When did hill holder first appear?

The only thing keeping my wife from agreeing (to a manual tranny) is she hates an uphill start with it. And she has to make one every morning on the way to work. What model year first had the hill holder?

Ken

They all have them. It's called an emergency brake. Pull up on it while on the hill and stopped. Give the car a little gas when ready to move and the tail will start to sink. Release emergency brake and off you go. Dad made sure I learned that when I was a teen.

Paul

What is this hill holder you speak of?

Why doesn't she just use the old fashioned handbrake trick?

Ken,

I believe it varies depending on model. I'm fairly certain all E90 3-series have it and I know the first E60 M5 I drove did, too. Maybe a dealership employee with current Fast Facts access can let you know, or just check with your local BMW "Center". It's also a feature on current-model Mini Coopers. Good luck finding a used manual-transmission BMW once you do convince your wife. They get more rare with each passing year, sadly.

I have to laugh at this new "hill holder" technology. The car I learned to drive in - my parents' 1947 Studebaker had this feature. After coming to a stop with the brake on and clutch in, you could then remove your foot from the brake and the car could not roll backwards until the clutch pedal was released. I think Subaru re-introduced this feature several years ago.
Woody

My 95 Subaru had a "hill holder" and on the way home from picking up my e91 I stopped at a red light, depressed the clutch pedal and then took my right foot off of the brake pedal. As I started drifting backwards (about three seconds later) I found out that unlike the Subaru hill holder the BMW one doesn't stay engaged forever.

I love the feature and think that only BMW and Subaru offer it.

my 2002 e46 330i does not have it, but the z4M does (2006).
instead of frenetic starts (jerky) it is truly a cool feature. i can focus on a strong launch instead of the parking brake release.

2006. Or whenever DSC III was made available on the model(s)

I have it on my '07. But if it has already been said it is available on '06s my info probably isn't very surprising. I believe that it was introduced with the 'refresh'.