[WhipE350]

Originally Posted by Overdrive

I don't really use the method myself, though I can understand why some would do it. There is one rather large hill with a traffic signal at the crest on my commute where any vehicle will roll back because of the incline. I know this to be true because whether it's the Boxster, a Corolla (automatic), a Jeep (automatic), a Cavalier (automatic), or my motorcycle, I have rolled back on this hill while driving any of them when I am not engaging the brakes. And despite this happening to any vehicle that doesn't have some sort of hill assit feature, jerky people always seem to want to get right up behind you, within inches of your bumper. When I see them start to creep up I let the car slip back a few inches as a warning, but that doesn't always work and some just keep coming. So I either have to launch a bit harder than I'd like, or risk having some idiot in a crappy rust bucket, or soccer mom in an SUV she can't get into without climbing up the tire, tap my bumper and create a situation I'd rather avoid.

To me this has nothing to do with my skill in driving a manual transmission vehicle, but everything to do with the situational awareness, or lack thereof, of the other driver(s). If I can't help rolling back even just one inch on this hill no matter what I'm driving, and an inch is all some idiot left between me and them, that's a crappy situation no matter how skilled I may be, and I more often than not have the more expensive car to fix in the case of driving the Boxster should someone end up in my bumper.

Yup totally agree, for all of us there probably is a time an place for it no matter what your everyday preference is.