Citroën XM

Parking brake

This large Citroën was one of several cars – another was the W124-generation Mercedes E-class – fitted with a foot-operated parking brake. The brake itself worked well, but it was a problem during hill starts if the car had a manual gearbox. To avoid rolling backwards, the driver had to devote their left leg to operating the clutch and use their right foot on the accelerator and brake pedals simultaneously. Not easy.