Quote:
Originally posted by retro:
Start-up on hills is tricky without a proper emergency brake. This reminded me of a nice feature of my 92 Subaru Legacy, which had a "hill holder" where the brakes were automatically applied while stopped until the clutch was released. My manual 01 Outback lost this feature, so I'm back to the hand-brake.

It's just gonna take practice. Good luck!
No offense, but I think you just need more practice with your manual! I've never used a hand brake for starting on hills. You just need to learn how to do the brake-to-gas-let-out-clutch combo better! smile

Also, a hand brake is just a type of emergency brake. The only difference is whether you use your foot or hand to activate it!