The "B" Poll (Revisited)

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ May 3 2006, 08:27 AM) [snapback]249013[/snapback]</div>

Oh I buy it. In fact, I came to the conclusion on my own that it worked really good going down hills is slushy slippery snow.

We had a really bad snow storm here last winter and on my commute to work there is this long steep hill with a slightly banked turn. The road was really treacherous and everyone one was doing about 5 mph going down the hill. No cars were making it up the hill. Basically, even at 5 mph, if you even barely touched your brakes, the car would start sliding towards the shoulder. And at the speeds we were going, the ABS doesn't function.

I went through several minutes of barely touching the brakes and sliding towards the shoulder, then releasing the brakes and rapidly picking up speed down the steep hill, requiring me to again barely touch the brakes and slide towards the shoulder, repeat.

I finally tried putting it into "B". After that, I only had to use the brakes twice. The engine braking kept the car the car at a nice sedate speed as I crept down the hill.

It's true that it's not going to help in normal driving and braking conditions in snow. But, on steep icy hills where you are only trying to creep down the hill without sliding off the road, the "B" mode works great. Just like 1st gear would do in every other car.

 

Here in Colorado, in some areas "B" is an absolute must. The best example is probably I-70: in the descent to Denver, brake fade is a very real possibility and "B" is the only safe way to drive.