the car in gear and start off in a normal fashion, only with slightly more throttle than usual. This will prevent the car from stalling. Now with your left/right hand slowly let go of the hand brake, incorporating a slight delay, and you should be off. The thing to keep in mind is that you keep your hands on the hand brake, but don’t use it to brake, because if you do, the chances of the bumpers having that intimate conversation I was referring to earlier don’t reduce by that much.

The second method, the one I use, is the foot brake version. It is slightly more difficult than the hand brake version, and also a little rough on the mechanicals. Read clutch and gearbox. Again, let us assume that you are stuck in a jam on the Moti Bagh flyover, halfway up. Keep your right foot on the brake when not in motion to prevent the car from sliding back. Now, as the cars in front start moving, engage the first gear and with your right foot still on the brake, let go of the clutch by about one-quarters to one-third of the way. The car won’t stall even on idle revs. Now quickly move your right foot from the brake to the accelerator. The car won’t slide back. The important thing here is not to gun the throttle, or the bumpers will again end up in an intimate conversation.

I think these tips should come in handy. Until we get some more features on everyday cars, keep practicing.