VSC Sport, Trac Off, Both Off - Which do you use for normal driving?
 

Do you guys just drive without any of these features turned off during normal driving or do you turn off one or both?

I always turn mine off.

Please keep those safety features on...Not only for yourself but for other people on the road. I prefer not to see someone get hurt because they turned their VSC/Trac off.

As intelligent people say, "Keep it on the track". Or do it somewhere where you can't hurt others. TYVM

Ive never tried them turned off. lol

+1000.

Most people don't drive as well as they think they do, and for those drivers, VSC can save their butts.

For those drivers who really are as good as they think they are, VSC can still save their butts. :D

But seriously, VSC isn't intrusive in daily driving, so why not leave it on? Because an accident can really ruin yours or someone else's day (or life). :(

Ah, but there are those who can safely handle the car.. ;)


Obviously if you cannot handle the machine please leave them on and learn carefully in a designated area.. With a professional if possible..

I urge all of you to learn to drive without them on at some point. Sooner the better.

:happy0180:

I guess my response is if you're driving safely and not driving recklessly than why turn them off?

I do hear you about TCS and VCS in older cars and them being 'too intrusive' but in my experience with newer cars they will allow some slippage before straightening the car out. I can activate the VCS on my G37 when it's wet out but I've never had the throttle cut out on me. And I've been semi-sideways in my STI in the snow and C6 vettes again without intrusively cutting out the throttle.

I felt my BRZ slide a little today powering out of a sharp R turn and it was fine- VCS barely did anything.

So I would say your situation of not having the ability to put down power in a needed situation is pretty unlikely. Of course, YMMV.

BTW, that viper is a perfect example of people who have more money than ability! (or sense!) :)

.... its like turning off your airbags cause you know you can drive good and you wont get in an accident....

Only reason to maybe turn them off is a track or some driving out in the country and you want to slide out a little... or maybe some other event where you can goof off out there by yourself (at your own risk) -- otherwise i wouldnt risk it

Quick answer - if those systems ever fail you need to know how to handle the car in an emergency situation.

Not quite..

I agree with you. If people could learn how to drive well without the aids that would be better, and I'm not saying there aren't people who can't safely handle the car without electronic nannies. It's just that I find the people who are most clueless about their driving abilities are the ones who need the nannies the most. ;)

Again, I agree, learn how to drive in a safe and controlled environment. Not public roads.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

:) agreed

Hell, stay on your soap box! Nothing wrong with trying to keep people safer.

my last few cars never had these features so i know how to drive with caution and a good sense of control on my own head, i do turn them off because one, i have taken the time in a private vacant lot to learn the characteristics of the suspension and a decent amount of control when the car is flogged, probably one of the first things i did when i hit the 1000 mile mark.

if you are used to these features then dont turn them off, go to a track and get some professional advise and training

i am a proud member of the scca and have some laps under my belt plus plenty of time learning on my own. even then i still take caution because it is a risk when having fun on public roads... i do not condone reckless driving, i do approve of spirited driving under the limit of your own skills on an empty road, know your limits and the cars limits and you can live day by day with these systems off and be perfectly safe, if you want to expand your experience and the limits you can drive at, go to the track, limit yourself to only 60% of knowledge of your own limits on public roads when there is no one around to put in danger, if there are people around that can be put in danger, drive with all the common laws in mind and follow them....

I agree with you about the throttle. I was never a big fan of TC unless there was snow out.

Heck, soon we won't be steering the car either. They'll just drive themselves!

BTW, nice pics. Some great cars there. How long before someone drops an LS into a BRZ/FRS? :D

Maybe you guys who find aids "intrusive" should learn to drive/overtake etc with all aids on? its not that hard to learn exactly when the aids will kick in...plus you "should" never need to accelerate harshly on the street.

Everything off for normal driving; Sport Mode when wet. Sticky street tires play havoc with the traction/stability system on normal mode and there is a difference in how the car feels and responds to throttle and steering as well when everything is not off.

