Cars with hill start assist
If hill starts are something you struggle with, check out some of the many used cars that are available with a handy hill start assist
Even for veteran drivers, hill starts aren’t always easy to pull off. In order to do a hill start successfully, you not only need to ensure you’ve got enough power to get up the hill, but also make sure the car doesn’t start rolling back down the hill before you’re ready to set off. This is especially the case when doing hill starts on really steep inclines, or in cars that are heavily laden or don’t have that much power.
Helpfully, many of the cars you’ll see on the road will likely have what’s called a hill start assist. Also referred to by some car manufacturers as a hill hold assist, this is a piece of technology that gives you a hand when doing hill starts, since it keeps the brakes engaged for a short while after you’ve taken your foot off the brake pedal. This, in turn, gives you enough time to build up some engine revs and, if your car has a manual gearbox, find the clutch’s biting point without having to worry about the car rolling down the hill.
It does go without saying that a hill start assist won’t always stop your car from moving. If the hill is steep or there’s lots of water on the road, the tech may not on its own be able to keep your car in one spot. However, in scenarios where the system can work as intended, the hill start assist should be able to keep your car stationary without you having to engage the handbrake.
Hill start assists weren’t always widely available on cars, though you’ll find a large variety of cars listed for sale on marketplaces such as BuyaCar will come with this technology. You don’t need to spend a huge amount of money or go for a car from a higher-end company, either, since even superminis and city cars can be available with hill start assist. You can check out below examples of some of the different cars you’ll be able to find on BuyaCar that come with a hill start assist.
1. Citroen C1
Our pick Citroen C1 1.0 VTi Shine
Used deals from £8,097
Monthly finance from £138.04*
Because they’re small cars that are designed to be cheap to buy and run, city cars don’t tend to be especially powerful. This is fine in most cases (you don’t need lots of power when you’re stuck in heavy traffic, for instance), though it does mean doing hill starts in them can be tricky. Depending on how steep the incline is, you may need to press down on the accelerator pedal quite a lot when pulling away in order to get up the hill.
Handily, hill start assists can be found on some of the used and nearly new city cars you’ll find for sale on BuyaCar, with one example being the most recent version of the Citroen C1. This car comes with a hill hold assist that can keep the car stationary for up to two seconds after you take your foot off the brake pedal, which gives you a bit of time to apply enough pressure on the accelerator to get you up the hill. This driver aid will likely be most useful for drivers of Citroen C1s that are fitted with a manual gearbox, though this piece of tech was also available on the automatic models.
2. Dacia Duster
Our pick Dacia Duster 1.3 TCe Prestige
Used deals from £9,700
Monthly finance from £161.18*
In its original guise, the Dacia Duster was a very back-to-basics car. Entry-level models didn’t even get air-conditioning or a radio as standard, so it’s perhaps no surprise the first-generation Dacia Duster didn’t get hill start assist either. However, Dacia did flesh out the spec sheet quite comprehensively on the second-gen Duster, so all versions of this iteration of the Dacia get hill start assist as standard.
As long as the Duster is in gear (or put into drive on automatic models), the hill start assist will keep the brakes applied for around two seconds after you take your foot off the brake pedal, which should give you plenty of time to apply enough throttle pressure. While hill start assist is available on all second-gen Dacia Duster models, we imagine this driver aid will be most useful on the least powerful manual models: a fully-laden Dacia Duster will likely need a little bit of welly to get up a steep hill.
3. Ford Fiesta
Our pick Ford Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost Titanium
Used deals from £5,995
Monthly finance from £143.42*
Once upon a time, superminis used to be quite basic cars with few if any major creature comforts to their name. However, those days are very long behind us now, as it isn’t uncommon for even these inexpensive types of cars to come with a lot of equipment and safety technology as standard.
A prime case of this is one of the UK’s best-selling used cars, the Ford Fiesta. When it comes to hill start assists, both the current iteration of the car and its predecessor came as standard with this driver aid that can help you drive up hills more effectively. If the system detects the car is on a hill and as long as you’re in gear, the hill start assist will keep the brakes engaged for a few seconds after you take your foot off the pedal. If you’re able to apply enough pressure on the accelerator pedal to get the car moving uphill before those few seconds are up, the system will automatically disengage the brakes for you and allow you to get moving.
4. Kia Sorento
Our pick Kia Sorento 1.6 T-GDi HEV '3'
Used deals Limited stock
The latest Kia Sorento is a very well-rounded and specified seven-seater family SUV, though all of those features do contribute to the car being not exactly cheap to buy. However, if you’re willing to forgo a few creature comforts and more modern amenities, it may be worth considering the previous version of the Sorento, since this model promises to be more affordable to buy yet still has a decent amount of equipment as standard.
