I must admit, eak354 had me worried about my steep driveway.

With 4 months to wait, I had plenty of time to contemplate not being able to reverse up my driveway.

I have the car now and can safely say I was worried about nothing.

During my waiting time, I searched out the steepest possible street in my heighbourhood. You know, the kind with a "Steep Grade" warning sign.

I rolled down the hill to it's steepest point. Stopped, held my breath and put her into reverse. At around 2/3 pedal depression, she started to edge up the hill. Enough to get out of a jamb or to back up from a parked car or obstacle.

So I'm happy. Nevertheless, I can understand that a situation might arise (especially in places like SF).During my wait I did some extensive research and came up with the following based on wheel diameter, electric motor torque and gear ratios....

Max Forward grade from a dead stop = 46% (that's 46 rise over 100 length)
Max Reverse grade from dead stop = 40%
My driveway (only 24%, yet it still feels steep)