[boupas]

I’ve been driving manual transmission cars my whole life, with my last being a 10th gen Honda Civic. As I patiently wait for my BMW X1 30e to arrive, I have some questions regarding the DCT. This will be my first automatic car, and I haven’t had the chance to test drive the X1 yet. Here are my questions:

• When you lift your foot off the brake, does the car start to creep forward, or do you need to press the gas pedal?
• Is it easy to go very slowly? My garage is quite tight, so I need to enter and exit at a snail’s pace.
• If you lift your foot off the brake on a slope, how does the car behave with auto hold off?
• Is there a fully manual mode, like using the paddle shifters exclusively? Will it change gears automatically when hitting the redline?
• Does the plug-in hybrid system reduce the lag that some people mention with the DCT?
• Do you need to manually shift to neutral when waiting for a long period or before parking?

Thank you for your insights!

[Paul_M]

I drove cars with a manual transmission for 30 years (Mazda, Honda, and a '99 BMW Z3). It's been almost 10 years since I've driven a car with a manual transmission. I've had my 2024 X1 since January. Here are my thoughts:

The feel of the transmission is more like a manual than it is an automatic. An automated manual is a good description. That doesn't bother me at all, but I can understand that it might bother some people - especially if they've never driven a car with a manual transmission (or didn't like driving a manual).

When you take your foot off the brake, it does behave more like a manual transmission. It depends on how level the road surface is. Sometimes it doesn't move forward until I press the gas pedal. Sometimes it will start to move forward, but typically much slower than a traditional automatic. If you are on an uphill incline, it may roll back slightly. It is pretty flat where I live, so I haven't been in too many situations where it rolls back. (Note: When visiting San Francisco, I've been in Ubers that had a DCT and would roll back when starting on a hill.) The behavior of the DCT in the X1 when taking your foot off the brake is most noticeable when pulling in or backing out of a parking spot or garage, or when driving in stop and go traffic. Sometimes you have to give it some extra gas to get it moving (which you normally wouldn't have to do with an automatic). This happens in both Drive and Reverse. It took some time to get used to giving it just the right amount of gas. When I first got it, I would often give it too much, and then have to hit the brake right away. That's no longer an issue now that I've gotten used to the car.

The combination of the DCT and the auto start/stop can be very annoying and makes it frustrating when driving slowly to pull into or back out of a parking spot or in stop and go traffic. I've made it a habit to turn off the auto start/stop when I get in the car. Driving slow with the auto start/stop turned off is much better.

The one thing that is not like a manual transmission is that you don't have to put it into neutral when stopped for a long period of time. Just keeping your foot on the brake is fine. I generally don't use the auto hold feature, but I have found it useful in specific circumstances (like when waiting in line).

My guess is that since this is your first automatic (and you're not used to driving cars with a conventional (torque converter) automatic), you won't have any problems adjusting to the DCT in the X1. Enjoy your new car when it arrives!

[timesone]

I am also new to DCT and I agree with Paul_M comments above. I find I still have phantom left foot clutch and phantom right hand shifting when I drive my X1

[Swie]

>> When you lift your foot off the brake, does the car start to creep forward, or do you need to press the gas pedal?

Depends if you're using Auto Hold or not. If you have it on, and made a complete stop, you need to press the gas pedal to start going forward again. Otherwise... I think it creeps forward on D.

>> Is it easy to go very slowly? My garage is quite tight, so I need to enter and exit at a snail’s pace.

Yes, very easy.

>> If you lift your foot off the brake on a slope, how does the car behave with auto hold off?

I don't know actually, I always have Auto Hold on

>> Does the plug-in hybrid system reduce the lag that some people mention with the DCT?

There is absolutely no lag with the plugin-hybrid. In the default personal mode you'll always be taking off with the smooth electric engine. In the Sport mode you might notice gear changes of the ICE, but I think it's still well supported by the electic one.