First thing I do after I start the engine I press VSC Sport.
It is more than safe for daily driving IMO. I would say it is even more intrusive for my taste than it could have been. But it allows having little fun without endangering others and having peace of mind if something goes wrong.

For day to day driving, I just leave them on. I see no reason to turn them off, imo. :)

I like to turn them all off and then yell to anyone within earshot "hey, watch this!"...

Judging from the mentality and maturity of a lot of folks here, those are pretty solid assumptions...

I leave them on... for now, but I'm still getting used to the car.

The systems so far on the FR-S seem very well tuned and generally keep to themselves. I don't think I've ever driven an American car where the traction control seemed like it was tuned for that car. It always feels like they just took it off the shelf and bolted it in and the result is a system that cuts in drastically and WAY before it's needed.

Once I get some practice time testing out the car's limits safely, I will probably still leave them on unless I've got a good reason to take them off. I can't imagine I'll ever hop into the car and turn the nannies off every time.

-Justin

A fair point about driving experience with technology free older cars, but in general I'd argue that we're better of with the vehicle control than without. It's all about percentages, and the vast majority of drivers (and the public in general) will benefit from rather than be hindered by using it. At the end of the day, it's all about being competent, observant, and careful drivers.

Do you then tell your passenger to "Hold my beer."?

Exactly! Cause there's no damn good cup holder! :mad0260:

how the hell can i drink it if my passenger is holding it?

I try to crash the car everytime I start her up.

Seriously, I leave the aids on as I'm still learning the dynamics of RWD instead of just reading about it. Also, saves my tires a bit when I use the on ramps.

I run with both of them on unless I want to kick out the back end then I will put it in sport mode. Was in a huge parking lot the other day when there was a crazy thunderstorm, no one was around so I shut everything off to try to drift a little more aggressively. After doing two full 480's accidentely I was able to get a better feel for it but was glad the sport mode gives you so much control while still having fun. I left promptly after that :)

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I learned on old heavy RWD cars, I drive two big ass trucks, mostly in 2WD in the snow and ice, only ever using 4WD in the worst weather.

I leave all the nannies on.

It's the same as the previous post about airbags, just because my old cars didn't have them, I'm not disabling mine on the BRZ. It's a safety feature that COULD prevent death. Why the feck would I turn that off to go buy groceries?

If it becomes intrusive, and you KNOW you are being safe about where/when/how you are driving, kill the TC and leave VSC on, that's reasonable. Killing all of it to buy a burger at McD's? Not even smart.

What if that one trip has a random dude pull out and you over-correct with it off? You'd have avoided an accident because of that technology, regardless of driving skill. Emergencies don't have guaranteed reactions on your part, regardless of skill/experience.

I put the car in VSC sport mode every time I get into the car.
Perhaps I drive a bit crazy, but when the car isn't in VSC sport mode I seem to hit the nannies all the time.
This is the first car I have ever owned that had traction control or stability control and my first 3 cars I ever owned were all V8 powered RWD cars/trucks.

Full off. I actually put the car in reserve and while backing up I hold down the T/C button so when I put it in 1st, the car is ready. Pretty much the same ritual in all my cars except the Porsche which doesn't have any nannies to disable.

First thing I do when I get in my car is pus the VSC Sport button, though in the winter when the roads are slippery I'll likely leave it on, personally I prefer them off because sometimes the intrusiveness can be dangerous when your car is all of a sudden not accelerating at the rate you expect or handling how you expect it too because the system butted in.

I learned to drive (including in snow) on my father's 84 Lincoln Towncar, RWD V8with no systems like that to speak of, my first car was a 77 Plymouth Volare, RWD with a slant 6, and I've also owned a Dodge Dakota R/t 5.9, RWD lowered pickup with a V8 and no traction control to speak of which about the worst thing you can get for snow driving and I had no problems driving that in the winter, in fact I preferred driving that in the snow over my 98 Dodge neon I had prior to that, so yeah, I don't need those systems on to drive safely because I know how to handle a car without them, and the BRZ compared to the Dakota R/T is so much better handling and less likely to lose control, and I was fine with the Dakota.

