[cactusbm]

Hi guys! So cool to find this forum, I took delivery of my cactus on Wednesday .. absolutely love it! I got the Feel Puretech 82 s/s in Shark Grey. Two questions though:
- since the car is automatic but without a P in the gearbox, how do you insure it doesnt move about when you are starting up/downhill?
- also does anyone notice sudden jerks when taking off after the start/stop is activated? Maybe I am still being super cautious because it is my first car here in the UK and given its brand new I am being super extra careful.. but I feel that when setting off the car is moving rather faster than it should and the brakes are too sensitive making it a little difficult to manoeuvre while, say, going out of a parking spot in a car park!
Any thoughts?

Apart from that love the car!

 

[Rattlegun]

Hi, I've got an auto 1.2 also. Not sure what you mean by your first question, usually you have your foot on the brake or handbrake when you select D so it won't move anywhere until you let the brake off? The engine won't start unless N (neutral) is selected so its not going to leap off while youre starting up. Also, when starting off uphill, it will automatically hold the brakes on for a couple of seconds to allow you to pull away.

I know what you mean about it being too fast then parking, it's hard to make it creep slowly in reverse and you tend to add more throttle till it leaps away and then you have to get straight on the brakes. You just get used to it, it's not as controllable in tight situations like parking spaces and tricky 3 point turns in busy roads, you just have to go at the pace it wants to. A small price to pay for the smooth drive during normal driving. You'll get used to it.

 

[cactusbm]

Thanks a lot for your reply. I've just actually come back from driving around my work car park (mutistory - tight spaces) to get used to it. Its not as bad as the beginning. But when reversing as you say it does get tricky. It kind of feel like a manual car stalling after you release the brakes and then moves faster than anticipated when it starts reversing, then braking would just repeat the cycle (specially if the floor is sloped). I just worry when i need to press the brakes and im near a wall/car in the rear, that it moves and hits it. But you are absolutely right, it is smooth otherwise.

Do you feel you get more control over it when the Eco mode is off? It felt like it for me but I was in very low speeds in the car park.

 

[Cactus4us]

Btw; congratulations on being a Citroën Cactus owner

 

[Rattlegun]

Eco mode is 50/50 I've found, in a situation with long waits at traffic lights and whatnot it's fine but in queuing traffic of a certain speed where you want to creep forward just as it wants to turn the engine off it's really annoying as its stopping and restarting all the time which can't be good for it either. In those situations I turn it off.

As a tip, if you're at a junction where you might want to pull out quick, hold it on the handbrake, not the footbrake, that will keep the engine running ready to go.

 

[JohnYoung]

Also on a manual car you can do the same trick by keeping the clutch in

 

[cactusbm]

Cheers guys! Thanks for your help