2004 Opel Meriva from Singapore - Comments

1. Handbrake must pull in full when park on sloop (this is dangerous)

2. Car jerks when slowing down during Automatic mode (any one has this experience?)

1. I was advised to shift to Neutral gear when parking. But using handbrake alone to hold the car is dangerous on a sloop (I hit a Nissan Sunny in front of me because the car was still moving!). Can any one advise me whether I can keep at Drive mode when car is stopped and parked ?

The Easytronic transmission is not a full automatic transmission and has a specific way of shifting. Check with Opel/Vauxhall's web site on this transmission works because apparently Easytronic does not have a Park mode.

I drive a Meriva myself and when I got my car, the Opel salesperson told me that parking in gear is OK. In fact, he recommended parking in gear when on a slope.

Also remember to turn your wheels to they point to the kerb. This way, if the car rolls for whatever reason, it will be stopped by the curb. Assuming of course that you're parking beside a kerb!

The Meriva is actually a manual gear box, hence it will not run smooth when in auto mode. Similarly, the jerking before coming to a stop is probably due to the down shifting of gears back to 1. I an driving a Meriva and encounter this problem too. In fact this is the most irritating problem with Meriva, but if you get used to it, it should be fine.

As mentioned in one of the comments, I always engage to neutral as there is no Park mode. the best solution is try not to park on slopes, which I think Singapore you can hardly any parking on steep slopes.

I've found that it is possible to park in gear with the Easytronic gearbox.

Park up in Auto or Manual, leaving it in 1st gear, and pull the key out without switching back to neutral.

The car will stay in gear (you can take the handbreak off and it will rock slightly).

This isn't an ideal solution, but I use this when parking on steep inclines as a backup should the handbreak not hold.

Note however, the manual doesn't discuss this, and says to always park in neutral, so I can't vouch for this being the correct method.

Having said that, I've not been on a hill yet where the handbreak doesn't hold the Meriva, but I suppose it depends on the load you're carrying.