718 Roll Back / Forward

[SK555]

Hi all,

I have recently acquired a 2018 718 Cayman and noticed that upon shifting the PDK into 'P' (after applying the electronic handbrake) the car still rolls forward or back (depending on the incline).

My driveway slopes downwards slightly, so the car will roll. When I am then driving away it feels like more of a push is needed than normal(?) to get it into D/R.

I drove a DSG VW before so that is my benchmark although I had a manual handbrake. Is my issue something to be concerned about?

Thanks in advance!

[LunarOne]

SK555 said:

Hi all,

I have recently acquired a 2018 718 Cayman and noticed that upon shifting the PDK into 'P' (after applying the electronic handbrake) the car still rolls forward or back (depending on the incline).

My driveway slopes downwards slightly, so the car will roll. When I am then driving away it feels like more of a push is needed than normal(?) to get it into D/R.

I drove a DSG VW before so that is my benchmark although I had a manual handbrake. Is my issue something to be concerned about?

Thanks in advance!

Completely normal for it to roll slightly to take up free play in the parking brake.

When you say when driving away it takes more of a push to get it into D/R - do you mean to move the gear lever, or do you mean to move off? If the latter, then it may be that you've pressed hard on the brake pedal and the car is in HOLD mode, which it will go into any time the car is in gear, stationary and you press the brake pedal hard. It then takes a more deliberate accelerator pedal action (depending on the slope) to get HOLD to release but it's very useful on inclines. I used to use it all the time when driving when I had a PDK car.

If you mean the shift lever is hard to move, then it sounds like you're holding the car on the parking pawl and that it's the transmission rather than the parking brake which is stopping the car from rolling. If that's the case, put the car in neutral, and then apply the parking brake. Release your foot from the brake pedal to ensure that the car is settled on the parking brake. Then move the gear lever to Park.

[scrounger73]

I wouldn't use the P to hold the car when parked. Unfortunately the 718 doesn't have an auto handbrake like other VW models so it's worth getting into the habit of applying the e-brake before turning the engine off.

[Armitage.Shanks]

scrounger73 said:

I wouldn't use the P to hold the car when parked. Unfortunately the 718 doesn't have an auto handbrake like other VW models so it's worth getting into the habit of applying the e-brake before turning the engine off.

Interesting. I found that when I parked on an incline in ‘P’ it held the car but I then tried the e-brake putting it on then when I took it off the car free rolled despite the selector still being in P!

[SK555]

LunarOne said:

SK555 said:

Hi all,

I have recently acquired a 2018 718 Cayman and noticed that upon shifting the PDK into 'P' (after applying the electronic handbrake) the car still rolls forward or back (depending on the incline).

My driveway slopes downwards slightly, so the car will roll. When I am then driving away it feels like more of a push is needed than normal(?) to get it into D/R.

I drove a DSG VW before so that is my benchmark although I had a manual handbrake. Is my issue something to be concerned about?

Thanks in advance!

Completely normal for it to roll slightly to take up free play in the parking brake.

When you say when driving away it takes more of a push to get it into D/R - do you mean to move the gear lever, or do you mean to move off? If the latter, then it may be that you've pressed hard on the brake pedal and the car is in HOLD mode, which it will go into any time the car is in gear, stationary and you press the brake pedal hard. It then takes a more deliberate accelerator pedal action (depending on the slope) to get HOLD to release but it's very useful on inclines. I used to use it all the time when driving when I had a PDK car.

If you mean the shift lever is hard to move, then it sounds like you're holding the car on the parking pawl and that it's the transmission rather than the parking brake which is stopping the car from rolling. If that's the case, put the car in neutral, and then apply the parking brake. Release your foot from the brake pedal to ensure that the car is settled on the parking brake. Then move the gear lever to Park.

Thanks for this - I think my usual routine is Brake - Neutral - Handbrake - Park - Release Brake so will give this is a shot.

My concern is whether the handbrake isn't actually functioning as it should although I guess I would get some sort of warning on the dash

[LunarOne]

SK555 said:

Thanks for this - I think my usual routine is Brake - Neutral - Handbrake - Park - Release Brake so will give this is a shot.

My concern is whether the handbrake isn't actually functioning as it should although I guess I would get some sort of warning on the dash

I've driven about 10 different Porsches, all 911s, Boxsters and Caymans. 7 of them have had electronic handbrakes, and they have all had some slack in them, so that if you park on an incline and then set the parking brake before you release the service brake, the car will roll and then hit a stop after a few degrees of movement. If you release the service brake first before setting the parking brake, the car will tend to roll away and then jerk to a sudden stop as the parking brake bites. The best way (most mechanically sympathetic in my opinion) is as follows:

1. Come to rest, holding car on service (foot) brake
2. Put transmission in neutral
3. Apply parking brake
4. Gently release pressure on service brake to allow the car to settle on the parking brake stop
5. Put transmission in Park

Basically this is your existing procedure, with the final two steps reversed in order.

This will ensure that the force of the car trying to move down the incline will be held by the parking brake and not by the transmission. It seems like a convoluted way of parking your car, but in reality you only need to think about it when on an incline and I do exactly the same in my old BMW fitted with a ZF 4HP22 automatic transmission. The only real difference is that this car (and older Porsches with traditional handbrake levers) don't roll at all when the parking brake is applied, so step 4 is not required. In fact I do exactly the same thing on my three cars with manual transmissions, including a manual 981 with electronic parking brake.

[Maxym]

Yes, this ^^^