In today’s featured, we are going to have a look at the best Indian small cars suitable for hills….

While going uphill, use the D1, D2, or D3 gears to maintain higher RPMs and give your vehicle more climbing power and speed. Note: Most automatic vehicles have at least a D1 and D2 gear, while some models also have a D3 gear.

In an automatic transmission vehicle, the change of gear takes place according to the sets of RPMs and in hilly regions, the car needs to keep at high RPS to get better results.

• Maruti Suzuki Baleno.
• Maruti Suzuki Ignis.
• Renault Kwid Climber.
• Hyundai i20 Active.
• Toyota Etios Cross.
• Fiat Avventura.
• Ford Freestyle.
• Volkswagen Cross Polo.

If you stay in an area that has a lot of inclines, then automatics can be your best buddy. Automatics come with hill-hold that stops the vehicle from rolling backwards if you come to a complete halt on an incline. Negotiating steep inclines on a manual need some skills.

The car has features like brake assist, traction control, hill assist, etc. The car will give a good drive quality even in the hilly areas as well.

While you ride the XL6, Automatic Transmission with Hill Hold Assist and Electronic Stability Program (ESP) ensures your drives are not only smoother but also a lot safer for an all-round experience.

Hill-holder works by holding the brake in position while the driver sets up and activates the first gear to move the car forward from a complete stop, without fear of roll-back.

But, if you are using your car mostly for regular city roundabouts, then it’s kind of useless. Same goes for hill assist, if you regularly visit hilly areas or places with steep inclined roads, then it might be useful. But, for regular city roundabouts, well it’s again kinda useless.

How to turn hill assist off 1 Hold down traction control button till light goes off 2 Press button again 3 Turn car off then back on should see hill assist light on indicating it is off.

When you’re in neutral on a hill with your foot on the brake, select first gear and bring the clutch slightly up. when you let go of the brake, the hill assist will engage and hold the car for a second or two so you can find the biting point. If you roll straight away, you do not have hill assist.

Some vehicles may have both Hill-Hold and Hill-Start Assist, while the principal is the same, a hill-start assist function is usually only intended to prevent your vehicle from rolling backwards as you transition from the brake to the throttle.

Sensors in the vehicle are used to detect when a vehicle is on an incline. The hill start assist maintains the brake pressure for a set period of time as you switch from the brakes to the gas pedal. Once you press the accelerator, it releases the brake.

It’s also worth pointing out auto-hold brakes are different from hill-hold assistance: the latter will only hold the brakes for a couple of seconds when you’re on an incline to prevent the car rolling back in the time it takes you to move your foot from the brake to the accelerator.

There’s a common misconception that it’s impossible to roll backwards on a hill when you’re driving an automatic. The truth is, that just as in a manual car, if you don’t give the car enough revs, you could find yourself rolling down the hill.

On a very steep incline an automatic might move backwards very slowly simply because the force of gravity is stronger than the pressure exerted by the engine when the car is idling.

Release your foot from the brake pedal and move it to the gas. The car should not be moving at this point; if it is, you need to pull the hand brake up more. Then, apply the gas gradually and slowly release the hand brake at the same time, and away you go. This is a very good way to prevent rolling back.

The basics of driving an automatic car To start driving, you put your right foot on the brake pedal, move the gearlever to Drive if you want to go forward or Reverse if you want to go backwards. Then ease your foot from the brake pedal at the same time as you release the handbrake and the car will start to slowly move.

Cons include:

• If you pass your test in an automatic, your licence will only let you drive automatics.
• Automatic cars are more expensive to buy, whether new or second-hand.
• As they’re more complex, repairs are more expensive if automatics go wrong.
• Some people find automatic cars less interesting or exciting to drive.

When most people hear of a car stalling, they think of manual-transmission cars, and situations like failed hill-starts or stalling when starting after waiting at traffic lights. However, in fact, even automatic cars can stall.

In automatic cars, it is always recommended to shift the car to Neutral (N) when the car is not moving. You also need to apply the brake pedal. If you keep the car in Drive (D) and use the brakes to keep the car stationary, chances of transmission wear are quite high.

A: If you are just stopping for a few seconds at traffic lights, say, there’s no need to select P’ (park) you can simply hold the car on the footbrake. The torque converter inside the automatic gearbox will absorb most of the energy, so little or no wear is taking place. Fuel economy shouldn’t be affected, either.