Finally collected my car yesterday and had great fun driving home and when I parked up for the night I left it in neutral stuck the handbrake on and left (by the way it's a 5dr ABARTH selespeed). I then started reading the instruction manual and by about 1am I get to the bit about about selespeed gearboxes and about 5 times it said-
DO NOT LEAVE THE CAR PARKED IN NEUTRAL
IMPORTANTDON'T EVER LEAVE YOUR CAR IN NEUTRAL

YOUR CAR WILL BLOW UP AND THE WORLD WILL END IF YOU LEAVE YOUR CAR IN NEUTRAL
OK so I made the last 1 up but I got seriously worried and went and started the engine so I can leave it in first.

My question ( finally) is why can't you leave the car in neutral like you would any other car?

MY next Q is - are you supposed to get a manual for the connect+?

Thanks
Andrew

Er, to be honest I don't leave ANY car in neutral - you should never rely on the handbrake to hold the car!!! Simple as that.

In first gear if facing uphill, reverse if facing down

I didn't get a manual for my Nav+, but car is second-hand.

Agreed. I never ever park my car and leave it in neutral.

you should get a warning buzzer if you turn the car off in neutral, and yes you should have a manual for the connect+.

And dont forget if you get out of the car whilst it is running and in gear (with handbrake on) it will automatically go into neutral..safety feature to stop it sneaking away when you are not looking....

Noz said:

And dont forget if you get out of the car whilst it is running and in gear (with handbrake on) it will automatically go into neutral..safety feature to stop it sneaking away when you are not looking....

Click to expand...

Cool - I'm loving this car more and more - mine doesn't creep at all when in first, does anybody elses? Just curious

Thanks
Andrew

it cant creep. the clutch is disengaged. it has basically the same manual gearbox and clutch as other stilos.

The Selespeed does have a buzzer to warn you the car is left in neutral when you switch off. A word of warning though. The selespeed pump failed on my Abarth which meant the car wouldn't start and the car was in gear. The AA guy had a nightmare of a time getting the car from the back of my house as there wasn't enough room to get the tow truck in.

Noz said:

And dont forget if you get out of the car whilst it is running and in gear (with handbrake on) it will automatically go into neutral..safety feature to stop it sneaking away when you are not looking....

Click to expand...

And another thing, if you're in gear and sitting in a traffic jam, or parked up with the engine still running, it will automatically disengage and return to neutral after about five minutes (it does buzz to warn you though). Not quite sure why it does this, but it may help prevent wear on the "clutch".

Handbrake is an emergency brake, not a park brake! By all means apply the emergency brake when you park the car, but also park it in gear!