Left-foot braking, anyone?

[agedbriar]

This 2019 Karoq is my first car with DSG, which I love for obvious driving comfort and shifting smoothness. I use the shifting pallets only when I feel the urge to prove to myself that I'm still the boss.

 

My only gripe is its inability to overcome the turbo lag. It took me quite some time to find out how much the use of Auto brake helps in this regard. In fact, when you want to jump into a gap within fast-moving traffic, it lets you press the gas pedal in advance, without laterally creeping into the car you have chosen to follow.

 

Unfortunately, the turbo lag is still disturbing in other instances, like when you pass from braking to accelerating in a slow tight turn.

So, spurred by this recent video by John Cadogan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT9K1vMqd5c) I thought that it might be time for me (at 78) to learn left-foot braking.

 

I would like to hear about other people's experience on this.

 

Edited 2 April, 2022 by agedbriar

[Ootohere]

'Paddles' is that maybe?

 

I do manual downshifts with the stick, and sometimes drop a gear and still do a kickdown, or even a double kickdown to get a shift on. 

Or stick back to S and still a kickdown if required.

 

Left foot braking with a DSG wet or dry clutch is fine as long as the accelerator is not being touched. 

(That is just as if the right foot was off the accelerator and across onto the brake.  Do not have both pedals pressed at the same time..)

The brake pedal pressed / touched signals to the engine to cut power and acts on the clutches. 

 

Even VW with the Rally Reccy cars with DSG's had to have the DSG mapped so that left foot braking could be done. 

 

I only have one foot so can not be on 2 pedals, and when i was sprinting or doing the quarter mile with DQ200 DSG's i never held the car held on the foot brake because of the delay, but then there was a hand brake to release and not an E-brake. 

Autohold would have been fine then. 

Edited 2 April, 2022 by roottoot

[Schtum]

25 minutes ago, roottoot said:

Even VW with the Rally Reccy cars with DSG's had to have the DSG mapped so that left foot braking could be done. 

 

 

We have the "Unintended Acceleration" lawsuit in the USA in the early 90's, against Audi by clumsy Americans who pressed both pedals at the same time in their Audi 5000's to thank for that.

 

It used to be that you could get round it by disconnecting the brake light switch on the brake pedal.  I don't know if that's still the case in this CANBus era and it's not something you'd want to do for driving on the road. 

[Ootohere]

Brake Boosting- Left foot braking or brake boosting added.   Showed with APR here.

https://www.goapr.com/products/software/ecu_upgrade/parts/ECU-20T-EA113-T-K04

 

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/332992-dsg-drivers-who-left-foot-brakes

 

[agedbriar]

18 hours ago, roottoot said:

'Paddles' is that maybe?

 

"Rocker switches under the multifunction steering wheel", by the manual's terminology.

 

Edited 3 April, 2022 by agedbriar

[Ootohere]

@agedbriar  if you were as good or better at kicking a football with your left foot as your right or better with the left then maybe left foot braking will be dead easy for you. 

?

How is practice going?

[Legion]

"Off boost", I'm reminded of an interview with Derek Bell from the 80s who was asked about how to deal with the 930  coming on boost half way through a corner and the problems that can cause. His response was you don't let it come off boost.  As the driver you choose how much boost is being delivered. 

 

Left foot braking - lots of race car drivers left foot brake and trail brake. The other solution to Cadogan's 15 meters is to give yourself some space so you have time to react. If you're travelling that close that you require the instant left foot brake to save you you're travelling a bit close. The other issue is that race car pedal boxes are custom made for the driver. You'd have to try the Skoda and see if it feels comfortable to you.

[Sanqhar]

Anyone tried Launch Control?

 

Kodiak demo here:

 

 

 

tom

[Routemaster1461]

I have experimented with left foot braking (not on a public road) and even when pressing what I thought was gently it became an emergency stop, When your foot is used to operating a clutch, you left foot has no finesse. That said, my ex boss had an auto Ford Escort and an automatic only licence, and he drove two footed very successfully as that was all he did. I certainly wouldn't use left foot braking at any decent speed.

[Ootohere]

I had Escorts with Autoboxes.  Ford never did any Automatic RS / Mexico or with much in the way of power or braking ability.  

The Autoboxes were nice and simple though.

[agedbriar]

5 hours ago, roottoot said:

@agedbriar  if you were as good or better at kicking a football with your left foot as your right or better with the left then maybe left foot braking will be dead easy for you. 

?

How is practice going?

 

Actually, I did some practicing on left foot braking over one year ago, but I desisted when I found out that the use of Auto brake mitigated considerably the fast-moving traffic joining problem, which was my main issue.

 

It will be interesting to see if the launching operation can be executed also in the much less extreme way (depress each pedal, but not fully) that the tight turn requires. Could Sport mode be the condition? Or pressing the gas pedal end-switch?

 

Edited 3 April, 2022 by agedbriar

[Seymansey]

I don't think the Karoq has the launch control capability.

[pragmatix]

37 minutes ago, Seymansey said:

I don't think the Karoq has the launch control capability.

It hasn't 

[Schtum]

1 minute ago, pragmatix said:

It hasn't 

 

Ours has. 

[pragmatix]

Just now, Schtum said:

 

Ours has. 

Mine hasn't it's a MY21, maybe it's been dropped.

Are you still riding a GS?

[Schtum]

5 minutes ago, pragmatix said:

Mine hasn't it's a MY21, maybe it's been dropped.

Are you still riding a GS?

 

Or it might be spec dependent.  190 TDI 4x4 DSG probably makes it worthwhile, whereas FWD cars would just spin their wheels.

 

GS and X-Country, these days.

[pragmatix]

29 minutes ago, Schtum said:

 

Or it might be spec dependent.  190 TDI 4x4 DSG probably makes it worthwhile, whereas FWD cars would just spin their wheels.

 

GS and X-Country, these days.

A nice pair, sadly I can no longer ride.