Hill descent control
 

Tried out my Hill Descent Control for the first time today. Click on link for video




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Thanks for sharing...Gotta say, been in the X family for about 6yrs now and I've never needed that switch. Played around with it a couple of times, but never needed it.

lol i wonder what your neighbors thought when the saw you going of road in a $60k car.any who did you turn on the button before you got on the grass?did it feel any different as opposed to normal driving?nice quality video by the way

I use this button all winter. Truly is a life saver in Ithaca. Lots of hills, snow, etc.

LOL, I did get some strange looks and a couple of "thumbs ups" from passers by. I paused at the top of the hill and turned on the HDC before coming down. Did not feel any different, except for the left front tire locking momentarily at the bottom of the hill when it made contact with the sidewalk. You can actually hear the chirp from the wheel in the video.

A side note to "offroading" with an X...

I always turn traction control off when I'm offroad. For instance, we went to a huge apple orchard a couple weeks ago and it was one where you drive your own vehicle to the trees. So, having traction control on, the truck was getting confused quite easily, especially in some muddier/slicker areas of the driving path. Turning traction control off eliminated the confusion and she performed superbly in the "offroad" conditions.

I am surprised at that. I would think with traction control fully on, X Drive will find the tires that keep you moving. Only if all 4 tires want to spin in mud or summer tires in slick snow, would DTC mode be a benefit.

Regarding HDC, I've used it several times on my sister's steep hill (X3 and now X5). No sweat to descend a steep snow covered hill. They also show it off at the BMW PC if you do PC delivery, etc.

Well the pathways were that weird wet/slick mud in some areas. I'm not talking about mud bogging, just that half-wet/half-dry mud that is only slick on the surface. When I encountered that stuff, it seemed as though the truck would become confused and do what it's programmed to do, which is good. However, on that type of surface, it becomes more of a nuisance than a help. Sure, the truck slid a little bit but after the half-inch of surface mud, it would dig down to the dirt and get going again instead of losing power at that wheel.

It's just a lot smoother of a ride when the truck is "allowed" to slip a bit instead of limiting power to wheels because of a little slippage.

You know what I mean? I guess it's hard to describe.