Truly, there is no reason to turn that stuff off for the streets unless you want to do something that you probably really shouldn't. Not that most people wont do it from time to time.

I say, switch everything off and knock yourself out in a completely deserted parking lot. Especially in the rain. But for the streets, as invincible as you are, consider other drivers on the road who don't expect to see cars drifting around corners.

Im guessing that for the most part this driving behaviour will be prevalent among younger and possibly less experienced drivers.

Funny, I can trigger the nannies taking a turn onto the highway because there is a sudden elevation change not doing anything dangerous. After that happened two days in a row of my commute making my car decide to cut throttle like a missed shift with cars behind me, I've shut it off. Up until that (3rd day of ownership) I thought it was rather unobtrusive.

If you want to learn safe driving, if you survive, drive a motorbike for several years. I can now feel the state of the road by the seat of my pants

keep in mind that with the current state of technology in ECUs and black boxes, if you are ever involved in an accident, the fact that you had TC or VSC disabled will likely be discoverable evidence. It might be used as indicia of your contributory negligence and result in you being convicted of a crime, losing a civil case or being denied insurance coverage. I hear you guys that say "I can drive better with my X years of experience than the nanny can", but imagine what a typical jury will think. This young (or old) fool turned off his safety aids and got into an accident -- GUILTY. Sorry but America is too litigious these days.

Those of you in Australia, UK, Asia, or where ever.. have at it. :D

Full off unless the road is wet. I had one instance where I did take a turn a little too quickly. The turn was a right hander with a crest in the middle of it. The VSC and TSC intervened, but it made the car wobble left and right very violently when it did. I did the exact same thing another day with the TSC and VSC full off. Rear started to rotate. I applied a slight countersteer, lifted slightly on the throttle, and recovered without incident or yawing of the wheel. I was scared that the VSC and TSC was going to shake the car off the road the first time.

That and I hate it when it pulses the ABS to do it. For the record, other than my boring Versa I just gave to the wife, I've only owned RWD, MT vehicles. 1st was a barebones 87 Chevy S10(no AC, PS, and no weight over the rear axle). Then a 2000 Ford Mustang, and then an SR swapped 240SX. Needless to say Winter was pretty interesting those years(PA).

Anyone having problems climbing a hill with VSC in Sport and traction off?

I was trying to park my car in the garage today and since theres a slight dip between the cement of the garage and the driveway, my front tire got stuck there. Then I tried to get out.... couldnt move lol!

So I turned VSC back on with traction on, and boom! car moved.

Hmmm....

So funny!

Maybe I didnt let go of the clutch :(

I love a spirited drive as much as the next guy (when my BRZ isn't at the dealer, zing!), but keep this stuff on the track.

I would have to think that even a pre-law student could just utterly slam you if you got into an accident and were found to have disabled driver aids, particularly in a sportscar, but for those conditions where the manufacturer specifically advises it.

No way you can get pinned for that. As others have said, controlling the car is actually more predictable without the aids in certain scenarios.

Experience>Technology

Really? You can't hear that argument in your head? "This guy thought he was driving a racecar on public roads, and in a callous disregard of public safety he disabled the tools put in place by the manufacturer to protect himself and others, but we can see that Speed Racer here isn't so talented a driver as he thought, and now look what's happened" etc.

A decent attorney would probably spend more brainpower deciding what to have for lunch.

All of that would get you no where, its not illegal and you cannot directly connect it to the incident (turning it off isnt in itself dangerous). Beside this would mean cars pre-nannies would be crashing left and right, yet they didnt and they arent. If you are experienced and responsible enough there should be no problems... now ABS is a different story.