E46 M3 SMG Hill assist and parking?

[rizzrazz]

This may seem like a daft question, but having been in the SMG equipped M3 a friend of mine has I realised quickly that (in conjunction to lurking on pistonheads and reading forum posts ) that there is quite a finesse in operating the car, and to treat her as a manual.

Now, the question at hand - I'm aware there is a hill assist function by pulling in the left paddle to engage the clutch for gradients, but was wondering how you would you park it on a hill for example,such as doing a reverse park up an incline into a tight space? Would you

Shift reverse/ shift first > Pull left paddle > revs > let go of paddle > throttle

or pull paddle > revs > hold paddle > throttle?

then when you're in said gap having parked, gear in then engine off and park? Never leave in neutral, is that correct?

In full auto, if you're on an incline in traffic, I presume you do one of the methods above also?

sorry if the questions seem silly, just been trying to get my head round the 'box and how to use it effectively!

[TackMEU]

rizzrazz said:

This may seem like a daft question, but having been in the SMG equipped M3 a friend of mine has I realised quickly that (in conjunction to lurking on pistonheads and reading forum posts ) that there is quite a finesse in operating the car, and to treat her as a manual.

Now, the question at hand - I'm aware there is a hill assist function by pulling in the left paddle to engage the clutch for gradients, but was wondering how you would you park it on a hill for example,such as doing a reverse park up an incline into a tight space? Would you

Shift reverse/ shift first > Pull left paddle > revs > let go of paddle > throttle

or pull paddle > revs > hold paddle > throttle?

then when you're in said gap having parked, gear in then engine off and park? Never leave in neutral, is that correct?

In full auto, if you're on an incline in traffic, I presume you do one of the methods above also?

sorry if the questions seem silly, just been trying to get my head round the 'box and how to use it effectively!

lol. overthinking it. I had my M3 with SMG for 3 years. I did indeed treat it as any other manual, albeit a manual with a crap and grabby clutch.

Just left foot brake to control speed etc. Quite easy to park, once you have the knack.

[JsyM3]

It's a good question - I'd probably arrange myself so I parked facing up hill. Roll backwards into the space and then use the hill start assist to adjust/fine-tune my positioning.

I don't think the hill start assist works in R - I might be wrong but I've never had the opportunity or inclination to test it out.

You still have the handbrake to use so I personally wouldn't rely to heavily on the hill start assist stuff as it does still allow a little bit of roll on steep slopes (well mine does anyway!)

You have to park it in gear anyway otherwise it beeps at you - But that's not like being parked in gear in a manual as it'll still roll so be sure to give the handbrake a good tug

[Leins]

Never used hill start once in mine, just take the car out of "Sport" mode for parking (so there's more throttle to play with) and use the handbrake

Auto-mode is rubbish too, so I never use that either

[The Restorer]

Handbrake, no faffing about (had mine 6 years).

[bimmer_87]

Use the handbrake...

you can control the clutch on the biting point by using the throttle, its not perfect but it requires abit of practise

literally millimetre movements on the throttle to control biting point and speed.

[mark.c]

Agreed, handbrake for me..... If I spent all the time faffing with anything else I would loose my parking space!