I'm not sure if this is something to be admitting to, but in some of the more quiet moments of driving I have an embarassing habit of pretending to be rallying. Driving home from work doing 30 mph stuck behind an old lady, the indicator stalk suddenly becomes a paddle gear change, the gear lever transforms to a vertical handbrake and the engine develops 200 more bhp and the anti-lag soundtrack from an Escort Cosworth.

Which is fine, but the left foot braking has a funny effect on my company van, a VW Transporter: any throttle + brakes= no revs whatsoever. So, to those that may seek to quench my idle curiousity, whats causes the engine to die? Is it something to do with the ABS? Answers on a postcard to....

the ECU protecting the engine and clutch. Vauxhall corsas C do it too

Same on my Audi and the VW before.

And my old Mercedes A class.

In addition, if you planted the throttle with no load on the engine, it had a rev limit of about 4500rpm.

I only discovered that when a Merc dude showed me.

I would be willing to bet that lots of them do that but most of us wouldn't actually think to try.

never done it whilst revving, but the other day I got cramp in my right leg (on a drive back from scotland) so was stretching it out. Pressed the bake with my left foot and nearly went through the wind screen!

Its like it thought it was the clutch...I was trying to be gentle but still hit the brakes like I was trying to stamp out a fire!

Now I know why I'm crap in a go kart, my left foot has no feel.

The engine management light comes on in my 406 when you left foot brake

i'm just going out to try it in my E36

santa

good mornin'

Yup mine does it, VW transporter, bit of a pain when you want to keep the turbo spinnin.

I did it once in my old Corsa B and all of my internal organs came out of my mouth.

Its weird how you have zero control with your left foot if you're not used to it.

if you consistantly left foot brake (i started when i first got an auto) you quickly develop feel. First time i nearly headbutted the car in front though

My sprinter limits revs to 3k in neutral or with clutch in i think.

I did it once in my 73 Veedubbleu Bug 1.3 after a try at left footing I forgot my foot was still hovering over the brake, started to climb a hill and needed to change down so dipped the clutch and kissed the screen! Them were the days though!

My passat drops the power if you left foot brake although I have found if you give it a jab quickly it's ok and you can shed enough speed. The other fun killer is the blo$%y electric handbrake. Although my scandinavian flick is getting better!

Company vehicle of course!

Steve

The fly by wire (electronic throttle).. VAG TDI cars/vans all drop revs if you left foot break. Not sure why they thought it was a good idea

It's a fuel saving feature.

When you press the brake pedal it cuts the fuel to the engine. On these it uses less fuel to engine brake than to dump the clutch and use only brakes because if you have the clutch in then the engine needs fuel to idle...