Parking brake or handbrake on the Mk7?

[Vee4]

The Mk7 handbook describes it as a 'parking brake'. That implies to me that you are intended to use it only when parking up and not during normal driving. The handbrake was the first thing I noticed on my initial test drive in a Mk7. It is shorter, lower down (you have to reach further) and feels more like a toggle than a progressive brake. The Mk5 handbrake was just under my left hand, and a short distance from the gear lever - an excellent layout for me.

When I learned to drive, I was instructed to set the handbrake when stopping for more than a few seconds, e.g. at traffic lights or in traffic jams. I had to change that idea when I first drove 'automatic' cars in the USA and they had no handbrake at all! It seems that reliance on the service brake only is now commonplace, and is even encouraged by the addition of such features as HLA (Hill Launch Assist) which enables you to move off on a hill without use of the traditional hill-start technique.

So my question is: will the Mk7 parking brake mechanism soon fall apart if used in the traditional way?

Does anyone have a link to an exploded view of the mechanism for applying the parking brake to the discs on the rear wheels?

[Mike]

I think it's just a change in the terminology, but you'll find yourself using the handbrake less in a MK7 anyway as they have Hill Launch Assist, which makes you lazy.

[ake]

Mine works just like any other handbrake

[winterheating]

i wish i used the hanbrake when stopping at lights,
i normally just run it on th clutch