Learning to drive my MG4: Reversing on tight ramp

[Rolfe]

His photo looks fine to us, it looks the same as my car reversed into my garage, but he's in Spain and he has a left-hand-drive car.

 

[tsedge]

I wouldn't have thought you could overload the brakes or the motor by doing this. The forces involved are way less than stopping from 70 mph (brakes), or accelerating fast up a hill (motor).

However, i respect your caution - it's your car, not mine!
.

The car will be designed to cope with people pressing both pedals at once, it isn't something to worry about.

 

[elias]

Every time I see you've posted in the thread I imagine you're going to tell us you scraped the car! So relieved.

I almost scratched it today ?, I miscalculated an ended just about to break the left mirror (driver side), thankfully I managed to realize about it and closed them. At the end I even managed to get the car in an angle, so I was able to open the driver side door .

I'm afraid it is matter of time before I scratch it, break a mirror or one of the back lights.

 

[Rolfe]

One day, one day, you're going to drive that car straight down in there. And it will be so easy. Then you'll have to get it out again...

 

[FiferMG4]

I was thinking a contraption like this might be able to make it easier for you to get your car in and out of your garage, but I’m not sure if the incline of your driveway would be too steep or not: AUTOMATED PARKING SYSTEM

 

[Rolfe]

That seems more geared to a single garage where there isn't room to open a door at all. Elias has room, but it's on the wrong side for him if he reverses in. I'm not sure that reversing down to that contraption and then letting it do the rest would actually improve things. His problem is the slope of his driveway, and the awkward angle between the driveway and the garage itself.

 

[FiferMG4]

Yeah, that slope would definitely put me off reversing, which is how I normally park on my driveway. But I’ve got loads of room either side.

 

[Rolfe]

I think I might even prefer to drive straight into that garage, and reverse out. But I can appreciate why Elias is wary of trying it.

 

[JonnyG]

I can’t really add much to what has been said above. The only thing I have learnt in previous DSG Golf’s and Renault Zoe is to NOT come off the brake from a standstill if you are too close to the back wall. Instead go back forward a reasonable distance and then come off the brake and slow down gently “feathering” the brake without coming to a compete stop.

Also a cushioned landing gives you peace of mind !! I have old cushions / soft plastic containers positioned where my bumper would hit the wall.

 

[tonybridge]

Here are a few photos showing my situation. Note that the car is backed almost all the way to the back wall, hence why the perspective makes it look like there is more available space than what it actually is.

I've measured the minimum with of the entrance, where the door frames are, to be 220 cm (86.6 inches) and the car is about 204 cm (80.3 inches) from one door mirror to the other door mirror (while open), so I have around 8 cm (3 inches) on each side with the door mirrors open.

The second photo shows a bit better the slope I have to drive back when parking and forward when getting out. It is certainly possible, but it is quite frightening to me.


That is what I tried first time and I ended up falling back and almost hitting the walls behind me. The ramp slope is too much for the car to creep forward, at least while setup in Normal mode.


View attachment 19195
View attachment 19196

And then, exiting your drive, you've got a huge chunk of street furniture in the way...

 

[Rolfe]

Which is an issue. But in a way, in an SE, that might be another reason for reversing out, because the rear sensors will tell you when you're getting close. (Although an earlier part of this discussion did clarify that @elias finds the beeping of the sensors more of a distraction than a help.)