Views on ESP and if it makes a difference guys. I have put rear sensonrs and ESP on mine as options and wonder if ESP is a good option

For me, I find it more usefull than on the 4x4 I owned.

If you push on or like to know there is a pseudo safe hand out there, then it's worth it.

I find it more usefull in winter than summer as limits are often reached sooner

That said for LOOS it's usefull to catch or understeer moments, which normally end up then becoming the Lift Off moments

So I'd say yes for me I find it usefull most of the time; the rest you can turn it off.

Views on ESP and if it makes a difference guys. I have put rear sensonrs and ESP on mine as options and wonder if ESP is a good option

Parking sensor....good choice.

ESP...tough one that.....I personally think the normal ASR isn't that good...too intrusive and the action it takes too strong.

ESP, IIRC, aportions power to the wheel which has most grip as opposed to ASR which cuts power when wheels are spinning.

Sounds good but not experience it....ColinD will know.

Edit: Colin's replied before me.

Watch 5th gear this friday @7.30pm

Thats the one on channel 5 I presume. Thanks for your thoughts guys

Yep. They test a jag x-type in the artic circle and test the merits of abs & esp in the snow on a frozen lake...seems esp is worth every penny!

Esp on snow

Sorry ESP on snow + driver input + hill side

Bascially if you counter a slide, well esp is already sort of working to counter it, thus you get the counter and esp then counters the counter...the net result /\/\/\/\/\ down the hill side...untill I stopped trying to be human and let esp go based on my wheel direction....hey presto it worked. Shame I'd lost a half stone in cold fear sweat by then.

A nice way to test it, find a very big open roundabout...go around it a few times to find the rough limits of grip then turn in tighter and firmly, should provoke the back to waggle if enough loss of rear grip. ESP will kick in and correct it. Alternative is lift hard mid turn, again it will catch it.

LAWS OF PHY?SICS CANNOT BE BROKEN so be prepared to manually catch it. Test at your own risk, hence find a big roundabout thats quiet...it's how I found out how good it can be when a van thought I wasn't there, which I wasn't a few seconds previously

All sounds very promising... the learning not to be human bit and let computers do the gripping might take a bit of getting used to but I will just not drive like a loony all the time....

That only really applies to snow in my experince...90% of the time common snese prevails and as such ESP does not really kick in. So you could view it as a waste, but I do not because when it works it's very welcoming.

It saved me during the weekend just gone - some stupid almost 90 degree bend without any warning came of the motor way. I was doing about 60mph. Found the corner wouldn't cope with that kinda speed and was ABSing on what I later found to be gravel. WTF they were thinking not putting a warning sign there whilst on the next turnoff there was a 20mph sign I just don't know. Either way. Slowed to about 30ish mph by the time I had to turn in or hit a concrete pillar thing.

ESP definitely helped get it round that bend as it was definitely not very grippy

The thing with ESP is that you really have to keep a tight grip of the steering wheel and just keep pointing it where you wanna go. I doubt it would have been any good if it had been ice/snow but I was impressed, must admit. Was kinda hoping I wouldn't have to find out quite this soon I though