Park assist - has anyone used it?

[KAM]

This is a sad question.
I spec'd park assist on my car, but in the two months since I took delivery I've never yet had the opportunity or need to use it. Can anyone tell me how well it works, if it's easy to use, do you trust it etc?

I really feel I'd like to experience what it does in a non-critical scenario first (i.e. not trying to parallel park with a half-mile queue of traffic behind me) to allow me to get used to pressing the right buttons etc. I've even thought about heading off to a supermarket car-park early one morning to try it out between some vehicles when it was nice and quiet. It may yet come to that.

How does the car handle forward/reverse changes if these are necessary when parking? Or does it always get it right in one smooth manoeuvre?

Or, and here's the really sad part, am I the only one who's got it?

[rizday]

I went to the A6 launch at Silverstone and was demod the system by one of the Audi drivers. They showed it in a parallel and reverse in mode from memory. It seemed to work quite well, very smooth. The only thing that freaked me out was that it reversed further than I've ever been prepared to go once the parking sensor solid beep started and it made me feel quite uncomfortable.

Still felt very odd not to be touching anything even though I wasn't driving!

[Timothy Nathan]

I may be wrong, but I suspect that:

1. Very few real men will admit to needing or wanting it.
2. Very few real women are on this forum.

But I'll probably take massive flak for both assertions!

[gbjk]

I have it.

I've used it for perpendicular parking easily. Works flawlessly, and faster/smoother than if I parked it myself.

Haven't used it for parallel parking yet.

I feel relatively comfortable I'm a real man, too ;o)

[KAM]

Well, I've just (10 mins ago) done it for the first time - I'm no longer a park assist virgin!
I did it perpendicularly (well, you would, on your first time, wouldn't you?) and it was a little bit fun, a little bit scary, and, to be honest, exactly like losing your virginity: I didn't know which bits I was supposed to be looking at or what buttons I should press. But we got there in the end.
I only wished I was a smoker so that I could have lain back and lit a ciggie afterwards. It was very satisfying.

Call yourself a 'real man', Timothy? I get the impression you think it's better doing it manually yourself

[Timothy Nathan]

If you are happy using a machine to do it for you, who am I to argue?

[Timothy Nathan]

...on a more serious note, when I am bay parking I usually look for a gap between two cars which have nosed in. I then reverse in with my nearside door quite close to the nearside of the car on my left, such that I and the car to my right have plenty of room to open our doors.

Presumably the automated system just sticks it in the middle?

[gbjk]

Yes. And that's obviously a consideration.
However I long ago stopped trying to second guess what the next driver would do, or whether it's the passenger or the driver you need to give more room to.

Generally speaking, I've come to the conclusion that if there *is* a passenger, you need to give them more room, because they're less careful about banging the door against you. But you don't know if there will be.
I'm also prejudice / elitist as hell about what cars I'll park next to sometimes. But I reserve that right.

[Timothy Nathan]

I generally let my pax out, if I have one, befor parking and then park so close that the next car's pax can't even try.

I am only talking about narrow bays where all the doors cannot be opened.

[gbjk]

Sorry, Not *my* passengers - those of the cars you're parking next to.

My consideration is how much room I need to leave on either side for the cars already parked there, plus how likely is it that the car parked there will change whilst I'm gone )

I may think a bit too much about this, though ...

G