As its presence on this list suggests, one of those features on this version of the Kia Sorento is a hill start assist that was available as standard across the range. Like the hill start assists you’ll find on many other cars that are equipped with this piece of tech, it will keep the brakes engaged for up to two seconds after you take your foot off the brake pedal, which gives you a bit of time to move your foot off the brakes and onto the accelerator pedal. The Kia Sorento’s standard-fit four-wheel-drive system is also handy during hill starts, since it helps to effectively deploy all the torque from the car’s punchy diesel engine or powerful hybrid setup.
5. Renault Scenic
Our pick Renault Scenic 1.3 TCe Signature
Used deals from £5,990
Monthly finance from £207.80*
The Renault Scenic is a practical MPV that’s designed to provide lots of space for people and the assortment of items they need for outings or family holidays. Of course, once all the seats are occupied and the boot is crammed with luggage, the Scenic becomes quite heavy, which means you may struggle to get the car going up a hill.
Handily, both the Renault Scenic and the larger seven-seater Grand Scenic model came as standard with a hill start assist. It keeps the brakes engaged for around two seconds after you take your foot off the brake pedal, which gives you a decent amount of leeway to build up some revs before the brakes are released. The hill start assist will likely be most useful when doing hill starts in manual cars, though the automatic versions of the Renault Scenic did also get this driver aid as standard.
RENAULT SCENIC BUYERS' GUIDE
RENAULT GRAND SCENIC BUYERS' GUIDE
6. Mercedes E-Class
Our pick Mercedes E220d AMG Line
Used deals Limited stock
Big and heavy cars can prove to be a bit difficult to get going on hill starts, since their size and bulk means you need to have a decent amount of oomph when pulling away. To help you out in this regard, the Mercedes E-Class does have a few tricks up its sleeve: the only available gearbox is a nine-speed automatic, so there aren’t any clutch biting points to keep on top of, and all models came as standard with a hill start assist.
As long as you’ve released the electronic handbrake and the car’s gear selector is set to ‘Drive’ or ‘Reverse’, the E-Class will momentarily maintain the brake pressure when you take your foot off the pedal, to help prevent you from unintentionally rolling down the hill. If the hill gradient is less than 30%, you can also make use of the car’s auto-hold functionality: when engaged, this setting will keep the brakes applied until you start putting pressure on the accelerator pedal, which in theory should help you pull away on the hill smoothly and safely.
7. Nissan Leaf
Our pick Nissan Leaf e+ Tekna
Used deals Limited stock
Being an electric car, the Nissan Leaf can be very easy and straightforward to drive. It's not offered with a manual gearbox, which helps smooth the edges off driving in stop/start traffic, and the low-down torque of the electric motor means you don’t need to work the car especially hard in order to build up speed. It even comes with an “e-Pedal” driving mode that allows you to control the car’s acceleration and braking using just the car’s throttle pedal.
The Nissan Leaf promises to be straightforward to drive on hill starts, too. As long as the car’s gearbox isn’t set to park or neutral, the Leaf’s hill start assist will keep the brakes applied for two seconds after you take your foot off the brake pedal. Since there aren’t any clutch pedals and biting points to worry about when driving a Nissan Leaf, this should give you plenty of time to prepare for the hill start.
8. Volkswagen Golf
Our pick Volkswagen Golf 1.5 TSI Style
Used deals Limited stock
Safety is paramount in any car, and especially so if you’re after a family car – after all, any parent will want to ensure their children will be as protected as possible in the event of a car accident. As a result, it’s no real surprise to learn that many family cars like the Volkswagen Golf come equipped as standard with lots of driver aids and safety assists, with one of the many features in the latest Golf’s arsenal being a hill start assist.
In addition to the hill start assist, which can momentarily keep the brakes engaged while you’re preparing to pull away, the latest Golf also gets an auto hold function that can keep the car stationary until you start applying pressure on the accelerator pedal (or, in the case of models with the manual gearbox, when you depress the clutch pedal). It won’t be able to keep the car in one spot on really steep hills, though the auto hold ability does give you more time to prepare yourself and the car before setting off from a hill start.
*Representative PCP finance - Ford Fiesta:
48 monthly payments of £192
Deposit: £0
Mileage limit: 8,000 per year
Optional final payment to buy car: £2,923
Total amount payable to buy car: £11,926
Total cost of credit: £2,426
Amount borrowed: £9,500
APR: 9.9%
BuyaCar is a credit broker, not a lender. Our rates start from 6.9% APR. The rate you are offered will depend on your individual circumstances.