According to the Mini E owner's manual, if you are on a steep enough hill, the Mini will hold for a few seconds until you get going, just like in recent BMW cars with manual transmissions.
Well, I've found this to be true when the hill is really steep, not so much for semi-steep or even almost flat. The Mini E has a tendency to roll. No biggie, my left foot is free to work the brake.
I've noticed it doesn't work at all in the opposite direction. If you're on a downhill, you get no help rolling forward. You wouldn't in any other car either. But it sure is a pain when you are parked on a downhill. This feature would be particularly helpful in the Mini E. As Ed mentioned before, the Mini isn't that easy to park.
I find that it rolls foward when in reverse all the time.
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
mjp16 says:
06:45 PM, 12/21/09
Interesting... I guess it's different on the MINI E.
On my Cooper (stick), it prevents rolling backward when in a forward gear, and prevents rolling forward when in reverse gear. It's never not held the brake when I expected it to. As long as you're in gear and it's a non-trivial incline (which means that yes, my car will do it on a slight incline)... if I'm in neutral it rolls either way. Technically, the MINI E shouldn't be any more susceptible to rolling than my MINI with the clutch in.
chunky_azian says:
09:16 PM, 12/21/09
What's wrong with using the parking brake to hold until the propulsion takes over?
super_ongoy says:
12:10 AM, 12/22/09
For a car that costs a boatload, they should include a better hill assist function. Heck, for that much dough, they should throw in massage seats, nail dryer and a self flushing toilet.
mjp16 says:
12:27 AM, 12/22/09
@super_ongoy (and all others)
I don't know how many times this will have to be repeated, but this is essentially a beta program. Nobody's in this to save money, or even primarily to save the environment (because there are more cost effective ways)--they're in this because they want to be pioneers, and that's the fee BMW charges and I'm sure the leasers understand this. The car costs that much because it's a very limited run and when you don't produce very many of something, the costs are high. The engineering cost of the MINI E is spread over very few customers.
tomm250 says:
06:22 AM, 12/22/09
Donna,
To activate the incline assist, you need to push a little harder than usual on the brake pedal, that will activate it. I was a little confused when I first got the car also, I didn't understand why it seemed to only work sometimes. Try it out, you'll see it works every time.
Tom
MINI-E #250
http://minie250.blogspot.com/